Sunday, 13 March 2011

Fresh fruit is best!

Over the past week, I have been given the most delicious assortment of apples, zucchini and figs grown by friends. To look at, they are far from perfect but take a bite and they are truly beautiful.

Fresh Apples and Zuchinni

As I munched my tart, tasty apple, I got to wondering why it was full of flavour while the ones I got from the supermarket tasted like nothing. The answer was not too hard to find - supermarkets are using all sorts of tricks to preserve the 'fresh' fruit and vegetables we are buying including the addition of chemicals which slow mould growth and ripening but also block compounds which lead to the development of flavour. CHOICE has more details on how our fruit, vegetables and meat are being manipulated here.



Local Apples

Of course, it is not always possible to get things straight from the tree or ground but the moral to the story is where you can, choose fresh, local produce which is in season. By doing this you get more taste, more nutritional benefit and support local growers. There are Farmers and Growers Markets springing up everywhere - the Australian Farmers Market Association has a list on their website. Give them a try and taste the difference!



Fresh lemons from my tree


Funny Lemon
 

2 comments:

  1. Hi, I see that you moved to Cooma a while ago. I moved here 3 years ago and one thing I dearly miss is a lemon tree. I thought it would be difficult to grow due to the lower temperatures. I certainly have trouble not freezing my tomatoes! Did you have to plant the lemon tree in a particularly sheltered spot?

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  2. Hi Shazgirl - unfortunately the lemon tree was where I used to live. I have tried to nurse one through a Cooma winter - it is on a verandah and is looking OK. I would say it is just surviving rather than thriving though :(

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