With prices finally starting to drop and a bumper crop expected in the second half of the year, it is good news all round for avocado fans.
This winter avocado prices skyrocketed. with Statistics New Zealand consumer prices manager Matt Haigh confirming in May avocado prices had more than doubled from April 2015 and were at their highest level since July 2005.
By June, avocado prices were at their highest-ever price level, an average $4.61 for a 200g avocado, compared with an average price of $1.88 in June 2015.
While the prices kept Kiwi fans from their favourite toast topping, and even spawned an avocado black market, lovers of the fruit should be able to get their hands on a ready supply in coming months.
Part of the reason is simply that avocados are coming into season, but good crop quantities are also due to the fruit being ''irregular bearing''.
In other words, avocados are a species that produce in a continuous pattern of a small crop one year, followed by a large crop the next. And this year is shaping up to be a good one.
''There will be lots around,'' New Zealand Avocado marketing manager Midge Munro says.
Nadia Lim's smoky avocado, corn, roast red pepper and potato salad. Photo by Babiche Martens.
Nadia Lim's smoky avocado, corn, roast red pepper and potato salad
Serves 4
Ingredients
2 red capsicums
800g waxy baby potatoes, quartered
4 corn cobs
½ cup mayonnaise (or for a lighter version, mix half thick Greek yoghurt and half mayonnaise)
1 tsp smoked paprika
flesh of 2 firm ripe avocados, cut into chunks
½ small red onion, thinly sliced
juice of 1 lemon
1 cup basil leaves, torn
Method
1. Preheat oven to 220degC.
2. Place whole capsicums on an oven tray and roast for 20-25 minutes or until skin is charred and blistered. Remove and cool slightly before peeling off their skins. Cut flesh into strips.
3. Place potatoes in a large pot with plenty of cold water and one teaspoon of salt (optional). Bring to the boil, then add corn cobs and boil for 6-8 minutes until potatoes are tender and corn is cooked.
Drain potatoes and corn and allow to cool. Cut corn kernels off the cobs once cool enough to handle.
4. Mix mayonnaise or Greek yoghurt with smoked paprika.
5. Toss dressing with potatoes and season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Mix capsicum strips, corn kernels, avocados, red onion and lemon juice together.
6. Lightly toss with potatoes. Garnish with basil leaves just before serving.
- The New Zealand Herald, additional reporting by Otago Daily Times.
