• Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Snapchat
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

MsMarmiteLover

  • Food
    • Recipes
    • Vegetarian
    • Vegan
  • Travel
    • France
    • Italy
    • Spain
    • UK
  • Wine
  • Gardens
  • Supperclubs/Events
  • About
    • Published Articles
    • Books
  • Shop
    • Cart

South African fruit: why you should buy it

March 10, 2014 3 Comments Filed Under: Food, Recipes, Uncategorized

South Africa’s beautiful colourful stone fruit, plums, on the Babylonstoren farm

I’ve just spent the last week visiting fruit farmers in South Africa. I visited the orchards, the packing houses, the headquarters of their trade organisation (Hortgro), the houses of both farmers and workers, and projects for the workers. The latter included creches, nursery schools, soup kitchens, housing and medical programs. The biggest export market for South African fruit farmers is the UK and Europe, we are the closest Northern Hemisphere market for them. These guys, from the land of the big five (lions, elephants, rhinocerous, buffalo, leopard) talk to our big five supermarkets all the time (Tesco, Morrisons, Waitrose, Asda, Sainsburys). Here is a primer on what I learnt during my trip. Please feel free to comment below.

The Pink Lady apple
Why buy fruit in South Africa?
Seasonality: hey we have lots of marvellous British fruit, why are we buying their produce?
Their season doesn’t clash with ours. Our apples have run out by November, even the ones kept in cold storage. The South African/Southern Hemisphere fruit season starts in January, running through to June. If we want fresh fruit, we are obliged to import them.
The problem for South African fruit farmers is that we don’t associate fruits like peaches, nectarines, even plums, with winter food, we associate them with summer. They want us to eat their fruit during their season, when their fruit is ripe. Check out my plum clafoutis recipe here, a lovely warming winter pudding.
Food miles: isn’t this bad? Getting food from abroad? Aren’t we all supposed to source our food locally?
99% of South African fruit is shipped not flown. Once it’s picked and packed, it’s loaded into cool containers on ships and taken to the UK/Europe/the Middle East. As I said before, we are their closest Northern Hemisphere neighbours. Similar fruit grown in South America, gets exported to the North American market, Australian fruit is shipped to Asia, for example.

A township shop

Hail damage in the apples

Economically: buying South African fruit is helpful for the South African economy. The only way that a post-apartheid South Africa is going to work is if there are jobs. (Approximately one job is created per hectare of fruit farm). If parts of Europe are suffering from poverty and unemployment, you can believe that life is a whole lot tougher for South Africans. It’s true that many of the farmers are white, and many of the workers are black. There are BEE projects (Black Economic Empowerment projects) which encourage and support black farmers. But it’s not that simple. Farming is risky, always has been. We met one white farmer who lost his entire crop to hail last month, the damage will affect his fruit trees for years to come. Many farmers are ruined when there is adverse weather or say, poor exchange rates. While the white farmers have been doing this for generations, black farmers are new to the perils and pressures of running a farm. It will take time for them to get up to speed. I heard examples of the difficulties involved with BEE schemes: one government farm was given to a black guy who was previously a foreman of a farm. His workers didn’t respect him. They thought of him as one of them, not as the boss. Another example: a BEE project was run by a black farmer, it made a loss every year, then three years ago a coloured farmer took over, and it now makes a profit. This must be heart breaking for the black farmers; you suffer and agitate for change for years, you finally achieve your dream, you get your own land, but it goes wrong and you are defeated, it’s just too hard. Gradually however, the training programmes, the experience gained, will kick into place. South Africa is basically 20 years old, it’s new, there is a long way to go. As the richer Northern hemisphere, we owe it to them to trade with the poorer Southern Hemisphere. Although trade is also increasing within Africa itself.

Politics of Colour: South Africa, sadly, is still all about colour, just as the UK is all about class. The ‘shadism’ that operates still in South Africa is something to behold. Within the ‘rainbow nation’, you have white, black, coloured (Cape Malay) and even ‘brown’ as some people refer to South Africans of Indian origin. The Cape Malay/coloured farmers I spoke to at the BEE project said that under the ANC government, coloureds are considered ‘too white’ to benefit from government help. Whereas, bizarrely, Chinese people have been reclassified as ‘black‘, no doubt to obtain Chinese favour (China is investing heavily in Africa). However things ARE improving: there are now more rich black people in South Africa than rich white people. This is what is going to save South Africa. But many are concerned about the popular anti-white rhetoric of Julius Malema, former leader of the junior ANC, who is described as a mini-me Mugabe. Now Nelson Mandela’s gone, the passing of an era, the future of this beautiful country is going to be interesting.

