Spring produce is here, but don’t rush out and buy these fruits just yet

Mangoes are good to go, but some other spring fruit is still underripe and overpriced. Here’s what to eat now and what to save for later.There’s something exciting about seeing new fruit on the shelves after months of Pink Lady apples and Imperial mandarins. While it’s tempting to go out and grab the first of everything the moment it appears, for some fruit and vegetables it pays to hold off. “Some of the early fruit is good, but generally, it’s a little bit underripe because it’s so fresh and young – and it can be a bit expensive too,” says Ben Quinlin, an account manager at fruit and vegetable wholesaler, Sydney Direct Fresh Produce in Huntingwood. Here’s what to eat now and what to save for later. Thanh Truong, aka Fruit Nerd, is celebrating mango season.Mark StewartLet’s go mangoMangoes are one thing you can go ahead and eat straight away, with the first crops arriving from the Northern Territory. Look for well-developed “shoulders”, that rounded fullness at the stem, a sign the fruit has ripened on the tree and will be extra flavourful and sweet. Kensington Prides are first through the farm gate and the best pick for early eating, going for around $4 each. R2E2s follow soon after, along with a few lesser-known varieties worth keeping an eye out for. The best recipes from Australia's leading chefs straight to your inbox.Sign up“Look for TPP1, Maha or Dragontooth mangoes, which are elongated mangoes that have less sour kick but are juicy and super sweet,” says Thanh Truong, better known as the Fruit Nerd. By October and November, supply will be abundant and you’ll start seeing good prices by the tray. Berries and cherriesSeptember and October are peak season for the NSW blueberry crop, which supplies more than 80 per cent of the country’s blueberries. “The quality of the fruit is really good at the moment, and the volume is on the way,” says Graham Gee, a senior buyer from independent greengrocer The Happy Apple in Ascot Vale and Seddon. If you’re big on jumbo varieties, there should be more of them around this year, with growers increasingly planting cultivars bred for size. Truong says to look for berries that are firm and plump with a nice bloom – that white dust on the skin, which means they were picked recently and handled with care. Show them off in this simple blueberry spoon cake by Danielle Alvarez. Danielle Alvarez’ blueberry spoon cake.Ben DearnleyStrawberries are cheap at the moment, too, going for about $2.50 a punnet, prompting a spike in Google searches for strawberry jam. “Turn the punnet upside down to look for full red colour all the way to the calyx (green leaf),” says Truong. “The more white flesh, the less ripe the strawberry is.” Raspberries and blackberries are around too, but won’t hit their stride until the end of spring. Cherries are in the same basket. The season runs for about 100 days and usually kicks off around Melbourne Cup (the first week of November). For the freshest fruit, look for a green stem, says Gee. RecipeTin Eats’ spring fling asparagus quiche.Photo: Rob Palmer. Styling: Emma Knowles.Spear huntingAsparagus fields are in full flush right now. Bunches are currently pricey, sitting around $5 each, but Jen Motta, a sales account manager at asparagus business Motta Produce, expects that to drop to $2 within a few weeks. Motta’s family grows both white and green asparagus on their farm in Koo Wee Rup, a town in the Cardinia shire of Victoria west of Melbourne, where 95 per cent of Australia’s asparagus is grown.White asparagus is a highly sought after specialty ingredient, grown under black tarps to block out the sun. The result is a pale spear with a milder, sweeter flavour. You can find Motta’s white asparagus on high-end restaurant menus, and if you’re lucky, at Costco. Green asparagus can be thicker or thinner, depending on when it’s harvested, or the age of the paddock, says Motta. “Often the asparagus at the start of the season is a bit thicker, and then it tends to get a bit skinnier towards the end, but one plant can also produce a really big stick and a really thin stick at the same time.” Thicker stalks are good on the barbecue or set in a quiche, while thinner spears are better blanched then tossed through a salad, like this asparagus, prosciutto and egg number. Fresh asparagus should snap cleanly when you bend it, says Motta, with tips that are firm and tightly closed. Preparing artichokes can be a labour of love.William MeppemChoke holdVictoria also grows around 80 per cent of Australia’s globe artichokes. “They’ll run until the end of October, but from now until mid-September is the best time to eat them,” says Ricky Mazaris from wholesale produce shop Mazcorp 5 at the Melbourne Markets. The easiest to find is the green globe, which is currently selling for about $2.50 a head, but the Italian purple varieties can be sweeter with less bitterness. Bigger heads will give you more meat on the leaves, and work well in pastas and salads, like Danielle Alvarez’ artichoke, garlic and mint tagliatelle. Smaller heads are more tender, with little to no spiky choke, and can be marinated whole. “Look for plump artichokes that squeak when you squeeze the leaves,” says Truong, which means they’re still full of water and haven’t started drying out. Spring produce has kicked off, says Graham Gee from The Happy Apple.Chris HopkinsPeachy keenQueensland stone fruit season gets going in September, but don’t expect a lot of sweetness straight away. “I usually wait a month in, until the fruit has been able to hang on the tree that little bit longer for those sugars to develop, so mid-spring is when you should start on stone fruit,” says Truong. Plums and apricots need even longer, he says.“Generally, they need full sun and heat to develop sugars and be picked ripe off the tree. Otherwise, they are bland and too sour.” There’s another good reason to wait a bit longer too. “When stone fruit gets into full season in summer, it generally pushes the prices down for all fruit.”From our partners