Pepper pricing

One subject that often crops up when people are filling in the survey is that of Australian food products being very expensive and out of the reach of many people who have to manage on fixed incomes.

I understand this concern. I am no stranger to the idea of living on a fixed income.

I realised when searching the internet for Australian produced pepper – I’m never going to find it in the supermarkets – I had found a product priced to support their argument.

The price of imported black peppercorns on the supermarket shelves in the local foursome range , depending on the amount purchased and whether it is on special,from forty to maybe fifty cents per ten grams.

Compare this with the online price of Australian grown peppercorns. At this site, which I am using for the purpose of the exercise, 150g whole black aussie pepper plus the delivery cost, totals $20.50. Do the sums. This particular Australian grown item is only going to appeal to those people with stacks of disposable income.

I am pleased with my decision which allows a very generous lead time for this project. There is no way I am going to be paying that price for an Australian product. At this moment in time, 2014 looks very much like being black pepper free for ten days each month.

Not a prospect I am looking forward to, quite frankly.

Organics in Inverloch

This afternoon I took the magnifying glass down to Greenheart Organics in Inverloch and examined the produce closely. I was looking for Australian products, of course, and although there may be one or two items on this list where the ingredients may need closer examination, the following are up for further consideration.

Here is the list of products that made it into the Ausfood notebook.

Almonds
Apple Cider Vinegar
Brown rice
Dried Apple Wedges
Dried Apricots
Mock Red Hill Bio-dynamic Apple Cider Vinegar
Oat Flour
Pecans
Polenta
Quick Oats
Roasted Peanuts
Rolled Spelt
Rye Flour
Sunflower Seeds
Tasmanian Quinoa
Unhulled Buckwheat
Walnuts in Shells
Wholemeal Flour

There are definitely some items on this list which won’t be found in either of the duopoly supermarkets.

I would be delighted to find vinegar to add some variety to the salad dressing but I suspects if I read the labels carefully for the one listed it will have some form of cultures on the ingredient list.

Cultures?  Where on earth do cultures come from? I will have to investigate this matter further.

Two purchases

After quite a lengthy time wandering around the shop and examining any product that looked worthy of examination I finally came away with two purchases.

Yes, only two.  Spelt pasta and cracked wheat.

The pasta, when I get around to using it, will be a new experience.  There are no cooking instruction. It's my intention to use it when I find ingredients that might fit in with a tomato sauce that I often put over pasta in the summertime.  I usually use tinned tomatoes, but it is difficult to find Australian tinned tomatoes and when I do they have additives which might come from who knows where. Eating by numbers again.

The cracked wheat will be used for tabbouli and I don't forsee any problems with ingredients as most of them will be fresh produce: tomatoes, mint, parsley and cucumber.

The woman behind the counter must have been pleased when I finally made my purchases and left the shop. She kept watching me like a hawk and maybe considered I was some poor old down and out who was about to stuff some goods under her jacket and run out the door.

Run out the door.  A chance would be a fine thing.