What’s News at the Market this Week?
Black muscat grapes, Australia’s favourite apple, the Royal gala and quinces arrive this week at the Costanzo Apple Stall – all grown on their farm near Stanthorpe.
The black muscat grape – a cross between Schiava Grossa and Muscat of Alexandria – is a popular table grape as well as a wine grape suited to dessert wines owing to its plump juicy sweetness. It makes a wonderful complement to a cheese platter.
Australia’s favourite apple is back! New season Royal Gala apples are simply the best and signal the arrival of the new apple season in Australia. Nothing compares to the crisp texture and sweet flavour of new season apples straight from the family orchard in Stanthorpe – the place so well known for producing the best Royal Gala apples in Australia.
This really is what eating seasonally is all about…
Have you ever wondered why trendy chefs, restaurateurs and really good cooks love using quinces? Perhaps because a fully ripe quince has a wonderful perfume. When cooked for a long time the quince changes to a deep red colour with a rich, perfumed flavour. It makes a great sorbet or is wonderful stewed with apples for an apple pie. And quince paste is another perfect accompaniment on a cheese platter.
AND figs – just a few have arrived at Jumping Red Ant. They don’t have a lot so these are for the early birds.
Also News this week:
Tammy from Summerland Nursery is popping up with her avocado trees so grab this perfect opportunity to check out the best single-graft and multi-graft avocado trees with up to 4 varieties grafted to one tree for multiple fruiting and different flavours throughout the year.
Tammy can’t fit all the trees into her trailer so let her know if there’s something in particular you’d like her to bring along for you to see.
Full list of available stock is on her website – summertimenursery.com.au along with lots of pics and price list.
What’s GREAT at the Market this Week?
This week we’re celebrating the presence of Egyptian spinach – also known as Molokhia, Oakra leaves, West African sorrel and more. This particular spinach is available at Summit Organics.
Egyptian Spinach thrives in the heat making it a great substitute for other leafy greens (such as lettuce) during our hottest summer months. Young leaves have a mild flavour and are best eaten raw in salads or sandwiches in place of lettuce. Older leaves have a stronger flavour and are best cooked as a green leafy vegetable.
So to celebrate the Arab Mediterranean roots of this wonderful, ancient plant, who better to turn to for a recipe than Yotam Ottolenghi. This recipe is called Giant Couscous and Pumpkin with Tomato and Star Anise Sauce and is sourced from his latest book: FLAVOUR. I truly can’t recommend this book enough to lovers of flavourful, exciting vegetable-based cooking!!! ( For the recipe please click here for our full weekly newsletter).
Timor Lettuce – also known as tree lettuce, serrated tree lettuce or Indian Lettuce, (Lactuca indica) is a relative of lettuce but grows faster and taller and can cope with heat and high humidity. It can be eaten as you would eat a regular lettuce and also enjoyed lightly steamed and eaten in recipes where you might use spinach. I wonder how it would go in the recipe where we used Egyptian spinach. Timor lettuce is available at Sylva Lining Organics – photo by Sylva with thanks.
And for the best organic capsicum visit the Bio Organic Farm team. They are so deliciously sweet you simply eat them like an apple – if so inclined 
. Or enjoy them in salads, roasted or however you most love to eat capsicum. Photo by Shyamli (Basil) with thanks.