Striving for Exellence in Quality and Service

Tim Rose with Con The Fruiterer

ROCKLEA: Con Dikaletis, the iconic Greek fruiterer from 90s hit comedy series The Comedy Company, is so fired up about new research showing Australians are not eating enough fruit, he’s going on tour in Brisbane to encourage everyone to wrap their laughing gear around rich, succulent summer stonefruits while they are at their dribbilicious best.

Con visited the Brisbane Produce Market – Queensland’s only central fruit and vegetable market – on a `‘buying the best’’ mission, sharing with other greengrocers tips for storage, handling and how their customers can pick the best fruit.  He also chatted to other buyers in the industry from restaurants, cafes and food service businesses about the quality of the fruit on display, and ideas for preparing and serving summer stonefruit.

An alarming four in 10 Australians (39%) say they are eating less than the recommended two serves of fruit a day – be it fresh, dried, frozen or juice - according to a new Newspoll survey of 1200 adults.

And when it comes to fresh fruit, which packs the best nutritional punch, the figures are even direr with only half of all adults eating two serves a day dropping to 45% for men and just 41% in the case of 18- 34 year olds.
Con The Fruiterer, AKA renowned comedian Mark Mitchell, says Australian peaches, nectarines, plums and apricots are at their ‘suplime peek’ right now and should be gobbled up.

“I tell you something, Australia is the lucky country. We have some of the world’s sweetest, joosiest, unbelievit bewdiful summer stonefruit thanks to our warm weather, so go crazy and get stuck in while it’s fresh in-store for yous,’’ he says.

"I say to my bewdiful wife Marika, who is the whole world to me - well she’s the same shape - and my six daughters Roula, Toula, Soula, Voula, Foula and Agape, plus the two little gentlemens, Nic and Ric, we is so lucky we live the good life. We can eat as many plums, apricots, nectarines and peaches as we like because I own the shop. But for other Aussies, I worry they is not getting enough.”

Con’s Favourite Family Summer Stonefruit Treats
• Best of all is a bowl of bite-size pieces of stonefruit in their own nectar served cool with or without whipped cream
• For a tasty sauce with duck, fish, chicken or pork, juice stonefruit and add lime juice and chilli
• For something completely different make a peach syrup and pour over barbecued or smoked game such as kangaroo and emu
• Once fruit is past its best stew it or make crumble or pie
• Make jams and conserves so you can enjoy summer stonefruit throughout winter