Welcome to 2023, we’re kicking it off right at Harvest. Spuds ahoy! Plus the bounce back, triple-cherry-action with berries and apricots. Summer’s triple threat of fruits.
If we ended 2022 at Harvest in a banana lounge with a cocktail by the pool, then we’re beginning 2023 at the starting line of the marathon. Primed and ready to go. We have some exciting prospects lined up, and at time of writing our roster has been double and triple-checked with all present and correct. We’re super keen to get started on the right foot, so with that, let’s begin.
Spuds Ahoy! Welcoming Mantje Produce
Few things are as iconographic in Tasmania as the humble spud. What about the apple? We hear you say. Sure, but let’s not forget the spud is the pomme de terre. Whilst our amazing primary producers bring their potato game strong here and there, it’s been some time since we had a dedicated potato grower at Harvest. No more. Introducing Nic and Bec, and Mantje Produce. A surprise inclusion at the Christmas market, you made them feel so welcome and sold them out of spuds. An ideal start to their tenure at Harvest, and we’re delighted to be welcoming them back to kick off 2023.
Potatoes ain’t potatoes, as the saying we’ve just now made up goes, and Nic and Bec have some great varieties for you to explore. We hadn’t seen a true Bintjie getting around for a while, so imagine our excitement when we roasted some in ham fat for the Christmas table. We’ll leave you to think about that flavour for now.
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 looking 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. Imagine the galette we’re making with some of those aforementioned potatoes, TNGT garlic, Elgaar cream and Southen Sky gruyere. Herb salad on the side, mustard and pesto as condiments. And don’t even speak to us about dessert, 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.
So great to see 2023 kicking off in the finest of form.