Smash down the Tassie avocado barrier

AVOCADOS grown in Tasmania are just better — and it is time for consumers to recognise the fact, writes Elaine Reeves.

Paul Bidwell with some of the avocados they will soon be harvesting.

THOSE in the know have long appreciated the richer, creamier flavour of avocados grown here in Tasmania.

But as Dick Shaw planted only 120 trees at Spreyton in 1995, which produce about 500kg a year, not many of us can be in the know.

Paul and Maria Bidwell came here on holiday from Western Australia, saw Dick Shaw’s fruit and decided this would be a great place in
which to downsize their avocado efforts.

Managing 2500 trees in WA was getting too much once their youngest child graduated and was not available for summer harvest, so in 2009 they moved to North Motten, near Ulverstone, and planted 1260 trees — and called it Avoland.

Although regarded as a tropical fruit, avocados actually grow in elevated areas of the tropics, where winter nights can be quite cold and give the trees the winter chill they need to flower. At latitude 41 degrees, the Bidwells are the most southerly commercial growers in the world and, Paul says, are achieving remarkable results.

Not having had locally grown avocados in quantity before, Tasmanians do not realise what they have been missing.

Avocados trees are unusual in that two crops can grow on the tree at the same time. The industry standard is that avocados should not be picked until they contain 23 per cent dry matter, which here will happen about October after they flower the previous spring.

However, the Bidwells let the fruit stay on the tree until it is fully mature and the dry matter is 35 or 37 per cent, at which stage they also have much more oil so are creamier.

By this time the fruit has been on the tree for 15 months and the small fruit that started the most recent spring is also growing.

Avocados imported into Tasmania are likely to have been picked at the earlier, 23 per cent dry matter stage.

Avocados do not ripen on the tree. Once the fruit is mature it signals to the tree to stop sending nutrients and it can then can stay on the tree until it is picked to order.

Although regarded as a tropical fruit, avocados actually grow in elevated areas of the tropics, where winter nights can be quite cold

In hotter climates the oil in the avocado would go rancid if it was not picked at maturity.

Once the avocado is picked it starts to ripen, which can take a couple of weeks. However, avocados brought in from Queensland or Western Australia may have been picked as long as three weeks before you buy them.

At a certain state avocados can get chill burn if they are stored at less than 5C. And sometimes, Paul says, they are stored with other fruit at 2C for shipping. The chill that results makes them go brown inside. It’s not rot, Paul says, but it is off-putting, and there is no way of knowing it has happened until you cut the avocado open.

At the moment, all Avoland avocados are sold here in Tasmania and are picked to order — although that may have to change as the crop gets bigger and cool-climate avocados become more widely appreciated.

The crop is mostly Hass avocados, which start out green, but the skin turns black when fully ripe.

Paul and Maria sell at Harvest Market in Launceston every week, and in Hobart they are sold through Fork to Fork, the buying scheme run by Sprout in Hobart, which for now is available to only shopkeepers and cafes.

Salamanca Market stall Harvest Feast has Avoland avocados every week. Owner Michelle Dyer has been ripening some, so you can chose ready to go or ripen at home. Put avocados in the fridge to slow ripening or in a paper bag with a banana to speed it up. Local avocados are likely to be available right up to June.

Relish the tomato

On Sunday, there’s a Tomato Fetish Festival at the Huon Producers Market on the Esplanade at Huonville from 10am to 2pm. Be there to see more than 100 different heirloom varieties (and sample some), buy seeds for next year, dance the salsa, eat tomato ice cream or drink a Virgin Mary.

See the Huon Producers Facebook page for more information.