Rainbow Chard – Spicers Vineyards Estate
Spicers Vineyards Estate will be harvesting Rainbow Chard from their market garden in the coming weeks and, most importantly, the chefs are busy preparing a new dish on the menu to feature this home grown produce.
Rainbow chard is a delicious and very colourful cousin of silverbeet. The young leaves can be eaten fresh out of the garden, and be sure to eat the coloured stems as well as the leaves!
River Mint – Spicers Peak Lodge
Planted in summer for an Autumn harvest, Spicers Peak Lodge will be celebrating this little gem on their new menu, accompanied by a mouth-watering Murray Cod.
This is a subtle Australian native herb with the taste and aroma of spearmint. Indigenous Australians also used this herb for medicinal purposes. While it may be subtle, Australian herbs are very strong in flavour, so a few leaves plucked from the bush go a long way in complementing our Murray Cod with Borscht.
Mandarin – Spicers Clovelly Estate
Mandarin season is officially upon us once again! As temperatures lower moving into April, the first Imperial Mandarins will begin to be harvested on the Sunshine Coast Hinterland.
Packed full of juicy sweet citrus flavour, this delightful little fruit is a perfect addition to both sweet and savoury dishes and will soon feature within dishes on both The Long and Short Apron menus.
Quince – Spicers Balfour Hotel
Coming into season this autumn, quince, a close friend to the apple and pear, will soon be harvested near Brisbane.
As raw quince has very hard flesh and skin, the fruit must be baked or simmered to both soften and release its unique flavour and aroma. Locally sourced quince will be used to create a sweet paste to accompany cheese and incorporated into dessert dishes.
Rambutan – Spicers Tamarind Retreat
Lychees are coming to the end of their season and rambutan’s are starting to come into season. The name rambutan comes from the Malay word “rambout” meaning hairy and originated from Malaysia and Sumatra.
Rambutan’s have a sweet flesh with a mild acid flavour, which is very refreshing. Our chefs use rambutan’s with our chocolate desert to cut through the richness of the chocolate. They are also beautiful in a duck red curry. Not the most popular or well recognised fruit (in Australia) however will always be found in the Tamarind Restaurant during Autumn. Keep an eye out for them next time you are at the markets or your local green grocer!
Persimmons – Spicers Sangoma Retreat
Persimmons are currently starting to ripen around the local area including down the road from the retreat.
Persimmons grow on trees and look like a pumpkin coloured tomato. They are finely shaved and fermented to change the flavour dramatically and then served with basturma, chilli pickled radish and spiced hummus.
Beetroot – Spicers Hidden Vale
As one of the largest growers of beetroot in Australia, the Lockyer and Fassifern Valleys provide Homage with beetroots all year round.
Belonging to the same family as our Rainbow Chard and proving as versatile as papaya, beetroot accompanies Tangoa venison, Forest Hill kale, and Illarwarra plums on Homage’s a la carte menu.
