Posted by kathryn in Fruit

Next on Q & A Month is a BIG and difficult question. Steve wants to know: bq. What is the deterioration rate of nutrients in fruit and vegetables – from the time they are picked, sold to you, kept in your fridge and finally eaten? Is it the same rate for all fruits and vegetables or do some lose their nutrients faster than others? This is a really hard question to answer, as there are so many ifs, buts …

Read more 14 February, 2008

Posted by kathryn in Fruit

Next on Q & A Month Sophia asks a question about sultanas: bq. I have an active little boy, nearly 2yrs old. I am trying to avoid too much sugar and processed food in his diet, so for snacks I give him a mix of sultanas, dried apricots and dried banana chips, as well as rice cakes. He especially loves sultanas . . . Is there such a thing as too many sultanas? . . . I give him …

Read more 28 January, 2008

Posted by kathryn in Fruit

• Obesity: Fascinating article on CalorieLab about the difference between Japanese and American cultures, food habits and attitudes to obesity. It’s written by Makiko from Just Hungry. There’s a follow up perspective here. * Beetroot soup: It’s been at least a month since I linked to the last beetroot recipe, so how could I pass up the opportunity to show off Green Gourmet Giraffe’s chunky beetroot soup with kidney beans? * Don’t know what to do with fish? Why …

Read more 25 January, 2008

Posted by kathryn in Fruit

This week I’ve eaten my first peach and mango of the season. Stood over the sink, with sweet, luscious juices drizzling down my chin. Two moments. Pure, meditative, pleasure. And while I ate them I thought how wondrous the flavour of fruit could be. I love seasons. Mangoes and lychees are my absolute favourite fruits, but I don’t want to eat them all year round. For me, that seems boring. Instead I want to miss foods. I want to …

Read more 01 November, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Fruit

• Eating more fruit: It’s a topic I’ve been writing about this week. Veggie Chic also has a useful post on 3 easy steps to eating more fruit. I particularly like the suggestion to find your own best time to eat fruit. Jul says “eating fruit when I’m at my hungriest makes me enjoy it more”. * How to change eating habits: Rudd Sound Bites asks why isn’t education enough to change eating habits?. There’s also an interesting discussion …

Read more 19 October, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Fruit

I’ve been pulled up on my last two posts in Q & A Thursday: * Are tomatoes part of your fruit or vegetable intake * Is fruit really important to a healthy diet? As Meg and Joanne have both commented there are other “vegetables” that are actually “fruits”. How do these fit into the whole fruit vs vegetables debate?. Hmm, I wasn’t counting on botany being used against me! Okay, it’s true I’ve over-simplified the message – something we …

Read more 18 October, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Fruit

The next post in Q & A Thursday partners the previous question: can you count tomatoes as part of your daily fruit allowance? Despite primarily being used as a savoury ingredient, tomatoes are actually a fruit. Botanically they’re the ovary and seeds of a flowering plant, the classification of a fruit. Tomatoes are therefore nutritionally flexible. You can count them as one of your vegetable serves or as part of your fruit intake. Tomatoes contain vitamin C and many …

Read more 18 October, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Fruit

I was asked a question about fruit this week: if you eat plenty of vegetables, do you need to eat fruit? Both vegetables and fruit are necessary in a healthy diet. While we sometimes clump them together in our head, and they come from the same part of the supermarket, they provide different nutrients. h3. Why you need fruit Fruit and vegetables do contain many similar nutrients. For example they’re both rich in potassium and fibre. However, you need …

Read more 18 October, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Fruit

It’s super-hot in Sydney today. Spring has barely sprung and yet temperatures are already topping 30°C. The wind is like being inside a hairdryer. We’re out of the awkward seasonal transition month of September, so produce choices are getting better and better. I’ve been eating lots and lots and LOTS of asparagus, it’s been super-cheap over the last few weeks. Blueberries are now coming to us from NSW, so they’re creeping down in price. On the other end of the …

