Northland
Wendy Laurenson’s winter bounty.
Luckily, up here, winter is still a time of plenty. Just when summer fruit trees start to shut down for their seasonal sleep, subtropical fruit trees begin to produce their bounty. From May to September, there’s a continuous supply of local fruit for flavour and colour.
Feijoas are the first signal that the subtropical fruiting season has begun. Although the first feijoas ripen in early March, some of the later season varieties can still hang on the tree until early winter.
The stayers are the old favourites ‘Triumph’ and ‘Mammoth’, and the newer releases ‘Opal Star’, ‘Wiki Tu’ and ‘Golden Goose’.
Guavas are a great snack food for gardeners during the winter. The red and yellow cherry guavas are cousins of the feijoa, and begin to ripen just as feijoas are finishing. Birds also love them, so keep watch if you want to eat them fresh or pick them in bulk for making jellies.
Tamarillos are radiant red beacons on dull days. They ripen over several weeks
starting in April so are perfect for repeat winter picking. Harvest them when they colour up to their rich red or golden yellow, and leave the rest to ripen on the tree. Tamarillo lovers eat the fruit scooped straight from the skin, but tamarillos are also a great winter substitute for tomatoes in pasta sauces, salsa and chutneys.
So use them as a savoury, or sweeten them for a raw or cooked dessert.
Cape gooseberries are considered a weed by some gardeners up here because they seed down so readily, but to me they count as a real fruit and their lush ungroomed foliage is part of the appeal. The fruit’s intriguing net-casing provides protection until the ripening fruit is ready for release into the world. This can be anytime from December through to July, depending on when the plant selfseeds, or is cut back. They’re more of a curiosity, and a snack than a good meal, but I harvested a bowl-full from a mature self-sown bush recently. Great raw or cooked.
Persimmons are the superstar of winter fruit. Ripe persimmons glow flame-orange against a winter-blue sky and taste as good as they look, but their harvest window is just a few short weeks. Because most persimmons here now are the nonastringent ‘Fuyu’ variety, the crisp fruit can be picked and eaten as soon as they turn red-orange, or they can hang late-season like lanterns amongst the bare branches if there is protection from birds. Despite the tree being deciduous and able to withstand cold temperatures, ‘Fuyu’ persimmons need a long, warm summer to mature, and early or late frosts can damage the crop.
Citrus fruit have a winter harvest cycle within their greater yearround cycle.
Classic lemons such as ‘Yen Ben’, ‘Lisbon’ and ‘Villa Franca’ fruit in winter, so are great for hot toddies but frustrating for summer fishermen and gin drinkers who would prefer they flip their ripening season. However, ‘Meyer’ lemons are less seasonally confined. While their first fruit matures in early winter, they continue to bear for months with some older fruit still hanging in there when the next generation begins.
Frost tender limes are mature (therefore juicy) up here in autumn when their skin starts to turn a paler green than the immature fruit, but they are happy on the tree for some weeks turning yellow when the cold temperatures start. A yellow lime can be disconcerting to the uninitiated but the flesh remains green and the taste is still distinctly lime.
With mandarins, it is also the cooler nights that bring colour to their skins, indicating that the popular satsumas, ‘Miho’, ‘Okitsu’ and ‘Miagawa’ are ready to pick at the beginning of June; followed by ‘Silverhills’, and then clementines which will hold on the tree for weeks.
A grapefruit tree used to be a back garden essential, but as garden size shrinks and a generation of keen marmalade makers ages, grapefruit trees are harder to find. However, in these growyour-own days, they may be due for a nostalgic comeback as a great source of juice and a sharp start for breakfast. ‘Golden Special’, the traditional favourite, starts ripening in July and continues right through winter, as do the striking redfleshed ‘Star Ruby’ and orange/red-skinned ‘Cutler’s Red’.
The tart ‘Seville’ orange is also popular with marmalade makers, and it heralds the beginning of orange season in autumn. However, it is the stunning sweet navel orange (‘Washington’ or ‘Carters’) that is the real winter fruit treat.
When I first moved to Kerikeri, I spent a few weeks contract picking navel oranges in what was then the August school holidays, and although navel oranges often colour up earlier, it’s worth delaying picking until mid-August or September for really sweet juicy fruit. The bins of what looked and tasted like winter sunshine had such a big impact on me back then that they were the catalyst for my horticulture career. ✤