In the hours between midnight and dawn

Some evenings I listen to the radio before dropping off to sleep. Sometimes it happens I doze off and hours later I am woken by the sound of the presenter’s voice going on about something. One night a week or so back, I heard the words: sheep, wheat, barley oats and dairy, in no particular order.

This was enough to stop me from reaching out and turning the radio off. I tuned in. I listened for a minute or two and then reached out for my trusty notebook and pen. The program was about Australian produced food and the program might well have been presented especially for me.

First up was an interview with a representative from the Rural Industries Research And Development Corporation. The talk then ranged over many topics, truffles and essential oils in Tasmania, bush tomatoes in Central Australia and broad scale farming. Tasmania grows saffron, wasabi and quinoa; all very well, but not items that you would find on the shelves in my pantry.

Here in Victoria we have the Meredith Dairy yogurt and Shaw’s buffalo mozzarella and yogurt. I have tried both the Meredith Dairy sheep yogurt and the Shaw’s buffalo yogurt and I like them both but I would say  Meredith wins in the taste stakes by a short half head.

Queensland produces a number of more exotic food items, such as dragon fruit with its bright red skin, white flesh and black seeds. Vanilla pods, tomato peppers (small, round, red peppers looking very much like a tomato) and finger limes also come from Queensland.

And coffee. In Queensland. This will definitely be investigated.

Every state grows olives and Australia produces good quality olive oil. The conversation, which is now talk-back, moves on to ramble around from eel farming, to native fish in water filled disused open cut mines and an old chap on King Island who talks about seaweed which was once used for gelatine. Beach cast kelp is still harvested and milled for export to Scotland, but not I suspect for food purposes.

A new crop of Australian food, the Kakadu plum, seems to be the food of the moment and is referred to as a super crop. An online search for the dictionary definition of super food informs me it is:

a nutrient-rich food considered to be especially beneficial for health and well-being.

When the talk wanders off to other places where people take the opportunity to promote their host farms and suggest olive growing is a tax dodge, I lose interest and I reach out and press the off button.

Ausfood: March Day Three

Breakfast:

Juice:
Orange Juice (Nudie)

Muesli:

Rolled Oats Lowan Whole Grain)
Bran (McKenzie’s 100% Australian)
Bran Cereal (Nature First)
Sunflower Seeds (tba)

Yoghurt (Schulz Timboon)
Strawberries
Milk – reduced fat (Pura Light Start)

Beverages. Nerada Tea and milk – reduced fat (Pura Light Start)
..................................................................................................................................................................
Main meal

Chicken
Marinade: Lemon juice, olive oil & garlic.
Red onion*
Tomato*
Green beans*

Fresh fruit: Pear**

Beverages. Nerada Tea and milk – reduced fat (Pura Light Start)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Other meal

Tomato*
Onion*
Cucumber *
Green beans*
Sunflower kernels

Dressing: Red wine vinegar and olive oil.


Snacks: sunflower kernels, banana and Yukoh!! Carrot***.

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*** Yukoh!!! is not a new variety of carrot. It is the polite & precised version of the words that I said as I chomped into the raw sliced carrot pieces. And then immediately spat them out in a very undignified manner. Thecarrot tasted as if it had been liberally doused with kerosene and was a lesson in buying produce out of season.


* Eastern IGA
** Local Green supermarket
*** Next suburb to the west (red supermarket)

More reprimands

I’ve just been hauled over the coals by the Plans again – it seems I still don’t have the idea right about how I should present the Ausfood days.

And there I was thinking that I had pulled the days together with the order of meals set out quite clearly, the fresh produce vendors identified ad occasionally a hint about how the ingredients might have been put together.

Not good enough it seems. I have not set it out clearly enough and in the Approved Plan Manner.

I quoted Rhett Butler out loud – “Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn. “

This was met with a quick intake of breath not unlike a snake hissing. A very large and malevolent snake.

At that I decided against making matters worse by moving to another Rhett Butler quote, which only occurred to me after the first one was spoken out loud. It’s the one about being very drunk and intending to get drunker before the evening’s out. The truth is I am as sober as a tee-total judge as I type this, but there is a chance that somewhere in the not-too-distant future those Plans will drive me to drink and I may well have occasion to trot out old Rhett’s quote and give it an airing.

So the end result of their badgering sees me going away like a naughty little school-girl and sitting in the corner while I set out some sort of template to make sure I follow The Approved Plan.

I have also made a sorry start to the ingredient list, an action also carried out with very, very bad grace on my part.