Babylonstoren teacher with a pupil, they are always immaculate in their uniforms in Africa.

Maids, shopping in a South African supermarket. 

Kids from one of the social programmes, a creche for children, sometimes with foetal alcohol syndrome or HIV.
Primrose, a house mother for children who are left as orphans, often because their parents have died of Aids. She’s just had a food delivery from NorSA, in which there is also Marmite!

Social programmes: South African fruit farmers make sure their permanent workers are paid above the minimum wage and organise several projects to deal with health issues and education. We visited some of the homes of the permanent workers at the Cape Dutch Babylonstoren farm (which has a fantastic restaurant, garden and a stunning cookbook). Once they retire, they are allowed to stay in their homes for the duration of their lives. We also visited NorSA, located within a township, which is a combined Norwegian/South African social programme for orphans. NorSA place six children to a house, looked after by a ‘house mother’ such as Primrose above. This creates family style bonds with a ‘mother’ and siblings. NorSA also have a clinic. A third of black South Africans have HIV. This clinic gives out condoms (male and female, but sometimes they use the band around the female condoms as bracelets!) and perform HIV tests (nowadays the results are within 15 minutes). The creche and after school project educates the children from a very young age, which gives the best chance of turning their lives around. They have just had their first university graduate, something that would have been impossible with the help of NorSA. HortGro helps to finance this project.
If you would like to donate to the NorSA project, helping educate people within townships, provide HIV testing and healthcare, house HIV orphans with house mothers, please donate here. 

The NorSA clinic, which can now offer HIV tests that only take 15 minutes to get a result, plus contraception.

The colourful and well kept interior of a retired worker’s house, Babylonstoren farm.
Permaculture: South African fruit farmers are constantly evolving new methods of pest control which eliminate chemical spraying. We visited a fruit fly facility which sterilises the male fruit flies, hence the females lay eggs that do not hatch.
Developing new cultivars of fruit: we visited a lab which creates new types of apple, pear, plum. This is not GM food, it is done via old fashioned plant breeding programmes. I tasted several fruit that were the result of years of experimentation. It takes a long time to get one of these fruit into the market. One apple, a ‘zonga’, I really liked, a tart apple.
 “Who decides to go forward with this apple?” I asked the scientist.
 “The farmers do, it’s up to them, it’s totally subjective” he replied.
 “What about chefs? Do chefs have any influence on what you grow?”
 “No, none at all. It’s the farmers’ risk after all”. So far no farmers have chosen to grow the ‘zonga’.
Once a new cultivar is chosen, fees have to paid to the developers. For instance the ‘pluot’, a combination of plum and apricot, a favourite with chefs, was originally created in California. The farmers pay a royalty to the company that created it; an upfront amount and then a percentage of every sale.

The packing house has a kind of beauty, the aesthetics of repetition. 
Ever wondered who puts all the individual stickers on the fruit? Yes it’s all done by hand at the packing houses.

Marketing: despite the ‘5 a day’ marketing campaign, the British are eating less fresh produce every year. Partly this is down to price. Poorer families regard fruit, particularly soft perishable fruit which spoils easily, as a luxury item. If you are broke, you would rather buy tinned.

Less is spent on marketing fresh produce than junk food. Five million pounds a year is spent on advertising fresh fruit and vegetables, a pitiful amount considering that the sector is worth 1.5 billion pounds in the UK. The supermarkets also bear responsiblity for this situation; their mark-up on fresh produce is 40-50% while their mark-up on junk food, crisps etc, is in single digits.
Why is marketing important? Because it works, to a certain extent. The 1970s marketing drives for fruit such as Golden Delicious, Granny Smiths and ‘Le Crunch’ apples for example, is still influencing purchasing choices for shoppers. We’ve heard of those apples, so we buy them. This is why South African farmers are inviting food bloggers, journalists, chefs to taste their fruit, visit their farms. If we don’t know about their juicy, flavoursome fruit, we don’t buy it.

Apples, floating down the packing stream. 

Recent posts

midsummer supper club June 17th 2023 Msmarmitelover

My next supper club: midsummer June 17th

May 28, 2023

I organised a street party for the Coronation

May 10, 2023

The Seafood Shack in Ullapool, Scotland.

May 4, 2023

Previous Post: « Georgian plum sauce (tkemali)
Next Post: Introduction to ingredients from Southern Africa »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Mamacook

    March 10, 2014 at 9:35 pm

    Wow. Really interesting. Thank you.

