She’ll be apples?

Over the last few months there has been a great deal in the press about the threat to our apple growers from the importing of apples from New Zealand and China.  New Zealand is afflicted with the bacterial disease called “Fire Blight” which, at it’s worst, can destroy an entire orchard in one season.  The  Australian government has, so far, resisted the  NZ imports by imposing very strict importing regulations on their fruit, although the WTO may yet force us to revise these decisions.  However, the federal government has not been so tough with other countries, with the result that later this year we will see the first imports of apples from China.

China is the largest producer of apples in the world and  exports more than any other country – indeed most of the apple juice concentrate used here is probably of Chinese origin.  In the interests of Fair Trade agreements and the capitalist machine, I guess that we will just have to “suck it up”, but before we do, I would like to share a few little thoughts I have on the subject.

Agriculture in Australia is fairly strictly regulated – especially in relation to growing practices and the use of various pesticides and chemicals.  Even if we choose not to eat organic produce we can rest relatively securely in the knowledge that  we can, at least, inform ourselves of what has been used on our food.  This cannot possibly be the case with the Chinese product.  While there are very large, efficiently run Chinese government orchards, a significant proportion of the imported fruit will come from small orchards.  There are so many of these tiny, family run concerns – sometimes only an acre or so in size – that it is impossible to believe that Australian bio-security inspections are going to be carried out on the majority of them, thus leaving us with no real confidence about their growing methods.  Added to this is the concern around the fact that all fresh produce that is imported to Australia is treated chemically with methyl bromide, a known carcinogen, as I mentioned in my earlier post on garlic.

I guess this wouldn’t be a major problem if we could rely on the fruit being clearly labelled in the stores so that we are able to make our own decisions, but  Australian labeling laws are such that it can be impossible to know where something has been grown.  Using the example of the imported apple juice concentrate – if it is packaged here in Australia in packaging manufactured here, it can be labelled as a product of Australia!  I spoke to the chairman of the Lenswood apple growers Co-op, Mr. Cam Stafford, about how we will be able to select locally grown apple from the imported ones and he stated that there will some difficulties with this.  According to him, the giant supermarkets are very reliable in their badging of imported and local produce, but many of the smaller shops are not.  This leaves us, as consumers, reliant on the policing of these Acts – a job which is the responsibility of yet another player, local governments.

Ultimately, it is up to the consumer to make a choice about what produce they buy, but it seems we won’t be given the right to make a fully informed choice about these imports.  Yet another reason to head off to the local farmers market or  to put an order in with Food Connect!

When you do get your hands on some really nice, local apples here is something to try.  I posted this on my “What’s in the Box” section back in May, but if you don’t get the boxes you may have missed it and that would be a shame as it is a simply divine way to serve apples – either as part of the main course or dessert.  I have cooked both pork loin and beautiful, Berkshire pork chops with this and the family have loved both.

CARAMELIZED GRANNY SMITH APPLES & PORK

5-6 Granny Smiths
2-3 Tbsp butter
1/2 cup honey
1 tsp Chinese 5 spice
Pork loin or pork chops
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
Chinese 5 spice

Peel, core and slice the apples and toss in a greased baking dish. Melt the butter and honey together, add the 5 spice and toss the apples in this mixture.
Cook in moderate oven for 20-30 minutes, until softened.
Coat pork with olive oil, season with salt and pepper, and sprinkle with 5 spice powder.
Quickly sear to brown in a hot pan.
Place meat on top of apples and continue to bake in oven for 15-20 minutes, or until pork is done and the apples have started to caramelize.
Printable recipe CARAMELIZED GRANNY SMITH APPLES.

Oh, and one more thing – guess which export market opened up for Tasmanian apple growers in June (as per this ABC story)!

Go figure!!?

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