Peak Cherry, Peak Summer: as summer advances, fresh fruit just gets better and better. Not only are melons, peaches, nectarines and apricots hitting the heights of their seasons, but cherries are abundant from British orchards; soft berries continue to be wonderful (often home-grown); we still have supreme flavour from Pakistani mangoes and Mexican lychee; and, to cap it all, the Spanish grape season is revving-up. For fresh tastes and fruitful abundance, this is truly a golden period.
FOR OUR FRUITBOWL, WE HAVE BOUGHT:
- Cherries: Local UK season, plus Picota from Spain;
- Peaches & Nectarines: Sumptuous Spanish and Italian;
- Melons: Abundance from Spain & Italy;
- Mangoes: Chaunsa from Pakistan, so sweet;
- Lychee: Opulence from Mexican Mauritius;
- Berries: Strawberry, raspberry, blackberry, gooseberry, currants, all from UK;
- Blueberries: Great quality from UK and Europe.
Cherries: Spanish cherries continue to be sold in supermarkets, but all stores now have good amounts of British fruit available. Volumes will increase, which is very handy as everything should be sold, such is the wonderful experience of these delicious locally-grown fruit.
Most supermarkets are selling local cherries at £6-10/kg equivalent, while Spanish cherries are a little cheaper (e.g. £4.10/kg in Morrisons; £5.00/kg in Asda for Farm Store (no variety name)).
For a reliably cheap, but wonderful option, look out for Picota cherries in Morrisons, Sainsbury’s and Tesco. These are the famed stalkless cherries from the Jerte Valley in Spain which are lovely to eat: not as succulent or refined as the British alternative, though at around £4/kg, who can complain? Better than any sweets!
Peaches and Nectarines: Spanish and Italian peaches and nectarines are abundant as the season enters its summer peak. If the retailer has done the right job, the fruit should be gorgeous, particularly if left to soften gentle in the fruit bowl. Values are great as well, particularly for punnet fruit (which does need ripening): look out for promotions all around.
Flat peaches and nectarines are also plentiful, with both being the ideal snack and lunchbox fruit. The peaches tend to be sweeter and cheaper, sometimes as low as 12-16p per fruit (Tesco, Asda), which makes M&S and Waitrose seem ridiculously out of step at +50p per fruit.
Melons: This is the best time of year for Spanish and Italian melons, which should almost be guaranteed to taste good. You can never quite tell, but if you don’t normally buy them, now is your best chance. Most reliable for taste are Piel de Sapo, Charantais and the new speciality varieties (Tesco: Sweet Snowball/Matice; Sunkiss Honeydew; Sweet Tangy Twist; Finest Charantais. M&S: Orange Candy Honeydew. Waitrose: Matice; Orange Delight Honeydew). The best prices for these are in Tesco at £1.75 each.
Galia, Canteloupe and Honeydew should also have something delicious to offer, and it is Galia melon that is receiving much of the promotional attention at the moment: expect to pay £1 or less.
Mangoes: Chaunsa mangoes from Pakistan are incredibly sweet, have huge aroma and are succulent beyond belief. They are available by the box at Asian grocery stores (about £5 per small box) and are well worth the effort to find. The fruit is not pretty, having a dull yellow skin, and can often look wrinkled. This is a sign of ripeness, but don’t buy when it is too advanced, unless you know they will be consumed quickly.
Of standard mangoes, Keitt is good from Puerto Rico and Dominican Republic, while Kent is from West Africa (Gambia, Mali and Senegal). There is Brazilian Keitt in some stores.
Lychee: Continuing on supermarket shelves from Mexico, lychee are exceptional for exotic tropical flavour. Morrisons still has the best price at £7.06/kg equivalent, closely followed by Asda at £7.50/kg.
Some Vietnamese lychee were spotted in a local Asian store at £5.50/kg (though minimum purchase was 2kg!): these were plump and sweet, but didn’t have the same depth of flavour and juice as the Mexican fruit.
Strawberries: UK strawberries continue to be abundant with great eating quality, though there must have been some struggles to keep up with hot-weather demand. Standard varieties in all supermarkets are mainly Sonata (often from Scotland) and Malling Centenary at £4.30-5.00/kg.
Premium varieties are Eves Delight, Driscoll Jubilee and Driscoll Zara for which you will pay £7.50/kg in Sainsbury’s, but up to £10 elsewhere (though buying 2 packs of Finest at Tesco is equivalent to £6.00/kg): these should all offer reliable, flavoursome enjoyment.
Blueberries: Poland has now entered the supply market for blueberries, which should allow the great quality to continue as growers move through with fresh harvests across Europe.
Raspberries: All raspberries are now from UK: plentiful, with great quality in this warm dry weather, and satisfying both old (e.g. Glen Ample) and new (e.g. Berry Jewel) tastes .
Blackberries: Sweet varieties, Driscoll Victoria and Black Magic are readily available including in Lidl (branded as Driscoll). Otherwise, Lochness and Loch Tay are the main traditional options.
Apricots: Stores are stacked with apricots from Spain, France and Italy. It is pretty much peak season from the Mediterranean, so there should be a good chance of success if you let them ripen properly.
Plums: There are numerous different varieties of plum available in supermarkets. These are exclusively the ‘Japanese’ types grown in the Mediterranean countries, which, while often not exceptional, can be sweet and juicy at this time of year: be patient in waiting for them to soften.
Particularly look out for improved varieties such as Metis Oxy, Metis Safari and Iridis.
Grapes: Practically all grapes are now from the Mediterranean as the Spanish season is now underway. For a while, we will see a mixture of Spanish and Egyptian fruit, but mainland Europe supplies will take-over in time.
Initial tastings of Spanish fruit suggest a good, sweet harvest.
Mandarins: South African Nova, generally sold as a ‘tangerine’, and Clemenules are still tasting good as we await the late season mandarin varieties.
Satsumas: Soft, sweet and succulent satsumas are pretty much all Owari from Peru: these are reaching the end of season so losing their acids, though are still sweet and juicy.
Avocados: Hass now dominates sales – mainly from South Africa, Peru and Columbia: quality should be excellent.
Oranges: South African Navels have started in stores, so we will see the Spanish and Moroccan Valencia Late (Maroc Lates, Delta Seedless and Midknight) oranges gradually disappear, except perhaps for juicing. The first new Navels seem lovely, fine and sweet, with a very slight early tang.
Persimmons: Often forgotten, but this is a reliably sweet and enjoyable fruit, currently a variety called Triumph from South Africa.
13th July 2018
©Good Fruit Guide 2018. Information and data published on www.goodfruitguide.co.uk must not be reproduced or copied without permission of the editor. Ratings and 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.