Friday 3 April 2015

New Season's Produce

Isn't it wonderful at last that the new season's vegetables are coming into the markets?   I am no longer interested in the tired old parsnips, carrots, potatoes and red cabbages which have turned up week after week and now look rather sad.

Today - a damp, misty day with fine rain falling - heralded the advent of asparagus, Majorcan and early Jersey potatoes, tender stem broccoli which looked as though it had been picked this morning it was so fresh (we had some for lunch with steak and ale pie and it was every bit as good as it looked), and the new season's oranges.  I love these navel oranges, always a bit of a nuisance to peel but well worth the effort as they taste so new and delicious.

Anyone who has ever been to a country where oranges grow (Morocco for example) will know that the taste they give out when they are first picked bears no relation to the taste when they arrive here after their journey.   But these in the photograph almost did - two have gone already - full of juice and as sweet as honey.

12 comments:

Mac n' Janet said...

Nothing better than fresh veggies. We have a lemon tree and an orange tree, but they don't produce much. Love the smell of the blossoms though.
Happy Easter.

jinxxxygirl said...

We love navel oranges too Weaver. We always slice ours to eat it... no fighting with the peel. Hugs! deb

Joanne Noragon said...

I remember craving naval oranges if I woke up from a nap. Either a naval orange or every edible in the kitchen. So, I kept a basket of naval oranges on hand.

angryparsnip said...

Living were I do we have orange trees growing everywhere.
Even though my little citrus grove took a huge hit with the unbelievable hard freeze we had 5 winters ago. I still have some of the best citrus.
Navels are hard to peel but if you can try Tangelos. I am so lucky to have one tree. Even though it is no where near the beautiful tree is was before the freeze.
I am so happy you passed the seed on.

cheers, parsnip

Heather said...

I remember eating oranges in Spain - you could buy them on the roadside and the flavour was out of this world. I love Jersey Royal potatoes and locally grown asparagus too. Later in the year I look forward to runner beans. When the children were all still at home we would grow a long row of them.

Jane and Lance Hattatt said...

Hello,

Markets are such wonderful places at all times of the year in our book but, as you say, when the new season's produce arrives then it is a particularly exciting time.

In Budapest there is never the wide choice offered in Britain at whatever time of the year. We have learned to live without swede......totally unavailable ....and to wait for the glorious weeks when mountains of cherries arrive and then disappear again.

We have never seen anything resembling a Jersey Royal potato here so we are very envious of your enjoying those. However, Asparagus will come we just have to be patient. Still, we have white peppers by the ton all year round!

Rachel Phillips said...

I have a photo of me with a Moroccan orange farmer selling his oranges by the side of the road. Yes, they are beautiful taste. As are the bananas of Agadir.

The Weaver of Grass said...

I stayed in Marrakech once Rachel and the hotel had a huge pile of freshly picked oranges in the foyer and you just helped yourself. They were absolutely wonderful. I brought some home for the farmer and even just that journey took the edge off the taste

donna baker said...

We get ours from California, or did. In the midst of a thousand year drought, I don't know what will happen. So much of our produce comes from there.

Cro Magnon said...

The last time I was in Marrakesh, I picked a couple of oranges from a tree on the Avenue Mohammed V, and made marmalade with them when I got home. It was delicious.

The Weaver of Grass said...

Thanks for calling in.

MorningAJ said...

Oddly, the best oranges I ever tasted were in Portugal. I tried one in Tunisia that I thought would be good but it just wasn't very juicy.