FIRST fruits of the summer — South Australian strawberries — will be auctioned at the Adelaide Central Market on Saturday.

The auction, run by real estate auctioneer Anthony Toop, will be for a tray of the best quality strawberries, 15 punnets, from a number of growers.

All proceeds from the auction will go to Variety SA, which supports sick and disadvantaged children.

The market’s strawberry auction is just one of a series of events for I Choose SA day — which encourages consumers to enjoy the best of our local produce.

The strawberry auction will be at noon in the Gouger dining area, where there will also be cooking demonstrations.

Callum Hann and Themis Chryssidis from Sprout Cooking School will be showing shoppers how to use the best in SA produce — including kingfish, lamb, asparagus and strawberries — at 9 and 10:30am.

At McMahon’s fruit stall in the market, acting manager Jesse Konstantinoff said the local season was just beginning.

“It will run well past Christmas,” he said, adding that growers were enjoying a good season so far.

McMahon’s was known for selling top quality berries, Mr Konstantinoff said.

“We are famous for selling Parker & Sons (locally grown) strawberries — we are selling a lot more first grade strawberries,” he said.

The best berries are presently selling at the McMahon’s for around $5 a punnet.

Adelaide Central Market Authority general manager Jodie Kannane said: “With many local growers represented within our market, we are very supportive of I Choose SA Day. It’s a great tradition for our state and we’re proud to be the setting for this exciting event.”