At the Market

cooking melbourne

Discovering Melbourne's Artisan Foods and Produce

Sweet Sapphire Grapes

Sweet Sapphire grapes, with their elongated, black, knobbly bodies, may look more like licorice bullets than grapes and perhaps with their extra sweetness they are more like lollies than fruit. My teenage nephew ate the whole plate I put out with cheeses for Easter dinner, clearly giving them the thumbs up. Sweet Sapphire grapes are…

End of Summer Tomatoes

As we approach the end of summer it is time to gobble up as many ripe, flavoursome tomatoes as possible. If you want a part of the action then attend a Melbourne farmers market this weekend and enjoy some really great tasting tomatoes. There are so many varieties to choose from and every produce stall…

Red Bananas

The red banana or Red Dacca is a relatively unknown banana variety for Melbourne shoppers. I was lucky enough to be introduced to red bananas by Julian, owner of Senserrick Green Grocer and I must say it has been hard to go back to the Cavendish and Lady Finger after tasting these. Red bananas are…

Kensington Pride

Yippee, my favorite mango, Kensington Pride, has come South again. Originally hailing from the Queensland town of Bowen and sometimes called Pride of Bowen they are grown in the Northern Territory as well as Queensland and supplies are plentiful this year. Small KPs from the NT are now selling for around $3 and as we…

Grand Final With Pure Pie

Footy purists who love to watch the game with a traditional pie can make a real occasional of the grand final with a Pure Pie. These locally made pies are full of meaty pieces of beef in a nice gravy and pastry case and are really worth getting in for the day. You can order…