Some food adventures in Australia

I thought I would share some interesting food that we have tried during our time in Australia. Most of this is based on our weekly trips to the local farmer's market where we buy most of our fruits and vegetables. Produce at the farmer's market is often cheaper than the supermarket or the fruit and vegetable shops. There is also a much greater variety in product and prices and the ability to support the local growers.

Dragonfruit

The weather here in Queensland (the state we live in) is conducive to growing produce year round and there is quite a variety in local produce. You can purchase locally grown avocados and bananas year round. We purchased our first bananas in nearly nine months recently as cyclone Yasi (last February) had wiped out most of the banana crop in Australia (northern Queensland) and they were too expensive to buy with peak prices of  up to $18 per kilogram (2.2 lbs). I have recently seen prices as low as $1 per kilogram.

Seasonally we can get locally grown strawberries and pineapples. The pineapples are the best we have ever had being extremely sweet and juicy. They can also be quite inexpensive as well at $2-3 dollars per pineapple. Also grown in Queensland is a variety of tropical fruits and citrus as well as in cooler regions apples, grapes, and stone fruits (apricots, plums, peaches, cherries). Currently in season are stone fruits, as well as mangoes. Mangoes are one of our favorite fruits being incredibly sweet and juicy. Fortunately mangoes are now in abundance with people selling crates of them on the side of the road. We just split a mango for dessert after lunch today. Mangoes come in several varieties (Kensington Pride, Calypso, R2E2 and more) and sizes as large as a cantaloupe (known as rock melons here).

Cucumbers

Occasionally at the farmer's market we decide to try something new or different that we have never had. Today for example I didn't know what one of the items was that was being sold and was informed it is a cucumber. We bought one (the white one) but I think we'll prefer to stick to the more traditional varieties (see cucumber photo) as the seeds are much larger.

In previous farmer's market trips throughout the year we have purchased items such as persimmons and star fruit. Some of these items can be found in the supermarkets in Minnesota (and likely elsewhere) but I had not tried them before. Sampling of exotic fruits started with my roommates Amy and Sarah during our junior and senior years of college where we would pick up interesting fruit like a  pummelo (giant citrus like a mild grapefruit) from the supermarket and then "google" how to prepare and eat it.  Persimmons are quite common here when they are in season and quite good. It looks a bit like an orange tomato (similar to the Black Sapote, see photo) but is a sweet and juicy fruit that can be eaten just like an apple.

Back in February we started trying different fruit by purchasing a dragonfruit (see photo, top of page). This one has a translucent flesh (some have a pink flesh like the outside) with lots of small seeds. It was similar in texture to a kiwi fruit. It wasn't very sweet and didn't have too much flavor but we found that it went well with vanilla ice cream for dessert.

Custard Apple

We came across a really strange looking fruit called a custard apple. The fruit is light green with a leathery skin and very irregular shape with lots of bumps. One of my coworkers was telling me about them and how they tasted like fruit salad.

Custard Apple

We decided to give the custard apple a try and purchased this one and ate it back in April. The seeds are black and quite large (not edible). We then scooped out the white flesh and ate it. It did taste like fruit salad and did have a consistency similar to custard which was quite unexpected for a fruit.

Black Sapote

Black Sapote

My favorite farmer's market discovery so far is the Black Sapote (Chocolate Pudding Fruit) which is a species of persimmon. This fruit is native to eastern Mexico and Central America south to Colombia and is grown in the tropical region of northern Queensland. I had seen this unusual looking item at a couple of farmer's markets and decided to ask to person selling them about it. I purchased one and could not have been happier.  I let it ripen a few days on the counter until it became soft to the touch. From the photo you can see the brown flesh. Black sapote contained some large dark brown seeds (not seen in these photos) which I removed. I scooped out the flesh and put it in a bowl where I stirred it a bit. It does look quite a bit like chocolate pudding. It had a consistency like pudding a tasted a bit like chocolate though not very sweet. I had read online that you could sweeten it with a bit of honey or add some cinnamon or nutmeg. We decided to have some with the neopolitan ice cream we had on hand. It was delicious!

Black Sapote (Chocolate Pudding Fruit) on neapolitan ice cream

Black Sapote (Chocolate Pudding Fruit)

Within the past week we have also tried a few different foods from the supermarket shelves.

I was curious to find out whether "marshmallows"  here in Australia would be suitable to use with the graham crackers that are being sent to us (thanks Mom) to make smores. Marshmallows are not located in the baking section but in the candy isle next to the rest of the lollies (term for all candy not just lollipops). I just recently saw for the first time bags that contained all white marshmallows but that was after we had already purchased the standard pink and white variety. The marshmallows are much smaller than the standard large jet puffed marshmallows I was used to buying in the USA and have a bit of a crust on them that cracks when they receive any pressure. The pink ones were supposedly raspberry flavored and the white ones vanilla. I must say the flavor and texture is just not the same, a bit chalky as well and I don't plan on buying them again. Marshmallows are also available in swirl varieties with flavors such as strawberry, forest berry,wildberry, passionfruit, and caramel.

We also had purchased some vegemite flavored potato chips a while back and decide to try them out. For those not familiar with vegemite it is an Australian creation made from yeast extract. It is a very salty dark colored spread that is put (very thinly) on toast or crackers. It can be consumed for breakfast or I supposed any time of day. I must say I'm not a huge fan of vegemite but slightly prefer the flavor of promite (a similar type of product). However, like a good Australian we do have a jar of vegemite and do occasionally have it on buttered toast and is even better with a slice of cheddar cheese on top. If you are curious you can find vegemite in the USA but buy the smallest container you can find as most likely you  (like most Americans) will not like it. In October a new potato chip flavor, vegemite, was released by Smith's. The chips are actually quite good, a little bit of vegemite flavor but not too strong. We tried them as they were only a $1.00 at the supermarket and were curious about what this novelty item would take like. The fact that we actually liked the chips may mean that we are becoming more Australian. If you are coming to visit or would like to try them they have only released these chips for 12 weeks (unless they make them a permanent addition) and I would need to go out and search to see if there any are left in the supermarket.