New Stone Fruit
Most people like the taste of fruit but they often forget to eat it. In fact, on any given day almost half of Australian men and school age kids eat no fruit of any kind. According to nutritionist Rosemary Stanton, those people are missing out on important nutrients that keep them healthy. Fruit is an excellent snack food and it’s great value for money. It contains fibre, vitamins, minerals and antioxidants, but none of the nasties like fat and salt.
What to buy
At this time of the year a huge amount of delicious fruit is available and its quality is good. There are the traditional fruits of summer and autumn with melons, sweet grapes, new season’s apples and pears, and a huge array of stone fruit (peaches, plums, apricots and nectarines). But this year there is a new type of fruit around which is firm and crunchy yet sweet. They are new hybrids of peaches and nectarines sold as Zee Sweet® (see details below). Although a little more expensive than other stone fruits, they are very tasty and easy to eat.
Getting kids to eat fruit
To encourage children to eat fruit it is a good idea to give them small fruit (such as grapes) or fruit cut into small bits. Most kids love stone fruit and they tend to be a good size to eat. They have a serious drawback for school however as they squash easily in a kid’s lunch box and they are messy to eat. You can solve those problems by buying lunch boxes with separate fruit compartments. The new Zee Sweet® peaches and nectarines are also great for popping into a lunch box as they don’t become squashy as they are very sweet while still at the crunchy stage.
Details
Name: Zee Sweet® peaches and nectarines
Features: sweet flavoured, white-fleshed fruits which are completely different in taste and texture from other peaches and nectarines. These stone fruit are firm and crunchy when they are at their maximum sweetness. This has been achieved by ordinary plant breeding work to produce fruit that has low levels of fruit acids (which give fruit its tart taste).
In the garden: at the moment these trees are all orchard grown, however they need the same care and conditions given to traditional peaches and nectarines and can be grown in all areas that peaches and nectarines are currently grown.
Best climate: Zee Sweet® trees will grow in all but tropical Australia.
Getting started: Zee Sweet® nectarines and peaches will be in stock in fruit markets until the end of March. These new varieties will not be available for planting in home gardens until winter 2002. Commercial growers can contact Zee Sweet® Pty Ltd (part of Fleming’s Nurseries) for more information on (03) 9752 0933.