When you look you will see I am telling the truth. I need a good shaking for behaving so badly.

Ausfood: March Day Two

Breakfast

Juice: Orange Juice (Nudie)

Muesli:

Rolled Oats (Lowan Whole Grain)
Bran (McKenzie’s 100% Australian)
Bran Cereal (Nature First)
Sunflower Seeds (tba)

Milk – reduced fat (Pura Light Start)

Beverages – Nerada tea and reduced fat milk (Pura Light Start)

Main meal                                               Salmon mash and green beans.

Smoked salmon (Chopped)

Potatoes** – butter & milk & spring onion tops

Green beans*                                        Dressing

Parsley                                                      Olive oil & red wine vinegar

Other meal

Salad:

Lettuce*

Cucumber*

Spring Onions*

Mini Roma tomatoes*

Beverages – Nerada tea and reduced fat milk (Pura Light Start)

Snacks:  Sun flower kernels & a banana

** Green Supermarket

*Eastern IGA

Ausfood: March Day One

Breakfast

Rolled Oats Lowan Whole Grain)
Bran (McKenzie’s 100% Australian)
Bran Cereal (Nature First)
Sunflower Seeds (tba)

Milk – reduced fat (Pura Light Start)

Beverages – Nerada tea and reduced fat milk (Pura Light Start)

Main meal

Smoked salmon strips (Australian Gold)
                                                                          Dressing
Lettuce *                                                           Olive oil
Spinach *                                                          Red wine vinegar
Cucumber*
Parsley*
Spring Onion*

Other meal

Lettuce *                                                            Dressing
Spinach *                                                           Olive oil
Cucumber*                                                         Red wine vinegar
Spring onion*


Beverages – Nerada tea and reduced fat milk (Pura Light Start)

Snacks: sunflower seeds, peanuts in shell & a banana.

*all vegetables from Eastern IGA

Saved by Emma and Tom

Today I had agreed to walk up to the local shops with one of my neighbours for a long overdue coffee and catch-up.

What I had totally forgotten was, until we were halfway to the small shopping centre, that starting with breakfast today, I was well and truly on my way through another day of eating only Ausfood.

Well damn it!!

I was not about to turn back and I was not going to quit my Ausfood day and start all over tomorrow. There are now only four days left in March and I really can’t afford to fritter one of them away. Lessons to be learned here – start the Ausfood eating schedule early in the month – don’t leave it to the last minute.

The worst that could happen would be to sit with a glass of cold water in front of me on the table and quite possibly, Andy the barista might fall down in a dead faint on the floor when I do not order a coffee.

Neither of these worst case scenarios eventuated.

Inside the coffee shop, near the front door, sits the cold cabinet and inside it an array of cold drinks are on offer. At first glance it seems the only things available are all the usual soft drink and fruit juice suspects, who shall remain nameless. Closer examination, which means holding the fridge door open, which effectively blocks the doorway for new customers, and peering closely at the shelves brings a result.

I find a selection of Emma and Tom’s fruit juices; scanning the labels I consider my best option will be the Straight OJ - 100% orange juice. Turning the bottle around the words ‘made in Australia from the best ingredients we can find in Australia’ seal the deal. This orange juice will be the coffee replacement for today.

Emma and Tom save the day!!

The pepper chase

Sourcing Australian grown pepper is still simmering away on the back burner of my mind.  I have looked on line but as the words I use in the search engine define the result I get on the screen and it might be that I am not using exactly the right words to find the right results.  

What I did find today on the display shelves of the local library, was a wonderful book, Pepper by Christine McFadden.   

In this book there are chapters on the history of pepper, the pepper trade, another on the varieties of pepper and their origins and there are eleven chapters of recipes where pepper is always one of the ingredients.  The usual salads, soup, fish, poultry, meat and vegetable recipes are there together with the not-so-usual recipes which include pepper as an ingredient in drinks, desserts, cakes and biscuits. 

As intriguing as all the above might sound, I was on the lookout for any hint of the availability of Australian black pepper.  Looking in the index under A for Australia netted a zero result.  And then on pages 58 & 59 under the heading the great pepper family (there are 11 species listed here) I finally found an Australian related pepper.  Tasmannnia lanceolata is the common name for mountain pepper or Tasmanian pepper.   The description box informs me the leaves and berries can be used fresh or dried; the leaves have a lemony taste but care is needed as the flavour, although sweet at first, intensifies and becomes pungent and numbing.

 I will look for Tasmanian pepper berries at a later date, but it is not what I am looking for right at this moment. I want to find  Australian grown black peppercorns.   