Read more 03 October, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Fruit

My first guest post is up on Diet-Blog. For once, I didn’t write about vegetables or even beetroot. In fact, the post is all about apples. We often forget about this fruit, but it’s a nutritional wonder. So take a look at my post don’t forget the humble apple. Thanks to Jim at Diet-Blog for inviting me to write for them and welcome to all Diet-Blog readers. For more info on Limes & Lycopene click here. “Photograph by Jan …

Read more 21 September, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Fruit

September is one of those months in Sydney where fruit and vegie choices contract. Winter produce is drying up, while the spring fruit and veg just isn’t quite ready. Spring is definitely on its way, as I’ve spotted the first new season asparagus in a couple of shops! It’s pricey but looks beautiful. As the weather warms up more produce will become available. You can track the latest list of seasonal fruit and vegetables in Sydney, by watching the “what’s …

Read more 03 September, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Fruit

• I’m becoming a fan of Half of Me’s regular Lick The Produce section. I’ve linked to it before – hoping to inspire the vegie- and fruit-phobics out there. In this episode she tries mango, kiwi fruit and purple cauliflower for the first time. * The Guardian blog asks if you’re vegetarian and have given up meat then why do you eat so many meat-substitutes? The post is beautifully titled Hard-core Quorn. * Those of you following the “31 Days …

Read more 20 August, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Fruit

I’ve talked about the importance of fruit before, on many occasions. It’s full of fibre, vitamins and antioxidants – all of which are important for your energy levels. However many people seem to just forget about it. Therefore, today’s task in 31 Days to Better Energy is to eat two pieces of fruit. h3. What fruit should you eat? All fruit is good, so eat what you like. I don’t see any point in being a nutritional martyr and forcing …

Read more 05 August, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Fruit

Time for my monthly round-up of what’s in season here in Sydney. The big price rises that occurred in July are starting to settle down, although a lot of fruit and veg are still more exy than usual. Next month we’ll be in Spring, so the fruit and veg selection should start expanding. You can track the latest list of seasonal fruit and vegetables in Sydney, by watching the what’s in season category. h3. Fruit * Apples * Cumquats …

Read more 03 August, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Fruit

The first reader question in this week’s Q & A Thursday is from Joanne: bq. How much truth is there to the common idea that fruits and vegetables begin to lose some nutrition value after being cut up? For example, if I cut up fruits and vegetables and carried them around in a lunch box for a few hours before eating them? What if they sat in the fridge for more than a day, cut up? The best study on …

Read more 26 July, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Fruit

Vanessa has asked about food combining – is it: bq. better to eat fruit as it’s own meal or snack – rather than in a dish or along side a meal – because it digests quickly compared with other foods? The food combining approach to diet was first promoted by Dr William Hay in the 1920s. His eating plan – the Hay Diet – is still around today. In the Hay Diet all foods are seperated into three groups – ...

Read more 12 July, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Fruit

Half of me posts about the “adventures of a woman who once weighed 372 pounds but amazingly enough had not eaten every food on the planet. She’s going to change that, and she’s starting in the produce section.” Read more in her Lick the Produce section. The truth about women, hormones and weight gain: as Paula Goodyer writes “while hormones can sometimes be a factor in weight gain, for the overwhelming majority of us they’re not usually the primary cause.” ...

Read more 06 July, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Fruit

The recent heavy rainfall around Australia has been a wonderful for most farmers. Dams are filling, rivers are running again and the big picture is looking good. However, in the short term, the wet and unusually cold temperatures, mean most produce is growing very slowly. Over the next three to four weeks there will be short supplies and hence rising prices. In about a month’s time the situation should improve considerably and an increase in available produce will drive prices …

Read more 02 July, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Fruit

According to this article on the Wild Oats website, people in the US throw out 25% of the produce they buy, because it’s gone off . I suspect it’s a similar situation here in Australia. What a waste! The article is an excellent guide to getting the most out of your fruit and veg. It covers storage tips, information on why food goes off and (my favourite part) a list of the fastest to the slowest spoilers. You can use …

