It’s 2024! A big start to the year with the bounce back, triple-cherry-action apricots strengthen, and good things to come.
We ended 2023 at Harvest on a towel with a tin by the beach; now we’re beginning 2024 refreshed, primed and ready for a big year. We have some exciting prospects lined up, and the traditional lull of Gulch week is proving to be a continued cresting of the Christmas wave instead, we’re beginning 2024 in style.
Triple-cherry-action
Paul and Regine at the wonderful All Things Cherry are week-in-week-out devotees at Harvest, and their products provide a hit to us cherry addicts throughout the year. That said, the anticipation of the fresh cherry season is always through the roof in the Harvest office. It had already been a tough few years for stonefruiterers, and this one hasn’t been an exception. Cherry joy hit fever pitch this week when heard from both Tasmania Cherries and Richmond Cherries reporting that they were harvesting and ready for market. Harvest is an important outlet for seasonal producers, and your support of them is equally important. So we’re delighted to be bringing you all three of our cherry legends this week. I your love of cherries is even half ours, you know what you must do. That’s right, eat cherries and lots of them. Hardly a tough ask.
Plus the apricots and berries and all the other things
The apricot run from Penna Valley Farms is set to continue for most, if not all, of January, fingers crossed. As is the berry supply, with the later varietals starting to poke their heads up. Grab yourself a punnet of blackberries and scarf them down with some chilled pinot on a summer’s evening – or mulberries or cherries for that matter. Perhaps try your hand at an apricot and blackberry cobbler number, the rich and tart berries will compliment the sweet soft apricots perfectly. There are ideas for your summer table everywhere you look, come to think of it. With our stallholders suitably rested, our roster is bouncing back strong.
Bacon, eggs, and tomatoes with sourdough on the barbie for breakfast. Hell yes. Lunch will find us with a bang-up ham sango in hand, pickles and crunchy lettuce a must. And for dinner, we’re trying some of those incredible Asian greens on the side of our next BBQ steak. Hard and fast in a wok with some oyster mushrooms, plenty of ginger and a splash of oyster sauce. The potatoes from Wouter and Seven Springs Farm are still going strong; you’ll need to look there with Mantje Produce taking the week off. We roasted some in ham fat for the Christmas table. We’ll leave you to think about that flavour for now. Imagine the galette we’re making with some of those aforementioned potatoes, TNGT garlic, Elgaar cream and Southern Sky gruyere. Herb salad on the side, mustard and pesto as condiments. And don’t even speak to us about dessert, there are so many options! Actually, it’ll be the cobbler we described earlier, with a big bowl of cherries to finish. Then more cheese, then whisky. Then some cake. At last, the sweet sweet embrace of a considerable food coma.
We’re keen to set the tone for the year, so it is great to see 2024 kicking off in the finest of form.
Thanks for reading! See you tomorrow 🙂