At the very back of the book I find two possible sources here in Australia - Herbie's Spices and Vic Cherikoff Food Services. I put aside this brilliant book, full of pepper facts and figures, fantastic photographs and appealing recipes and turn to search the Internet. In a brief search I find one online source for Australian grown peppercorns and as might be expected cost is a significant factor here.  

Reluctantly I return Australian produced peppercorns to the back burner.

Setting the rules

When you undertake a task and you are the person in charge of, as well as the person as undertaking the task, it is always easy to set the rules. You set them to suit yourself and who is going to notice anyway if you don’t toe the line.

The business of toeing the line is one of the reasons I decided to set up the In Search of Ausfood blog. There is only a very, very slim chance that anyone will take me to task as that requires readers and as readers, at this point, are virtually non-existent this is something I’m not unduly concerned about right now.

Right now my main concern is the decision around the guidelines I will follow next year when the really serious business of eating Australian gets underway. To this end I've made the following decision; stringent measures will be set in place.

It will be 100% Australian or nothing.

There I've put it out there for everyone to see.

Already I hold the opinion that by the end of this year I will be well and truly fed up with looking at the trickier items that are marked product of Australia but may have, for example, palm oil in the ingredient list. Australian palm oil producers? Where?

Anything I eat will have to be clearly defined on the label whether it is a grocery shelf line or meat or vegetables and fruit. If there is no signage in the shop (or on the website) then I don’t buy the product. The statement often made to me about “all our meat or all our fruit and vegetables are Australian” when there is no clear evidence, won’t wash for me in 2014.

It should make for easier shopping if I have a list of stores where I can rely on Australian labelled food products. And as for the limitations imposed by my guidelines, I shall just have to live with them. It may mean repetition or it may mean I will have to be more creative in my approach to recipes and menus.

As far as I am concerned all of the above can only be a good thing.

Impulse buying

I must be more careful in future when I spy some new item on the supermarket shelves.

Looking to expand the selection of oils in the Ausfood cupboard from its single current occupant, the bottle of olive oil, I set out in supermarket search mode for another oil product.

What excitement !! There sitting on the shelves at the Eastern IGA was a lovely bottle of Australian peanut oil. The map of Australia with the words 100% Australian hooked me right away; the ingredient description left me in no doubt about the contents of the bottle. It’s a smaller sized bottle which is good; small sizes are best when trying out something new.

This is just what I am looking for these days; it ticks all the Ausfood boxes.

The bottle is off the shelf, in the shopping basket and out through the register in the blink of an eye.

I’m about to put it in the Ausfood cupboard at home and it dawns on me that I have very hastily bought a bottle of oil most often used in Asian recipes. Ah, I see problems here with ingredients for an Asian recipe. I’m thinking soy sauce, Chinese rice wine and chilli paste just for starters.

A sober moment arrives in the Trash Palace kitchen as I contemplate how I will use up this lovely oil.

Billabong Apple Crunchy

One of the products I discovered yesterday while in Clementine’s, was a small packet of dried organic apple.

I found it on the bargain/reduction shelf and took advantage of the price to try it out. I liked it so much I went right back in my class break to get a couple more packets.

Dried apple is a good snack food although it's possible that some prospective buyers might think there is not enough quantity for the price paid.

The labelling gets the Big Tick from me, it states the apple is 100% Australian Made, Owned an Grown. These packets of dried apple come from Yarrawalla in Victoria. I had no idea where Yarrawalla was so what do you think I did?

Yes, I Googled the map. And this is what I found when I typed in Smiths Road, Yarrawalla and zoomed in using the Earth version.


Does this look like a bird’s eye view an apple orchard to you?

Clementine's

On the two midweek days when I make my way to the College for Seniors Wishing to Further Their Education, I pass by a wonderful shop in Degraves St. It is a short street, packed with outdoor cafes at one end and specialty shops at the other, and it has been home to Clementine’s for a couple of years now.

The shop is a show case for Victorian made products, both in the craft and produce line, and is a good starting point for anyone wanting to buy a truly local item to send overseas or interstate, or for that matter, simply to buy a gift for anyone - even yourself.

 I noticed in my brief visit today food products such as green tea, chickpeas and capers, to mention just a couple.I will now be visiting it from time to time to check out what other locally produced food items appear on the shelves.

More about Clementine’s as time passes and the blog progresses.

More reading about labelling laws and label reading

Because this is an area which is fraught with difficulty I am including this link which will take you to the ACCC page where you can read the ACCC definitions straight off your computer screen - or whatever happens to be your choice of screen.