Read more 22 June, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Fruit

Time for the regular monthly list of what’s in season in Sydney at the moment. For the latest list of seasonal fruit and vegetables see the What’s in season category h3. Fruit * Apples (many varieties including fujis, granny smiths, red delicious, pink ladies, jonathons and golden delicious) * Avocadoes * Bananas (although they’re going up in price) * Chokoes * Custard apples * Dates * Grapefruits (the ruby grapefruits are especially beautiful at the moment) * Kiwifruit * Lemons …

Read more 05 June, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Fruit

• Diet blog reports on a study which found overweight adults who were instructed to focus on lower-calorie foods lost more weight than those who were simply told to cut their overall calories. It’s about focussing on what you can eat, rather than what you can’t. * Vanesscipes posts a gorgeous apple walnut salad with rhubarb compote dressing, inspired by Barbara Kingsolver’s new book – Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. * There’s been a wonderfully vibrant, impassioned and smart debate over at …

Read more 01 June, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Fruit

I’ve just been eating a beautiful organic pear and thinking about my other gripe around the super-food concept. It sets up a small and restricted group of foods as being the only ones worth bothering about . As though these were the only foods you needed in your diet. Which is rubbish. We need variety, we need all sorts of different foods to give us a balanced diet. Yes, the superfoods are high in nutrients and, yes, they do contain …

Read more 29 May, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Fruit

I’m not a big fan of the “superfood” concept. Well, it’s not so much the concept itself, as all the promotion and marketing that’s taken over. It seems every year there is a new “superfood”, the one we HAVE to eat in order to have optimum health. This year’s is always bigger and better than last year’s. The latest super-food is never something we eat as a normal part of our diet – it’s always someting super-expensive and hard …

Read more 29 May, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Fruit

Time for the monthly list of the fruit and vegetables in season. Fruit: * apples (fuji, golden delicious, granny smiths, gala&jonathons) * avocadoes (fuerte&hass) * bananas * chokoes * custard apples * dates * grapefruits (yellow&ruby-reds) * grapes * kiwifruit * lemonade fruit * lemons * limes * mandarins (imperials) * nashi pears * oranges (navels&valencia) * passionfruits * pears (packham, williams&beurre bosc) * persimmons * plums * pomegranates * quinces * rhubarb * tamarillos Vegetable: * asian greens * ...

Read more 03 May, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Fruit

A couple of weeks back I made some more muffins. This time I had two little helpers – a two and a four year old who were staying with us. The four-year-old only liked apples, so I adapted my usual recipe and this time I used tinned Baker’s Apple. SPC Ardmona make a variety that is 100% apple – no sweetener and no juice. It’s like using chunky stewed apple, but quicker and easier than making your own. I didn’t …

Read more 17 April, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Fruit

Nice writing from Guardedly Optimistic : a risk vs reward analysis of . . . fruit. Thanks to At My Table for pointing to this post. Photo by Hdy under the terms of the Creative Commons License.

Read more 14 April, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Fruit

In amongst the anti-fruit-juice posts this week, Andrew asked whether vegetable juices were any different? We tend to lump fruit and vegies together in our heads and nutritionally they do have similarities. However there are a number of key differences, which makes including both of them in our diet important to our health. It also means that vegetables are a much better juicing option. While some vegetables have really good levels of vitamin C (think capsicum and anything green …

Read more 04 April, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Fruit

April is here, while we’re still having beautiful weather, the mornings are getting more crisp. Autumn is upon us. So what fruit and veg are in season this month? h3. Fruit: * Apples (especially Jonathon, Royal Gala, Pink Ladies&Red Delicious) * Avocadoes (particularly Fuerte) * Bananas * Custard Apples * Fuji fruit * Grapes (although the main season is probably over) * Guava * Kiwifruit * Lemons * Limes * Mandarins (Imperial) * Melons (while they’re going out of …

