Specialist resource writer John Clarke highlights developments in produce, fish and meat supply.

COMING ON

The soft fruits – raspberries, blackberries and gooseberries, red and blackcurrants. All the stone fruits: plums, cherries, nectarines, peaches and apricots. The first New Zealand melons and squash.

IN THEIR PRIME

Fresh scallops, cockles and pipis. Flounder, mullet, all the in-shore fish. All the game meats and of course lamb. Avocados, beans, asparagus, globe artichokes, new potatoes, tomatoes – in fact all summer vegetables and some decent garlic at last.

FALLING OFF

Brussels sprouts and leeks. Most of the citrus and kiwifruit. Pacific oysters.

SHOT TO BITS,

Whitebait sadly. Brussels sprouts and yams.

New Zealand pip fruit. The fresh seasons for orange roughy, hake and ling have ended. Fresh veal.

SEAFOOD

This is the season for all those in-shore species: Flounder, snapper, gurnard, trevalley, kahawai and mullet.

MEAT

Farmers have had a great spring this year and supply is improving at least on the short term.

As with eggs there is an increasing demand for free range and organic meat products.

Chicken in particular has seen a vast improvement in the supply of free-range product with all the bigger producers now distributing a good range.

Rangitikei chicken is a good example; these chooks are raised free range in the North Island and have the freedom to roam and forage outside. These birds are also corn fed and are available in a wide range from skinless portions to whole chooks.

As for meat from hoofed animals, Harmony Foods in particular has led the way with commercial quantities of top product available to the FMCG sector. All meat sold under the Harmony name is sourced from free-range farms and all animals are grass fed. There are no cages, no pens, only open pasture. As a consequence Harmony has SPCA certification for its pork and AsureQuality accreditation for its organic beef and lamb.

Sheepmeat

Last year’s store and prime lambs are now nearly at an end and spring lambs are starting to be seen at saleyards, fetching strong prices. There is some lovely new spring lamb out there, but supply is tight and the trend is rising at $1.47/kg ahead of last year.

Mutton schedules are still trading at high prices on limited availability and still rising due to supply constraints.

Beef schedules are steady but are still about 40c/kg ahead of last year.

Farmed venison In October and early November prices were $1.40/kg ahead of last year, estimated to be the third highest on record. Schedules are now easing, as the season changes from chilled to frozen and the trend is falling. This year the industry is expected to process about 400,000 animals.

Pork Look to those hams – Christmas and New Year are on the way. Consider the range of pork and ham from Freedom Farms. As we have said before, the pigs from Freedom Farms are treated with respect and are healthy happy little pigs.

FRUIT

Yes, we are coming into that fruity time of the year.

Blackcurrants are in the market from now with full production over January and February.

Citrus We are coming to the end of most of our local citrus varieties. New Zealand tangelos, oranges and lemons will still be around but will peeter out next month. The mandarins and navelinas are now well over. Local limes are old stock; new crop will not be available until March.

Berries This month is strawberry month. Everyone buys some strawberries in December – customers just cannot help themselves. Fresh raspberries are about to hit us and will be finished by April. Look also to boysenberries until early February, blueberries through to mid March, with blackberries a little later. Loganberries are always around and the very short season for gooseberries is on now.

Pomegranates should be in good supply from now on as they ripen in the northern hemisphere’s autumn and we tend to see them through our summer months.

Redcurrants are on the way but for a very short time only – don’t you just love the seasons?

Stone fruit The summer fruit season starts to hit its straps this month – that’s the marketing name for stone fruit guys. The cherry season kicks off in all seriousness this month, just in time for Christmas. North Island plums, nectarines, apricots and peaches will all be coming into full production but prices over December are guaranteed to be firm. And be aware also that early season New Zealand grown stone fruit often has a poor shelf life. South Island fruit varieties tend to hit their straps in January.

VEGETABLES

Artichokes (globe) are at the height of production but start to drop off as summer really kicks in.

Asparagus this month is still in good nick and production is at its peak but will drop off from January.

Aubergines, locally grown, are back again in the markets – pricey but nice.

Beans The New Zealand glasshouse season for the flatter varieties such as Mangere Pole has arrived and the outdoor round ‘French’ beans (mostly Gisborne grown) should reach the market finally. Broad beans are out there but supply will tighten up.

Beetroot is most plentiful from November until April. Avoid roots with scaly areas around the top surface as they tend to be tougher. Originally the leaves were eaten more than the roots, but in New Zealand we just eat the roots – why?

Capsicum prices are still very high but almost all the New Zealand grown varieties are arriving in better volumes and it will only get better as we move further into the summer.

Corn You can get fresh early varieties of sweet corn in the market from January these days but it will be expensive.

Courgettes Our New Zealand zucchinis are back in the markets.

Cucumber Plenty of Kiwi grown telegraphs around.

Garlic The first of the New Zealand grown garlic will arrive this month, as will the first shallots.

Kumara All varieties of good quality new season kumara; Beauregard (orange, softer, sweet), Tokatoka, (yellow, firm, good flavoured), Owairaka and northern rose, (traditional red, very firm), will be arriving in the marketplace soon.

Leek quality is variable and will only get poorer over summer, but keep an eye out for those baby leeks as they come in shortly.

Potatoes This is new potato time but watch for greening as these early spuds go off very quickly. The first (so-called) Maori potatoes will arrive from the far north in December.

Taro Varieties of taro vary in colour and size. Taro is a starchy root crop and the leaves are also edible. Taro is not grown commercially in New Zealand; all supplies are imported from the Pacific Islands.

Tomatoes New Zealand main crop is all on and will get cheaper from now to the end of February. Some outdoor fruit will start showing up in January.