Best Winter Vegetables to Buy in Queensland

Winter is the best season for vegetables in Queensland. Cooler nights, better flavour, bigger heads on the brassicas, sweeter root vegetables. If you want to eat well on a budget, shop the winter veg harder than any other time of year.

Here is what is on our shelves at Fresh Country Markets Booval right now, where it comes from, and what to do with it.

Broccoli

Peak season June to August. Most of our broccoli comes from the Lockyer Valley, about an hour west of Booval. Look for tight, dark green heads with no yellowing and firm stems.

A loose, open head means the broccoli has started to flower, which is a sign it has been sitting too long. We turn ours over daily.

Cauliflower

Dense, white, creamy heads with no brown spots. Cauliflower is stunning in winter. Roast whole with olive oil and salt until the outside is caramelised. Or make a classic cauliflower cheese. Soups are excellent too.

One cauliflower feeds a family of four with leftovers. Great value for the dollar in season.

Sweet Potato

Bundaberg is the main growing region for Queensland sweet potato. Winter crops are the sweetest because cooler nights let the plant store more sugar in the tubers.

Gold sweet potato is the classic. Purple varieties are nuttier and a bit firmer. Both roast beautifully. Both make excellent chips. Both work in curries.

Pumpkin

Three pumpkins you will see on our shelves this winter:

• Butternut: The everyday pumpkin. Sweet, smooth, great for soup.
• Kent (Jap): Denser, sweeter, holds its shape when roasted.
• Queensland Blue: Strong flavour, great for curry.

Pick a pumpkin by weight and by the stem. A dry, hard stem means it was cured properly. A green, soft stem means it was cut early. Check our pumpkin guide for more.

Carrots

Gatton and Lockyer Valley are the main Queensland carrot regions. Winter carrots are sweeter than summer carrots. That is not marketing. Cold nights slow the plant down and let the sugars concentrate.

Buy Dutch carrots with their tops still attached if you want the freshest. The tops die back fast once cut, so their presence is a freshness signal.

Beetroot

Earthy, nutritious, deep red or sometimes golden. Beetroot is underrated. Roast it whole in foil for an hour, let it cool, peel with a paper towel, slice over salad. That is it. No other technique needed.

The tops are edible too. Sautee them with garlic like silverbeet.

Leafy Greens

Winter greens thrive in cool weather. What to look for:

• Silverbeet: Firm stems, glossy dark leaves.
• Kale: Curly or Tuscan, both excellent for soup.
• English spinach: Small, tender leaves, good raw or wilted.
• Bok choy, choy sum: Asian greens that are brilliant in stir fries.

Our full leafy greens guide goes deeper on each of these.

Mushrooms

Mushroom demand spikes in winter because they work so well in soups, risottos, slow cooks. Button, Swiss brown and Portobello are the staples. Shiitake and oyster mushrooms are worth a try if you want a deeper, meatier flavour.

Store mushrooms in a paper bag in the fridge. Never plastic. Plastic holds moisture and mushrooms go slimy.

Root Vegetables

Parsnips, turnips and leeks are the underrated winter heroes. Parsnip roasts with the same technique as carrot but finishes sweeter. Leeks replace onion in a richer, more subtle way. Turnips are a texture and flavour hit in slow-cooked dishes.

All three come from Lockyer Valley growers in winter.

Shopping this week

If you are doing a weekly shop at Fresh Country Markets, a good winter basket might be: a large pumpkin, a bunch of broccoli, a head of cauliflower, a kilo of carrots, a bag of sweet potato, a couple of bunches of silverbeet or kale, a pack of mushrooms. That is soup, roast veg, stir fry and a curry base for under what you would pay at the supermarket, and the flavour will be sharper.

Check this week's specials to see what is sharpest on price right now.