Fruit blog

Fruit Buyer’s Report | Fruitful Office Winter 2017-2018

Dear All,

Winter is generally less plentiful when it comes to available fruit varieties, but it is a time when the more standard, let’s say “essential”, fruit varieties really shine.

Winter is the season when apples, clementines and pears are at their very best – with local varieties often available. For example, we are still using English apples and these will continue to be available, at their best, for another two months. We have elaborated on these fruit in our previous update (Autumn 2017) so please refer to that for more detail.

We will therefore take this opportunity to describe some perhaps less common but nonetheless extremely exciting office fruit varieties you should look out for this winter (and which we will be including in our seasonal mix baskets):

• Lychees

The lychee is a rare sub-tropical fruit native to southern China. It is high in vitamin C, and the essential mineral potassium. They are also low in calories – with one lychee containing only about 7 calories.

• Kiwifruit

The kiwi is an edible berry: before becoming commercialised by New Zealand exporters as the kiwifruit in the 1960s, the fruit was known as the Chinese gooseberry. Kiwifruits contain about as much potassium as bananas, 1.5 times your DRI of vitamin C, and also contain vitamin E (particularly good for your skin).

• The blood orange

The blood orange is a variety of orange with a red-blushed orange skin and burgundy flesh. Blood oranges are rich in antioxidants (vital for healthy cells) and vitamin C (providing that immune system boost so welcome in winter months).

• Special apples: pink apples and the russet

Look out for Pink Lady, Pink Kiss or Cripps Pink apples. They all have beautiful skins and a wonderful sweet taste. The Egremont Russet is the third most common apple in cultivation in England and Wales. The name comes from the “russeting” found on this type of apple, which is a particular type of skin. It is English and we love it!

Remember that all fruit varieties contain lots of vitamins, which will help your immune system to fight off the flu and keep you healthy this winter. So eat plenty of fruit!

Stay healthy everyone.

Fruitful Office team