    Reply
    • theundergroundrestaurant

      March 11, 2014 at 9:16 am

      Thank you! Maybe I should entitle this post, this is more interesting than it looks?

      Reply
  2. Arunah

    January 23, 2015 at 5:57 am

    No mention of the white farmers being tortured, slaughtered by black workers ? That’s also an interesting issue rarely mentioned in the mainstream media.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




Primary Sidebar

MsMarmiteLover aka Kerstin Rodgers.

Chef, photographer, author, journalist, blogger. Pioneer of the supperclub movement.

This is my food and travel blog, with recipes, reviews and travel stories. I also stray into politics, feminism, gardening.

Subscribe to my mailing list

msmarmitelover

Kerstin Rodgers/MsMarmiteLover
Midsummer supperclub 17th June book tickets here h Midsummer supperclub 17th June book tickets here https://msmarmitelover.com/product/midsummer-supper-club-tickets-june-17th at London’s pioneering supper club. Tickets £50 BYO. Scandinavian inspired summery food. #supperclub #msmarmitelover #midsummer #northwestlondon #londonevents #popups
Tina sweating through a gig at Brixton academy cir Tina sweating through a gig at Brixton academy circa 1987 pic: kerstin Rodgers #rip #tinaturner #rockphotographer #kerstinrodgers #teenagephotographer
Attended an incredible talk with @frenchpete_1 on Attended an incredible talk with @frenchpete_1 on war photography in the Ukraine . Go to the exhibition @thebppa @thebargehouse in SE1 last few days 
Had to stop filming cos I was told off. The photographers would be less forthcoming if they were filmed I was told. 
Anyway @frenchpete_1 should be followed by a camera crew cos he’s a star.
For yesterdays lunch I made a blue cheese puff pas For yesterdays lunch I made a blue cheese puff pastry quiche and a little one with less blue cheese & no salt for my 7 month old granddaughter. She absolutely loved it. I’m enjoying seeing her experience and explore new foods with baby led weaning. Avocado, strawberries, kiwi & buttered crumpets are a hit. Pasta less so. Who is this child? Are we even related? #babyledweaning #quiche #homemadepuffpastry
Nice to be featured as The Great Read in The natio Nice to be featured as The Great Read in The national newspaper again. These are the stories I love to do: I go off on an adventure, take my time, interview people (especially women), photograph them in their environment and create recipes on site. This story cost me a lot more than I made as I had an accident and lost my excess. My own damn fault though! Loved loved loved having a campervan. Thanks for lending me it @camperdays.international and sorry about the hole in the side.  https://www.thenational.scot/news/23505593.foraging-seaweed-western-isles/
My terrace on a sunny May morning. The builders @l My terrace on a sunny May morning. The builders @lk.general.building left yesterday. They’ve been working since January. I had the awning installed, the encaustic Minton tiles removed and put back with green grout. The terrace was causing damp so this had to be done. My calamondin plant is looking lovely. The benches which I repaired with hard wood & I repainted using a mix of 2 colours. The marble table I bought in Suffolk at a car boot. Everything is still dusty & I’m waiting for the window cleaner to arrive.
Last but very heartfelt thankyou to @cideriswine f Last but very heartfelt thankyou to @cideriswine for their contribution of these beautiful dry ciders for the coronation street lunch. Gorgeously illustrated labels. #stcuthbertsrd #kilburn #london #cider #artisanaldrinks
When it comes to vodka I much prefer potato vodka. When it comes to vodka I much prefer potato vodka. It’s smoother. Artisanal distillery @devoncovevodka contributed some bottles to my coronation lunch which gave everyone a feeling of being at a classy party. Thanks so much. And also @rawfoodanddrink for arranging. If you want to read my blog post about how and why I organised this event, copy and paste this link: https://t.co/GWNNW2XKba #coronationstreetparty #biglunch #community #kilburn #london #forthepeoplebythepeople
I’ve been a fan of @luscombedrinks for years now I’ve been a fan of @luscombedrinks for years now. They sent a selection: elderflower bubbly, st. Clements orange 🍊 Sicilian lemonade, @belvoirfarm_uk lemonade, which were all delicious and just the tickets for the fortuitous mini-heatwave that occurred on the Sunday coronation lunch. #thankyou #community #coronation #streetparty #biglunch
Our street party. Double page spread in The Sun! T Our street party. Double page spread in The Sun! Tiny bit in the guardian. Decent pic in the Mail and The Star credit @asproider #coronationlunch #kilburn #stcuthbertsrd #kingscroftrd #fordwychrd #templarhouse
