Don and the Burke’s Backyard team visited Sydney Markets at Flemington. Markets are wonderful places to shop if you’re looking for new ideas or something just a little bit different. There are hundreds of stalls offering unusual fruit and vegetable varieties, fabulous flowers and floral decorations, curious plants and plenty of bargains.
Unusual fruit and vegies
Don looked at some strange varieties of vegetables and fruit, including Fuyu or non-astringent persimmons, African horned cucumbers, fruit salad plant (Monstera deliciosa), kaffir limes, rambutans, Jerusalem artichokes, jackfruit and longans. He also tasted a delicious acid fruit called a mangosteen. He found some Indian snake gourds, which are odd-looking members of the pumpkin family. They are eaten in salads, curries or even stuffed with meat.
Asian vegetables
Francis Nguyen showed Don some vegies used in Asian dishes. They included bitter melon (a light green, warty-looking member of the squash family), wing beans (used in stir-frys or soups), bamboo shoots (boiled, sliced and put into soups, salads and other dishes) and Thai ginger or galangal, which is much stronger than normal ginger and produces a fabulous ginger aroma when cooked.
For a stylish floral decoration, nothing beats dried lotus seed heads. They resemble shower roses! You can buy them at the flower section of the Sydney Markets, along with mini pineapples and ornamental mini corn, colourful bell chillis, gourds, proteas and saviour grass. All can be used to create stunning indoor decorations. Amaranthus is known at the markets as the dreadlock plant! Its leaves can be eaten and the seed is great food for budgies and parrots. Lucky bamboo (Dracaena sanderiana), the new rage plant, is available with the stems woven into corkscrews, hearts and towers. Put them in a vase of water and they will survive indoors for more than 6 months.
Further information
Sydney Markets are located at Flemington, opposite Sydney Olympic Park at Homebush Bay. Sydney’s Paddy’s Market is located at Flemington, and also at Haymarket, opposite the Entertainment Centre.
Hours:
Flemington
Sydney’s Paddy’s Market
Building D
10am-4.30pm Fri
9am-4.30pm Sun
Sydney Fresh Food Market
Building D
6am-2pm Sat
Sydney Swap & Sell Market
Building V
6am-2pm Sat
Haymarket
Sydney’s Paddy’s Market
10am-6pm Thurs
9am-4:30pm Fri-Sun
Phone: (02) 9325 6200 (general enquiries)
Email: [email protected]: www.sydneymarkets.com.au