What’s NEW This Week?
Costanza Apples have their new season PEARS this week – simply divine! There is nothing more enjoyable than fruit freshly harvested and delivered straight to the market. There are so many wonderful pear recipes so I will post one below. I enjoy nibbling on slices of pear with slices of Nimbin Valley Dairy cheeses – a Monte Nardi for example – delicious for a mid morning pick me up!
CA’s black muscat grapes are only around for another week or two and their Royal Galas a going like hot cakes AND Fujis are back too.
Also back this week are avocados at the Jumping Red Ant stall. Narbeys Best Avocados should also be back soon.
In case you missed last week’s post NudgelNuts is back with new season macas – YUM!
What’s GREAT This Week?
Mighty microgreens- Did you know that sprouts and microgreens actually offer superior nutrition to the fully grown plant? This is largely because in their initial and early phase of growth the tiny plants contain more concentrated amounts of nutrients meaning that you need to eat far less, in terms of amount, compared to a mature plant. A microgreen is a sprout that has grown a little larger – usually 7-10 days after planting whereas sprouts are harvested within 2-3 days. Being so very portable they are great to take with you when travelling to ensure that burst of living freshness is always available.
As noted in “Microgreens: Novel, Fresh and Functional Food to Explore All the Value of Biodiversity,” even a few grams of microgreens per day can “entirely satisfy” the recommended daily intake of vitamins C, E and K, based on recommendations by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). This paper, 
written by Francesco Di Giola, is part of his post doctoral research and is available to download on line at http://www.gustailbiodiverso.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Microgreens.pdf
For your microgreens this week visit Sylva Lining Organics where the range includes:
- Red cabbage
- Broccoli/kale
- Rocket
- Radish– give a burst of zing to your salad.
- Green peas
- Sunflower – tasty in salads and great for green smoothies.
- Barley
Community Support: Tweed Palliative Support is back this week with a selection of delicious chocolates and raffle tickets to so get behind this great organisation that supports our local families at a time when they need lots of help.
Fortnightly, monthly stall changes:
- Go Earth Organic Compost back THIS week. Hamish and Mark bring this popular compost to the market fortnightly now. It is a great addition to your garden as you prepare your soil for autumn and winter planting.
Seasonal updates:
- Only another week or two of mangoes so stock up this week from Everest Farm.
- Narbey’s Best Avocados returns late March or early April – weather dependent
- Blueberry Fields returns in July or August weather depending.
Recipe:
This is my all time favourite discovered in The Australian last year
David Herbert’s Pear, vanilla & ginger cake
2 ripe pears, peeled, cored, sliced | 175g soft butter | 200g brown sugar | 2 tablespoons golden syrup | 3 eggs, lightly beaten | 1 teaspoon vanilla extract | 1.5 cups self-raising flour | 3/4 teaspoon baking powder | 60g glace ginger, finely chopped
Preheat oven to 180°C (160°C fan). Grease a 22cm round cake tin with butter and line with non-stick paper. Put butter, sugar, golden syrup, eggs, vanilla, flour and baking powder in a bowl and beat with hand-held electric beaters for 1-2 minutes until it comes together; don’t overbeat. Spoon mixture into cake tin. Carefully top with ginger and pear slices. Bake for 50-60 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into centre comes out clean. Set aside for 10 minutes to cool, then remove from tin onto a wire rack. Serves 8
For a gluten free option I use buckwheat, coconut and tapioca flours.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/life/food-wine/a-slice-of-niceness/news-story/c6fd25fc80efe5a7927281ebdb73300e
*REMEMBER* ATM at the market!
We now have an ATM onsite for your shopping convenience.
Entertainment: Loren and Gabe
Weather: Patchy early fog with a high chance of showers – just what our growers need.
Produce of the week (newest season produce is in bold):
- Bananas
- Beans
- Capsicum
- Carrots
- Corn
- Cos lettuce
- Cucumbers (Lebanese)
- Dragon Fruit
- Grapes
- Mangoes
- Passionfruit
- Potatoes (various)
- Rockmelons
- Sweet potatoes
- Sapotes (Mamey)
- Strawberries
- Tomatoes
- Watermelons
- Zucchini
Seasonal Produce List Updated:
Vegetables
Beans (+organic), Beetroot (+organic), Broccoli, Cabbage, Carrots, Capsicum, Cauliflower, Chard (organic), Chilli, Cucumber (+organic), Corn (+organic), Eggplant (+organic), Garlic (+organic), Herbs (basil + organic basil, coriander, fennel, ginger, rocket, turmeric and more), Kale (+organic), Lettuce (cos organic), Fancy Lettuce and mixed salad greens, Micro greens (+ wide variety of organic such as alfalfa, barley greens, sunflower, broccoli, chick pea), Peas incl snow peas (+organic), Mizuna, Onion (+organic), Mushrooms, Pak Choi (organic), Potato (Sebago) , Potatoes (kipfler ++), Pumpkin (+organic), Salad Mix, Silver Beet, Sprouts (+organic), Spinach (+organic), Sweet Potato (+organic), Tatsoi (organic), Swedes, Tomatoes (+organic), Taro, Turnip, Watercress, Zucchini (+organic).
Fruit
Apples, Apricots, Avocados, Bananas (Cavendish, Lady
Fingers (organic also), Black muscat grapes, Blueberries, Carambola (star fruit), Custard apples, Dragon Fruit, Grapefruit, Grapes, Kiwi fruit (organic), Lemons + Limes (incl organic), Lychees, Mangoes, Mandarin (organic), Oranges (organic), Passionfruit, Paw Paw, Pears, Plums, Rock melons, Sapotes, Strawberries, Watermelons.
Flowers
Gerberas, Lisianthus, Roses, Tropical flowers – currently sassy heliconias.
Eggs – including organic
Nuts – Pecan nuts and macadamia nuts, nut oils, butters and choc coated nuts
Dairy – Cows milk, cheeses and yoghurt, kefir, cultured butter ++ Goats milk and soft cheeses, kefir
Honey – Raw unprocessed Caldera honey, creamed honey and creamed honey with cinnamon! And bees wax candles.
Rice and Breads – A variety of artisan sour dough breads baked with a diversity of organic flours (including spelt and rye) and many flavours that use local market products including macadamia nut bread!
Mushrooms – Gourmet mushrooms – king oysters, white oysters, pink oysters, blue oysters, shiitake and Shimeji available at Wollumbin Gourmet Mushrooms and button mushrooms at Mountain View Eggs.
Meat – Beef, pork and goat (All Natural Meat Company produced), Salami (Nimbin Valley Diary) periodically + lamb and chicken sourced within the broader market radius and locally caught fish – very seasonal.
Seafood – Locally harvested oysters by Noel Baggalay from his Brunswick and Tweed Rivers oyster farm. Seasonally caught local fish, prawns and other seafood as it becomes locally available.