Read more 03 April, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Fruit

Some good advice from Choice on juices for babies. Golden Circle, Heinz and Just Juice have started selling specific Baby Juice. Despite the packaging and marketing, they’re nothing extraordinary, but are simply watered down to better suit the baby’s digestive system. The choice advice includes: * Always dilute it for your child – about one part of juice to one or two parts of water gets the sugars down to a level they can manage. * Never give juice or …

Read more 31 March, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Fruit

As I’ve blogged about , juices are not necessarily all they’re cracked up to be. Yes, they contain vitamins and antioxidants, but that’s mixed up with a whole lot of kilojoules and no fibre. 1 glass of orange juice (ie 250ml) is more than 500 kilojoules, which is equal to : * 2 bananas * 3 small apples * 3 punnets of fresh strawberries * 3 oranges * 2 tablespoons of sultanas So, if you’re drinking a few glasses of …

Read more 30 March, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Fruit

While we’re on the subject of juice , under the heading Juice – it’s a health miracle , Weighty Matters points out the effectiveness of marketing by the juice industry. Here in Australia, just think about how ubiquitous ads, instore promotions and marketing are by the big juice companies: Just Juice, the Daily Juice Company, Berri and so on. While at the Diet Dish , Cynthia Sass discusses a UK article stating it’s not uncommon for the average woman …

Read more 28 March, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Fruit

A while back Cooking Chat asked a question in the comments on my post about antioxidant supplements – are juices a good way to get your daily fruit serves? I can totally understand the attraction of juice – they’re sweet, easy to consume, tasty, no fussy cutting up or messy fingers at the end, you can buy them anywhere and they’re made from fruit, so they must be good for you? However, it’s not that simple. Fruit is part of …

Read more 28 March, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Fruit

Ribena manufacturer GlaxoSmithKline have dobbed themselves in to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission for misleading advertising. Apparently their claim that ribena contains four times more vitamin C than oranges, is not entirely true. They are already under investigation in New Zealand and will be in court next week facing more than 80 charges relating to misleading claims. Back in January Choice included ribena in their list of the _ * Ten foods that make kids fatter faster ...

Read more 22 March, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Fruit

Yikes, I’m so behind with my blogging that I’ve forgotten my monthly what’s-in-season list. It may be the middle of the March, but here’s my list of the in-season fruit and vegetables in Sydney at the moment. We’re into autumn, so they types of fruit and veg available are gradually starting to shift. Stone fruit and berries are going out of season this month, which will be reflected in sharp price increases. While the new season apples, pears and nashis …

Read more 16 March, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Fruit

I’ve had a lot of deadlines recently, which has made it hard to blog with my usual regularity. I’ve been writing articles, recipes, sending out newsletters and finalising details of a new monthly column. In amongst this I’ve been seeing clients and been putting together two new seminars ( here and here ) at the clinic. On top of that, Richard and I are beavering away on a new project. It’s very exciting, but not due for release until later …

Read more 07 March, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Fruit

Below is my regular list of the fruit and vegetable in season in Sydney this month: Fruit: * Avocado * Bananas * Blackberries * Blueberries * Figs * Grapes * Kiwifruit * Limes * Lychees * Mangosteens * Melons * Nashi pears (the first of the new season nashis will become available this month) * Nectarines * Oranges (valencias) * Passionfruit * Peaches * Pears (Howell&Williams) * Persimmon * Pineapples * Plums * Rambutans * Raspberries * Strawberries Vegetables: * ...

Read more 03 February, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Fruit

The December edition of Life etc is out. This month’s regular Ten Minute Kitchen features berries and as per usual includes three of my recipes, (which can all be prepared in under ten minutes). You can download the recipes from their website , but the magazine also features a good article by Joanna Macmillan-Price on fighting fat in your 40s, advice on buying fair trade goods, as well as ways to prevent dementia.

