Product: Avocados
What: Grown on the banks of the Murray River, these exceptionally creamy cool-climate avocados have a flavour that far exceeds those grown in warmer climes.
Where: Torrumbarry, Campaspe Shire, Yorta Yorta Country
Who: Wife and husband Sarah and Andrew Crossman
Andrew, what is a cool-climate avocado?
We can grow thinner-skinned avocado varieties that have a creamier flesh compared with those grown up north. Ours have a higher oil content that makes them taste creamier. Also, we don’t cool store our avocados. When you cool store avocados, you activate pectinase, an enzyme that breaks down the flesh—meaning our avocados don’t go from ripe to mush in days. A bonus is that if you don’t cool store your avocados, you don’t have to use a fungicide called copper sulphate. So, on all those accounts, I reckon our avocados are the best.
Where the heck is Torrumbarry?
We’re on the Murray River halfway between Echuca and Gunbower. It’s great for growing avocados because we have a lot of sand hills. They are elevated, so they don’t get frost, they’re free-draining, and quite fertile.
I thought avocados were a tropical species.
They are, and there are limitations. They are an understorey tree, so we have to cover them with shade cloth to protect them from the sun. They also need a lot of organic matter to replicate the forest leaf matter. It’s a big cost. We have 2,500 trees and have planted five different varieties, Hass, Bacon, Reed, Fuerte, and Wurtz, which gives us the ability to be picking avocados 12 months of the year.
Where can we get your avocados?
You can find us at the Eltham, Alphington, Coburg, Lancefield, Woodend, Castlemaine, Bendigo, and Echuca markets. We also supply Three Black Sheep, The Wren, and Murray River Providore in Echuca. If people want to get in touch, go to our Facebook page: facebook.com/crossiescados