Conference and Rocha are the only pears available in all retailers at this time of year. Conference is the nation’s favourite pear, familiar to everyone and available all year round from UK, Holland and Belgium. Rocha, on the other hand, is a bit of an unsung hero: the pride of Portugal, this small round pear […]
Green grapes are either late or stored varieties from South Africa and Chile, or Thompson Seedless from India. Thompson Seedless is a good grape, a mainstay of many producing countries for many years, but relatively unexciting. For the best, look for a lovely light-yellow straw colour. For something a little different, look for Autumn Crisp
Great Grapes in March? Read More »
Download the Good Fruit Guide app for free! Updated every week, the Good Fruit Guide app helps with: Pick of the Week list Ratings of other fruit on sale Access to blogs
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I rarely mention Kent mangoes as, most of the time, they are decent but unexciting. I’m looking for flavour and, due to sea-freighting as much as varietal traits, they rarely offer much more than sweetness. For the last month or two, Kent mangoes from Peru have been pretty much the only choice in supermarkets, but
Just dwelling on my fruit grazing habit and realised that, at the moment, I’m constantly drawn to the plum bowl: they are really impressive as the South African and Chilean seasons enter their latter stages. Sadly, my plum bowl is arranged in little mountains, each a different variety to taste as they soften. The laetitia
Spanish Navels are wonderful right now and have a lovely acid balance that brings out their best flavour: Lane Late is the main variety. For fantastic fresh juice, buy Spanish Salustiana. These are a ‘blond’ orange and have a high juice content with a mild eating quality: great value. Pigmented ‘blood’ oranges are also still
Orange of the Week Read More »
Spring Fruit: On the one hand, early Moroccan blueberries and the first homegrown strawberries, and the other, fabulous late season citrus, mangoes, plums and grapes: flavour abounds, if you know where to look. FOR MY FRUITBOWL, I WOULD BUY: Blueberries: New season from Morocco; Mandarins: Late season mandarins from Spain and Morocco; Grapes: Late season
Flavoursome Fruit This Week – wk12, March Read More »
Plums are a tricky fruit to get right. At the moment we are entering the last phase of supply from South Africa and Chile, with varieties from mid to late season. This is usually good news for flavour and sweetness: look out for FlavorKing, the most tasty; then African Delight the most common variety in
Every retailer has a number of favourite and tasty alternative apple varieties to the main choices on sale everywhere. A great one to look out for at the moment is Envy: a New Zealand variety, grown in UK and offering a lovely crisp texture and balanced flavour (in M&S, Sainsbury’s & Waitrose). Other retailer favourites
