Great Ocean Food: Take some time to enjoy the fruits of spring

The countryside is about to explode with new growth. Like most people, I enjoy this time of year. Having been through a particularly cold and sadly somewhat dry winter, the trees sense it’s now time to spring back to life. For many years, I did not appreciate this enough.

Yes, I would smell the spring jasmine and admire the beauty of flowers this time of year, but the longer we have lived out of town, the more you observe the flora and fauna. What I had not noticed is how the gum trees flower and grow so vigorously. Take some time to look at all the trees at the moment. It is incredible how quickly they grow this time of year.

Ducks are extremely active at present and, like most birds are extremely defensive while nesting. My wife is horrified our Jack Russell will upset a pair of mountain ducks nesting quite close, but those ducks are smart. Their nest is in a tree hollow far from predators and they feed some distance from there so as not to give away its location. They are way ahead of our little dog!

My father keeps bees on our property and they too have become active. He checks them regularly and tells me the honey is building up quite nicely. In terms of food, spring really is the best of the seasons. It’s a crime not to take advantage of the abundance and quality of fruit and vegetables at the moment. But at times, it can be difficult for the consumer to understand seasonality.

Modern food production and transportation results in having access to non-seasonal food year-round. This is particularly true in Australia where the growing seasons vary so greatly north to south and east to west. This is good, but in some ways it distracts us from the seasonality of our own fruit and vegetables. Why would we remember that asparagus is grown locally in spring and early summer when it is available year-round at the supermarket?

When not in season we simply import asparagus from Peru, Thailand, Mexico or the USA. Conversely, of course, we export 70 per cent of our asparagus crop to Japan where it is prized and available in their markets a staggering 30 hours after harvesting in Koo Wee Rup. Despite what Donald Trump fantasies, we really do live in a global market.

My preference is to source seasonally. Not for the sake of following some grandiose foodie mantra shoved at me by a celebrity chef; but simply to enjoy each season in its own way. After all, Christmas day wouldn’t mean much if we celebrated it every week. Following is a recipe given to me by our local golf professional – everyone is interested
in food!