Queen Garnets to hit shelves this fortnight
WITH stone fruit season quickly coming to the end, it's good news for fans of the Queen Garnet plum with picking to start next week.
Pickers at Good Rich Fruit Company at Inglewood will soon begin harvesting this popular stone fruit variety.
Manager Rowan Berecry said the station would employ about 40 backpackers and university students to help pick the fruit for two to three weeks.
"We'll start picking at the end of next week at this stage, which is the usual time for us to harvest," Mr Berecry said.
"Like cherries and other stone fruit, our crop is down because of poor weather - we experienced some frosts through winter and then it rained right through flowering so we had poorer pollination than usual.
"We have only about a third of our usual crop and probably will be limited to Woolworths around Queensland and Northern New South Wales for this year."
Mr Berecry said a few small growers around Stanthorpe would also provide some fruit to this year's harvest of the stone fruit heralded for its superfood properties.
"About 200 tonne, or 40%, of our product will go to juice, and the remaining will be for fruit and probiotic which we have a huge demand for," he said.
"At this stage the price will be on par, if not slightly dearer, than last year."
Keep your eyes out for the plums at Woolworths in the coming weeks.
