Spring Freshness!

Dominic Luppino from Luppino's, sources nothing but the freshest! With his fresh Spring produce locally grown within 20km's of the Market. This season you can find fresh local cauliflower, leeks and Bok choy. Visit Dom at ST1.

Apples

New season Victorian Royal Gala and Golden delicioius apples are now in plentiful supply. Royal galas are sweet and aromatic with white flesh.  Look for fruit that is yellow to orange with deep orange stripes. Golden Delicious are a green to gold color and are crisp and creamy to eat. Try apples direct from the orchard at G & T Taylor orchadist (T3).

Asparagus

New season Victorian Green, Purple and White Asparagus Spears are now being harvested. When selecting asparagus choose tender, straight, fresh spears with closed, compact tips; spears should snap easily at the stem end. Nutrition studies have shown that asparagus is a low calorie source of folate and potassium; its stalks are high in antioxidants and green asparagus in particular is a very good source of vitamin C.

Tomatoes

Very good quality tomatoes available this month, varieties include Field Gourmet, Flats, Gourmet Hydroponic, Red and Yellow Grape, Mini Roma, Red Cherry, Gourmet Roma and Hydroponic Truss. Tomatoes are an excellent source of vitamin C, a useful source of vitamin E and contain some vitamin A and dietary fibre.

Organics

Available from The Peanut Market - Produce hall (P11-13). Sam stocks a fabulous range of organic dried fruits, nuts, rices and flours from around the world. Try organic mulberries from Turkey for an instant burst of sweetness!

Flowers

Peony Roses
Long renowned for their large, often perfumed flowers, peonies have been prized for centuries by flower lovers. Flowers have several rings of petals, depending on the variety, with some looking like large ruffled garden roses. Single forms have 5 or more petals, and the fluffy yellow flower centre is clearly visible, while all you can see in double forms are ruffled petals. Flower colour ranges from pure white to pink and peach to clear red and dark maroon. Yellow forms are very rare, and there are no blue varieties – yet. Some forms, particularly double pinks, have a beautiful fragrance.

Delphinium

Delphiniums or Larkspur as they are commonly known have pale green hand shaped leaves from which appear 2m spire like stems completely covered with 3cm cup-shaped blooms. These blooms are mainly of blue and mauve colouring, from the palest baby-blue to darkest indigo, they are also available in shades of pink. Delphiniums are a wonderful vase flower due to their vivid colours and their structure and height.

Snapdragons
Snapdragons have upright stems and velvet-textured, tubular flowers; between 10 and 15 blooms appear on each flower spike, opening from the bottom up. The flowers have a distinctive shape as the petals have fused to form a kind of hood that overhangs a large lip that resembles a dragon’s mouth. They come in a rainbow of colours (almost every shade except for true blue), and some varieties are bicoloured. When preparing to put in a vase – pinch the bud off each stem as this is a preventative for stem bending.

Ranunculus
Ranunculus grow with long straight stems, have a long vase life and bloom in beautiful shades of bold colours and pastels. They are known in the floral industry as a flower arrangers dream. They appear in single and double forms and colours range from bicoloured varieties to gold, pink, red, salmon, sunset orange, white and yellow. The bowl or cup shaped flowers are attractive in a vase on their own or look great mixed with other blooms and foliage.