My coronation quiche with Broad beans, tarragon, s My coronation quiche with Broad beans, tarragon, spinach, cheddar. I used crème fraiche and blind baked puff pastry shells. I was up at 11 last night making these for todays street party, which featured in the mail, telegraph, mirror, metro courtesy of photographer Gavin Rodgers @asproider
Seaweed foraging at Spring tides in the Outer Hebr Seaweed foraging at Spring tides in the Outer Hebrides with @outerhebrideanforager Fi bird. She’s cutting sea spaghetti. I drove my campervan @camperdays.international from london to the Hebrides- using my gas stove to cook foraged and local ingredients. A real food safari. With the sea spaghetti I made a sea spag vongole with giant parlourdes picked up from the sand at the same time. Great fun, beautiful weather and, the day of the full moon, a wonderfully low tide. This was on south Uist.
More flavours, the flavour thesaurus is a plant-ba More flavours, the flavour thesaurus is a plant-based version of the original. Beautifully constructed, designed and written by @nikisegnit it’s vegetarian rather than vegan but recommended for both. She widens the sensory vocabulary around plant flavours in this book- encouraging new delicious sounding combinations. Now she includes new categories such as flower & meadow, caramel roasted, zesty roost- just the words make me salivate. #foodbooks #bookstagram #newbooks
Yesterday I attended @marmaladeawards @dalemainman Yesterday I attended @marmaladeawards @dalemainmansion I found out so much about marmalade. I’m going to make it this winter. I found out the worlds best maker is Japanese, in fact I was most impressed by the Japanese marmalades in general. Everyone wore orange. I must have tasted 50 marmalades. I met Paddington’s sister, karen jankel who is michael bond’s daughter, born in the same year as Paddington. She gave a charming talk on Paddington, mentioning how the queen insisted on having real marmalade sandwiches in her @launerlondonofficial handbag during the shoot. The house itself is Tudor and Georgian. I stayed in my campervan from @camperdays.international in the car park, cosy in the rain. Another freewheeling adventure. #yorkshire #marmalade #travel #food #ontheroad #campervan
I had a piece in @thetimes on Sunday about being a I had a piece in @thetimes on Sunday about being a vegetarian rather than a vegan. How I still need butter. And how restaurants & plane meals are now vegan rather than vegetarian. But, there are still more the double amount of vegetarians as vegans in the UK. I’ve written a vegan cookbook V is for vegan (link in bio) and am a big fan of vegan foods. I’ve not eaten meat for over 40 years. This is a sustainable diet, in terms of longevity. Vegans that I knew from the early noughties have reverted to meat eating. #newpuritanism? #vegetarian #vegan #foodwriter
Scrambled croft eggs (bright yellow yolks) with a Scrambled croft eggs (bright yellow yolks) with a seaweed that tastes just like truffle. Just done a little kelp foraging at low tide with @thetempleharris’ Amanda Saurin. Isle of Harris. Turquoise sea, white sand, cloud hovering just above. @camperdays.international @roosterpr
I went to Wembley in north west london to talk to I went to Wembley in north west london to talk to Sophie of @tobia.teff she uses the iron-rich, gluten free teff grain from her homeland Ethiopia. She showed me how to make injera, the Ethiopian flatbread which is fermented. She also talked about the coffee ceremony, 3 cups, which they pair with toasted barley or, currently, popcorn! I’d love to visit Ethiopia and find out more about their ancient food culture, history, 3.5k year old monarchy and religions.
Doing a spring budget recipe cooking demo for @bre Doing a spring budget recipe cooking demo for @brentcouncil Willesden library. I’ve been doing this a few times a year for the last few years. Wouldn’t it be great if they had a kitchen set up permanently. Libraries are community centres and could be used to teach how to cook from scratch.
Mother’s Day flowers from @siennamarla who is ex Mother’s Day flowers from @siennamarla who is experiencing her own first Mother’s Day with Ophelia. I’m still living in chaos & work was slow yesterday due to rain. Only another month…
Last week I did a wild foraging walk with @luciath Last week I did a wild foraging walk with @luciathewildkitchen in Kent @kent_downs_aonb just outside Canterbury. I’m going to help out during her May wild asparagus workshop. This chef lived in France, is a brilliant forager and cook. Her campfire meal of lentils, wild garlic raitha and a dukkah of alexanders, Parmesan was genuinely delicious not worthy like so much foraged food.
Load More... Follow on Instagram

Archives

Copyright © 2023 msmarmitelover