Week 42, 2015
15th October, 2015
Five Fruit with Fabulous Flavour:
- Grapes – Sable from USA or Brazil
- Pears – Concorde, Abaté Fétel and Comice
- New season English apples – Rubens, Zari, Cox, Gala
- Mangoes – Spanish Osteen, Brazilian Palmer, Pakistani Ratewala
- Mandarins – Okitsu Satsumas and Clemenrubi or Oronule Clementines from Spain; Nadorcott from South Africa and Peru
Grapes: Delicious Sable from USA and Brazil (M&S, Sainsburys & Waitrose) is becoming more widely available again. Other varieties of note are: Autumn Royal (all stores), and Scarlotta (seen in M&S, Tesco and Waitrose).
Mandarins: Spanish Okitsu Satsumas are now available, a main season variety with better flavour than the early Iwasaki or Clausallina.
Early Spanish Clemenrubi and Oronule Clementines , sweet and light in flavour, are gradually appearing as a new season alternative to late South African and Peruvian mandarins (such as Nadorcott), which have great density of sweetness and flavour.
Apples: My pick of new English season varieties are Rubens (in Tesco), Zari (in Sainsburys), the lovely nutty Egremont Russet, and Royal Gala, a crisp, sweet and plentiful apple.
Pears: The delicious Concorde (in M&S, Tesco & Waitrose), English Comice (most stores), and the fragrant Abaté Fétel from Italy (Lidl & Sainsbury) make-up a trio of wonderful pears.
Mangoes: The Spanish mango, Osteen, is deliciously fragrant (sold in Lidl, Sainsburys & Tesco). Boxes of the Pakistani mango, Ratewala, are still in Tesco and ethnic stores. Best of the rest: Palmer from Brazil.
Other News:
- The southern hemisphere season for peaches and nectarines is underway from Zimbabwe and South Africa.
- The predominant plum on sale is Angelino, quite hard, but a number of newer late varieties are available to try, such as: September Yummy (Tesco & Waitrose), October Bloom (Asda) and Metis Tonic (M&S & Sainsbury).
- Tasty Black Bursa figs from Turkey are still abundant. Try to find the darker coloured Bursa with a delicate velvety softness, as these will be sweetest.
- Spanish persimmons are now widely available. Early fruit are sweet, though flavour is yet to develop strongly: the flatter Sharonfruit (Triumph) or the more elongated Rojo Brilliante are on shelves now.
- The only green-skinned avocado available in supermarkets is South African Ryan in Waitrose.
©Good Fruit Guide. Recommendations on fruit varieties and types with the very best taste are personal to the editor of Good Fruit Guide, and do not attempt to be exhaustive or supported by verifiable consumer research. The highlighting of fruit with the very best taste in the opinion of the editor is not intended as a judgement on the taste of varieties and types of fruit not mentioned.