Eager buyers for stone fruit

Press, 8 December 1988, Page 22

Eager buyers for stone fruit

Stone and berry fruit were one of the few lines attracting eager buyers this week, other lines were plentiful, but were difficult to sell. Most auctioneers are expecting the pace of selling to pick up mid-way through next week, but for now they are practically “giving it away,” said one.

Sundrop apricots were selling about $6 to $7 a kilogram. The best dessert nectarine is May Grand, well known for the colour. These were $2 to $3 a kilogram. Wilson Early plums, which are good eating fruit, have arrived, and the first of the Duff plums attracted a lot of buyers at up to $3 a kilogram.

Oamaru cherries are expected on the market floor next week, but at present are fielding prices from $3 to $5 a kilogram. Peaches are up to $1.40 a kilogram, and $4 to $8 a tray.

Market auctioneers are fairly certain now that strawberries will be in short supply for Christmas.

They were selling for up to $1.40 a punnet, boysenberries were up to $1.50 a punnet, and raspberries up to $1.20 a punnet.

Melons are slightly short this week as numbers dwindled in Australia, but supplies are likely to pick up just before Christmas.

Watermelons were $2.70 a kilogram, rockmelon and honeydew $56 to $5B a tray of six to nine.

Pineapples varied in price, with some from Australia and others from the Philippines. Australian pineapples were slightly cheaper at up to $2.80 each, and the Philippines fruit were up to $3.10 each.

Californian grapefruit was up to $27.50 a box, lemons $30.10 a box, and grapes up to $36.50 a lug. Ecuador bananas remained the same at $24.50. Lettuces and cabbages were still amongst the hardest to sell. Lettuce were 20 cents to 40 cents each, and cabbage 30 to 50 cents each. Bunched carrot prices had come back slightly, with good-quality carrots fetching up to 60 cents a bunch, and local loose carrots attracting medium sales at $l7 to $2O a 20kg bag.

A flush of tomatoes in the Canterbury and Nelson areas, coinciding with slow sales at the market, meant prices had fallen a great deal. Local 4.5 kg cartons were $5 to $B, and most supermarkets were selling them at $1.99 to $2.49.

Prices for tomatoes are expected to stay the same until the middle of next week.

A market auctioneer said the main problem

now was to try to sell tomatoes with "blotch,” fruit was not ripening evenly because of unpredictable weather.

Kumara is still expensive as growers continue to keep most supplies in the North Island, where the price is holding quite high. These were $5O to $55 a carton. New-season buttercups from the North Island are expected at the market next week, but asparagus is expected to finish next week.

Cool-store asparagus may be available for Christmas, but fresh supplies will have ended. Red Delicious apples from America were available this week, and will continue to supplement the market until new season apples arrive in the second week of January.

Today’s Recipe STRAWBERRIES ROMANOV 2 punnets of strawberries I c whipped cream 1 pint vanilla ice-cream 1 tbsp Cointreau liqueur Method: Hull strawberries and sugar lightly; cut any big ones in half. Soften the ice-cream by beating with a fork, fold in the whipped cream and Cointreau. Blend the strawberries through the mixture. Serve at once in chilled glass dishes or parfait glasses.