A brief update...

Mandarins (or mandarines) are back! The first local mandos will be in the boxes this week. Still a little sharp but still very good, and full of crucial vitamins and nutrients.

The weather seems to have been stable - oh, for about a week! - and our farmers are busily planting their seedlings and new crops. It was too wet to pick the local potatoes and we're not sure if we'll get any more local spuds this season. Oranges are soft but sweet and juicy, and are nearly finished, so grab some whilst you can. It will be a few weeks until the navels are coming through. Sadly, Jean's local avocados are finished for the year. We shall miss them!

We're seeing Tamarillos, or Tree Tomatoes, in from the backyards of members, and some good ol' chokoes too, plus some hot red chillies and some mild green ones. Yum! One of our members recently brought in some perilla leaves, another had white mulberries, and yet another shared some Australian Native Finger Limes with us: absolutely delicious, with an explosion of citrus in the mouth! It's great to see the range of produce coming through the FIG doors between the efforts of the farmers and our members.

For the bulk orders, organic Granny Smith apples are back, although these are not local, of course. Bananas are now cheaper in price, thank goodness, and we continue to order them in from NSW and Queensland for the bulk orders and the extras table.

Royal Gala apples have been arriving from Kirkconnell and we're informed Pink Ladies will be on the list soon - woohoo! These had the most amount of positive feedback of any produce in all the history of FIG with members of all ages telling us that they were The Best Apple Ever! Bosc pears are back, too, and in the boxes this week.

We're currently taking organic seedling orders from Delightfully Fresh Organics, so prepare those garden beds and ready yourself for planting!

See you at the co-op...

Citrus Punch

Last night, our fruit bowl over brimming with mandarins, I decided to make a mandarin juice. Sounds simple enough, doesn't it! But have you ever actually done it? Seriously - trade the oranges for mandarins in your juice and it's DELICIOUS! I remember the first time I eyed a big bundle of "mandy's" near the juicer and thought hmmm... surely they'd be delicious juiced - and they were. The thing that I love about the new juicer that we've been using that a friend passed onto us, is that it actually allowed quite a bit of the pulp of the mandarins through into the juice and I love that mix of pulp and juice in freshly squeezed orange or mandarin juice.

I've always thought Mother Earth was a pretty sassy lady. She seems to know what's going on, what's best for us and just when we need certain produce through the year... And our citrus is no accident that it is seasonal in our cooler months. Packed with a huge Vitamin C punch, these fruits are SO handy to have in their prime, seasonally picked, in local growing climates to deliver us a big fresh, juicy bundle of immune boosting goodness.

We've been so blessed to be having bundles of mandarins being offered each week in our wonderful Winter citrus mix at FIG. The varieties have been mixed; from the easy to peel and often seedless beauty of the puffed skin Hicksons or Imperials, to the tight little bundles like the Nova. Then there's the sweetness of Lady Murcott Mandarin, the golden glow of Miss Sunburst and the intense aroma of Mrs Daisy. Together they sing a sweet tune of Winter's grandest offerings. There's nothing quite like that refreshing aroma that bursts forth, as the mandarin skin oils jump into the air and dance on the breeze as you start to peel these golden, juicy, Winter delights.

The Aussie Mandarin site is packed with nutritional info of this Winter Seasonal fruit, recipe inspirations and pictures/descriptions of the various varieties. Some truly are more suited to cooking, eating raw or juicing, so be sure to pull up the mandarin variety chart when your deciding how to use the mandarins that grace our current FIG offerings.

 Citrus Punch

Ingredients;

Any Winter citrus fruit;
oranges, lemons, mandarins and limes - all of one, a mix of two or a bouquet of everything Mother Nature offers in this Season!

Method;

Juice all and drink immediately.
Good any time of day, to make your immune system shine!