Fresh and seasonal tips to make meal planning even easier.
FRESH IN: The spring crops – asparagus, avocados, courgettes, tomatoes, cucumbers – continue to be good buying this week. Strawberry prices are lowering as the season progresses. Imported pomegranate arils, Australian rockmelons and mangoes have fresh appeal while we wait for local melons.
Watermelon and cucumber salad
“Our New Zealand-grown rockmelon and watermelon comes mainly from the warmth of Kaitaia and Houhora – making for sweeter succulent fruit. The local season will kick start before Christmas with honeydews arriving in January,” says New World Fresh Expert Brigit Corson. Once ripe, rockmelons should be refrigerated and eaten in a couple of days. “Sweetcorn has come early! Look for it fresh in-store at New World next week. Prices will ease as crops become more plentiful around mid to late December so you can grill them on the BBQ for Christmas,” says Brigit.
LOOK FOR: those Christmas stars, Oamaru's jersey benne potatoes. "You'll be able to buy tasty pre-washed jersey benne's from your local New World at the end of the month – they're the perfect star for your Christmas potato salad," says Brigit. Jersey Bennes will hang on for the summer so there's a lot of good butter-slathered eating ahead. Look out too for New Zealand hothouse snowpeas. It's early days for them so they are likely to be fairly pricey. "Keep your eyes peeled for new season peas from our growers Bayley Produce in Twyford," says Brigit.
MOVING ON: The last of the tamarillos have now departed.