Read more 15 December, 2006

Posted by kathryn in Fruit

Last week the Chief Health Officer of NSW released a report into the health of NSW people . While we’re living longer, the levels of chronic diseases, like cardiovascular disease and diabetes are on the increase. Moreover, the number of overweight and obese people in NSW is growing, up to 57.5% of men, 42.3% of women and nearly a quarter of school children. We’re also seeing a rise in lifestyle related diseases such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes. So, we’re …

Read more 14 December, 2006

Posted by kathryn in Fruit

December is here already, which means we’re well into the summer fruit season. Bananas are definitely coming down in price, while they seem to be averaging $8.99 – $9.99 a kilo, I did buy some for $4.99 / kg last week! Anyway here is the list of the fruit and vegetables that are in season in December: Fruit: * Apricots (down to $3.99 / kilo in my local shop) * Avocadoes * Bananas (expect them to “continue coming down in …

Read more 04 December, 2006

Posted by kathryn in Fruit

Coming from the UK most of my family Christmas traditions revolve around turkey, roast potatoes, gravy, Christmas pudding, fruit cake, mince pies – heavy, heavy foods that we only eat once per year. A more recent tradition for me though, is panettone.Since moving out of home I’ve always lived in the inner west of Sydney, surrounded by a large proportion of Sydney’s Italian community, as well as Italian delis, cafes, foods, restaurants and so on. At this time of …

Read more 30 November, 2006

Posted by kathryn in Fruit

I’ve seen bananas selling for $9.99 in two different locations this week. While a year ago it would be madness to regard this as “cheap”, it’s significantly better than the $14.99 prices we’ve been seeing over the last few months. Following the havoc caused by Tropical Cyclone Larry in March, early predictions were that banana supply would be restored by September of this year. However wet weather in north Queensland, particularly around Tully and Innisfail, delayed the planting of new …

Read more 21 November, 2006

Posted by kathryn in Fruit

Hmm, already seven days into the month and I’m finally getting to the list of what’s in season at the moment. Sorry folks, better late than never . . . All the “in season” lists I’ve seen so far have listed bananas, but price-wise they’re still rivalling gold bullion, so I’m not including them. Surely they have to come down in price some time soon? Fruit: * Apples (Lady Williams) * Apricots are coming into season, although they’re still exy …

Read more 07 November, 2006

Posted by kathryn in Fruit

One of the many fine things about summer in Australia is the fabulous fruit – mangoes, nectarines, peaches, cherries, melons, lychees are all grown in this country and quality is fabulous. However, it seems this summer is going to be a mixed season. While the mango harvest in the Northern Territory is going to be huge , there will be a shorter supply of other stonefruit.  A few weeks ago frosts in the Goulburn Valley destroyed a significant portion of …

Read more 18 October, 2006

Posted by kathryn in Fruit

I grew up in the UK in the 70s and 80s, a time way before Jamie, Nigella, Gary, Ainslie, Rick, Gordon et al started redefining British food. This was the time of roast dinners, semolina pudding, Victoria sponges, steak and kidney pie, toad in the hole, gammon and pineapple. A time when kedgeree was exotic, pasta was a weird “foreign” meal and Angel Delight was considered sophisticated. In talking to my mum about the spices she used when I was …

Read more 16 October, 2006

Posted by kathryn in Fruit

While stonefruit may be a problem this year, it seems the Northern Territory (NT) is heading for a bumper mango crop. Estimates are they will send 2.5 million trays to market. Given that melons and mangoes will be in peak season at the same time, according to the ABC , there may be a shortage of the refrigerated trucks used to transport the mangoes down to Sydney (oh yes and other places too). In fact, growers may be forced to …

Read more 04 October, 2006

Posted by kathryn in Fruit

Reports today on the ABC confirm that about 50% of Goulburn Valley’s fruit crops were destroyed in