Your Cape Town Guide toThe Freshest Food in South AfricaWhen and where to buy the freshest fruit and vegetables?In Cape Town it is easy to get the freshest food in South Africa right at your doorstep. You will find good quality food in the supermarket chain stores like Checkers, Spar and Pick and Pay. But often fresher quality fruit and vegetables you will get from Woolworths stores, whose prices are correspondingly higher, and for bulk shopping try to get your fruit and vegetable shopping done at Fruit & Veg City Stores. But the freshest food in South Africa you will get at the weekly farmer’s markets or directly from the farms. Here is my guide to harvest times for food in South Africa so you will know what and when to get the freshest fruit and vegetables available in South Africa. SpringWhen spring arrives with longer sunshine hours and more warmth you will feel drawn outside and enjoy the lovely countryside around Cape Town. If you are interested to get the freshest food in South Africa you will love to go to the farmer’s markets and farm stalls which are popular with the locals and expats in Cape Town.Spring is the time for fresh strawberries and sweet ruby raspberries. So if you want to get the freshest fruit mother nature offers go fruit picking at a strawberry farm near Stellenbosch. At Polkadraai Strawberry Farm you can pick your own strawberries from the beginning of October. If you prefer to rest in the heat enjoy the majestic landscape in the Stellenbosch Mountains and let others do the picking for you and get your fresh strawberries and home made produce at the farm stall. Other fruit and vegetable in season are: Bananas, blueberries, cherries, kumquats, mulberries, pineapples, raspberries, rhubarb, strawberries Asparagus, zucchini (baby marrows), beetroot, cauliflower, cucumber, green beans, mangetout, mushrooms, peas, spinach, sugar snap peas SummerThe summer months December to February are the time to get the best berries fresh from the berry orchards: raspberries, blackberries, tayberries(which are a cross between Scottish Raspberries and American blackberries) and blueberries and brambleberries.My favorite place to get these delicious berries is to drive out to the Hillcrest Berry Farm near Stellenbosch, a mere 40 minutes from Cape Town. There Betty and Raymond O’Grady opened their berry farm almost 20 years ago. Nowadays you can combine your berry shopping trip to the lovely countryside with a stop at their scenic garden café where you can enjoy great creations of their cook, all incorporating some kind of berries. There is a good selection of other delicatessen in their adjacent shop too and you can get these delicious Hillcrest jams for a lower price that you would normally have to pay in the supermarkets. Frozen berries are available too. Another good place to do your own fruit picking is Klondyke Cherry Farm near Ceres. The cherry season is from end of November until end of December. I have not yet been at Klondyke myself but will try the coming season. One of my expatriate friends highly recommended it and is going there every year to get the freshest cherries. She makes the best cherry cake I ever tasted. Hmmm delicious! So stock up you freezer for Christmas and enjoy the best the Cape can offer. If you enjoy growing your own fruit and vegetables, that is easy with the Mediterranean climate in Cape Town. Actually the first house we lived in had some tomato plants growing in the garden. These red fruit are so sweet and ripe here, you will enjoy seeing them grow in your garden too. Just put some seeds in the ground, water them and you will have your own harvest for the whole summer. Other great fresh food in South Africa which is available in summer time: Artichokes, apricots, bananas, cherries, granadillas, grapes, litchis, mango, mulberries, nectarines, peaches, plums, pomegranates, prickly pears, pineapples, quince, rhubard, sweet melons(spanspek), watermelons Asparagus, aubergines (brinjals), beans, cabbages, chillies, cucumbers, lettuce, mangetout, potatoes, radishes, onions, peppers, sugar snap peas, tomatoes, wild rocket (rucola), zucchini (baby marrows) AutumnMarch to Mai is the Harvest season for many of the South African food produce.The Elgin Valley near Grabouw is the main producing area for apples in south Africa. 60% of South Africa’s apple crop is harvested in the Grabouw region, just one hour outside of Cape Town. Tasty fresh farm produce, with a wide range of apple varieties is offered by the Houw Hoek Farm Stall on the N2. So make sure to take a stop at the little shop and coffee on way to see the whales in Hermanus. Another great and delicious South African food in season is the avocado. You will love the buttery taste of the deep yellow-green stone fruit which is growing here in our garden too. This special cultivar of a local avocado variety is grown by a friend. Doesn’t hat make you hungry?
Apples, avocados, dates, gooseberries, figs, granadillas, grapefruit, grapes, lemons, oranges, pears, plums, prickly pears Beetroot, butternut pumkin, chillies, green beans, horseradish, leeks, mushrooms, radishes, spinach, squashes, sweetcorn, sweet peppers, sweet potatoes WinterThe winter months June to August still yield a grand variety of fresh fruit and vegetables in South Africa. For cooking your hearty meals in winter you will be spoilt by choice. Should you take the fresh green broccoli or Brussels sprouts or do you like a yummy pumpkin soup or even try a typical South African Waterblommetjie soup?Do you know the delicate taste of the orange Cape Gooseberries which are a expensive delicatessen overseas? In Cape Town you can indulge in the Vitamin C packed fruit without getting broke. Enjoy in this season the following food in South Africa: Avocados, bananas, Cape gooseberries, grapefruit, guavas, kiwi fruit, kumquats, lemons, naartjies, oranges, pawpaw (papaya), pears Aubergines (brinjals), beetroot, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, butternut pumpkin, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, celery, chicory, fennel, garlic, ginger, green beans, leeks, mushrooms, parsnips, peas, potatoes, pumpkin, sage, baby spinach, sweet peppers, sweet potatoes, watercress, waterblommetjie
For delicious recipes and further references about food in South Africa I recommend: Marita Pieterse: Four Seasons: Cooking throughout the year in South Africa Struik Publishers 2006 One of my other favorites to read and to get to know new food and learn about the food in seasons in South Africa is the TASTE magazine of supermarket chain Woolworths. The monthly edition costs R26.95 and is available in every Woolworths store.
|
