A rare fruit has snared top dollar at auction at a Far North Queensland festival over the weekend. Over four days, hundreds of people gathered in Innisfail to sample and celebrate some of the region’s unique tropical fruits. The Feast of the Senses festival wrapped up yesterday with its signature auction, where more than 100 fruit varieties were sold off, either individually or in curated boxes. This year’s top bid went to a single rare fruit, durio graveolens, which fetched $200. With its striking orange-to-red flesh, it belongs to the durian family, often dubbed the “king of fruits”, but tastes a little different to the common durian. Cassowary Coast Rare Fruit Club president Gareth Hamilton-Foster said some enthusiasts were willing to pay top dollar for the chance to experience new and unusual flavours.
“[The durio graveolens] is about the size of a grapefruit,” Mr Hamilton-Foster said. “It’s spiky and [has a] flavour range anywhere from caramel to peanut butter to a custardy kind of texture and flesh. People will really go nuts over some of these rare fruits.”
The fruit on display came from across the region, from Tully up to Cape Tribulation. “The feeling is great because we like to see more people getting interested in rare fruit, and even just bringing people in from far or wide, other countries or even just locally,” Mr Hamilton-Foster said. “It draws more attention to rare fruits and the farmers who are growing those fruits. People travel from all over the world, even to come and see our rare-fruit display.”
All proceeds from the auction go back into the club, and the money is used to support local business and farmers. Tropical smiles all round. Tropical fruit grower Robyn Tesch said having a day to come together and celebrate local farmers brought a lot of positivity to the community. “Just a bit of enjoyment and knowing that this beautiful stuff is out there – this beautiful food is out there,” Ms Tesch said. “Thinking of something and talking about something that’s just enjoyable, without all that’s going on, yeah, not having to think about everything else.”
This year’s Feast of the Senses treasurer and manager, Dave Jenson, said the festival had plenty of activities and stalls. “I think [the event] is extremely important, not just from showcasing the amazing tropical fruit that we can grow in this part of Australia, but the whole community, from the seafood out on the reef to all the other agricultural crops throughout this area,” Mr Jenson said. “The Feast of the Senses is 23 years [old], never been cancelled, other than the year of COVID, so rain, hail or shine, we go ahead.”
