Preserving fruit plentiful

Press, 29 January 1982, Page 2

Preserving fruit plentiful

The first greengages of the season reached Christchurch produce markets this week, making a full complement of stone fruit available for buyers.

The warm weather of the last few days has presented buyers with good supplies of quality fruit, which are expected to continue next week.

With apricots almost at the peak of their season for eating and bottling, demand for local and Central Otago fruit was strong. Moorepark and Trevatts apricots were quickly snapped up for bottling and Roxborough Reds, good for jam-making, sold well.

Prices ranged from $4.70 to $8.50 for a case lot.

Nectarines, some grown locally and some from Nelson, were in good supply and fetched from $4 to $7 for a case and $2.50 to $5 a tray. Redhaven eating peaches brought growers $3 to $6 a case. Trays of 32 to 40

peaches sold for $2 to $4 each. Shoppers looking for peaches to preserve'can expect to see several varieties of peaches in the next six weeks.

Plums varied in quality, although plentiful supplies of the fruit were available all week. Yellow Shiro plums sold at $2.50 to $5 a case, red plums made up to $6 a case and the Purple King variety fetched from $6.50 to $lO.

Locally grown greengage plums brought producers between $8 and $lO a case.

Although the quantities of stone fruit were able to meet the demand, the suppliers of berry fruits were scarce. Strawberries, especially, were scarce- and prices jumped to $25 a tray. Boysenberries sold between $8 and $14.80 a tray and raspberries sold at $l5 a tray. A fresh shipment from California, received early in the week, brought adequate supplies of oranges, grapefruit and lemons to the

markets. Gravenstein apples from Nelson and’ bananas from Ecuador completed the range of staple fruits. Those who enjoy more exotic fruits will be pleased to hear that the arrival of a shipment from the Islands has provided the markets with fresh pawpaws. This delicately-flavoured fruit sold for $lB to $26 a tray. Quantities of melons were also available, with watermelon selling at $1.50 a kg. Rock melons fetched $1 to $1.40 each and the smoothskinned prince melons sold for $7.50 to $8 a tray. The warm, sunny weather may have been good for ripening fruit but it also created an increased demand for salad vegetables, which 'stocks were stretched to meet.

Cabbages, lettuces, and cauliflowers were scarce, with cabbages making $3 to $6 a bag, cauliflowers $3 to $8.20 a bag and lettuces $4 to $lO.BO a case. Cucumbers, mainly of the short variety, were in full supply. Apple and telegraph cucumbers were available early in the week, and fetched $1 to $3.50 a case. Reasonable quantities of tomatoes sold for $4 to $6 a bag. Celery sold between $3 to $14.50 a case, depending on size and quality. New season’s vegetables making their first appearance at the markets included local parsnips, local swedes and buttercup and butternut pumpkins. Corn is becoming more plentiful with produce from local growers and nelson. Cobs of corn sold at 20c to 26c each. Spring onions, radishes and parsley were in reasonable supply and. full stocks of onions were available. Spring onions sold at $4.50 a dozen, radishes $6 a dozen, parsley at $1 a bunch and onions at $5 to $8 a bag. Beans are now in full

supply with good quality runner and green beans bringing $1 to $4 for producers. Spinach and silverbeet stocks were able to meet the demand. Carrots and kumera were somewhat scarce, with carrots fetching $6 to $10.50 a bag. Buyers paid between $25 and $45 for a 20kg carton of kumera from Dargaville. This week’s recipe SNOW-CAPPED PEACHES This dessert uses the peach raw. Do not prepare the dish too far ahead because the

peach flesh is likely to darken, even when lemon juice is used. Fresh ripe peaches Ground almonds Lemon juice Whipped cream Meringues Method: Peel and halve peaches, removing the stones. Place each half in a small glass dish and squeeze lemon juice over it. Fill the centre with ground almonds. Spread a little whipped cream over the top of peach halves and top with a meringue. Keep chilled until ready to serve.