It ties in with this previous post here and explains what the consumer's expectations should be when they read these words on a food product label.

When I am reading labels for country of origin, I look for "Grown In" and "Product Of" first of all; with fresh produce this should be a straight forward exercise. 

However, I am wary when reading labels where the words "Made In" appear and I check the ingredients to see whether they are likely to be grown in Australia or not.

 All products labelled with the words "Made In " are treated with great caution.

Refining salt

I have returned to the supermarkets take another look at ingredients listed on salt product labels.
You may think this a rather strange thing to do and you may be asking the question “Isn’t it just salt? What else can there be?”

I’m here to tell you there are other ingredients in with some of the salt products. I’m sure you will know about iodine and it is stated quite clearly on the label if the salt is iodised.

However there are anti-caking agents; the infamous numbers who make up part of our diet whether we are aware of it or not. The numbers here are 535/536, and 554. These will be found in the ‘pouring’ salts; the table variety and the cooking variety.

According to the information I found, when searching on the internet, 535 and 536 are sodium and potassium ferrocyanides respectively and are used as an anti-caking agent. Cyanides are found in some seeds and fruit stones and now you can have it in your salt. How good is that? The additive 554 sounds almost likeable – it is produced from a natural mineral making it almost acceptable. As I have lived a relatively salt-free life for some 30 years now none of this bothers me too much.

These additives are introduced to make our lives easier. Who wants lumpy cooking salt or a salt shaker that is clogged up every time you want to use it? We are very busy people these days; we want salt which pours instantly. Long gone are the days of solving the clogged shaker problem by putting a few grains of rice in the salt shaker.

Of course if you use the sea salt or rock salt varieties, without added iodine, there are no additives and the grinder in which most of this salt is packaged is free of any pouring problems.

And for all you people who have read to this point here is a link which will tell you a whole lot more about the history and use of salt in Australia.

I’m taking the easy road here and will be using Australian sea salt without any additives of any kind – my choice is McKenzie’s Australian natural sea salt. This way I don't have to concern myself about the country of origin for the additives - taking the additives out of the equation reduces the work load.

I’m off to the supermarket to get another addition to my Ausfood cupboard.

Bread

I previously posted about bread and its country of origin labelling exemption here. This labelling exemption places bread ingredients and their country of origin in the realm of the Great Unknown as far as this Ausfood blog is concerned.

In my naiveté and enthusiasm I considered making my own bread would be the next best and easiest thing to do. I’ve made bread on a small scale at the Trash Palace, an enterprise I’ve always enjoyed. I even know where my favoured bread recipes are - in the loose leaf piling system, of course. These are recipes which have always turned out a reliable result.

So, full of the business of getting down to the prospect of toast at breakfast time, I scurried off to the supermarket.

I came home a very disappointed person.

The item on the shopping list which caused me the greatest disappointment was yeast.

I searched in every supermarket in my locality, within walking distance of the Trash Palace, and drew a blank. Four blanks to be exact, one for every supermarket whose shelves I inspected.

The only yeast available, as you might expect, is the dried variety. The great disappointment was finding, of the three brands available, two were imported products and the third brand was disinclined to disclose the origins of their yeast product. To pass muster in the great Ausfood ingredient search the packaging must clearly state the country of origin, with Australia is the preferable country of origin; on all counts none of these products qualify.

Compressed, or fresh yeast, is an alternative, but in this 21st century, where speed and ease of preparation prevails in the kitchen, it is highly unlikely I will be able to find this product anywhere, let alone on supermarket shelves.

I see a big search project looming.

Random thoughts

It seems clear to me, even at this early stage in the search, there will be some items of food which will be crossed off the Ausfood list, as they are not likely to be produced in this country.

Curry, cranberry and chocolate for starters.

Chocolate is a disappointment.  I am quite partial to the taste of chocolate, whether it is in cakes, desserts or in the block. There are a few variations on the theme when it comes to chocolate and I will look at these as a separate issue in a later post.

Curry relies on imported spices, so spicing up dishes looks to be out of the question on Ausfood days.

Cranberries are not grown in Australia in commercial quantities and cranberry products in Australia are usually imported from the North American continent. These are the top 5 cranberry producing countries in the world according to this website – as you can see, no countries south of the equator make it into the top five.

There are however a few candidates for Ausfood days which seem to occur with monotonous regularity as I leaf through recipe books and my loose leaf piling system.

They are chicken and lemon and usually in combination. This time of the year salads are a favourite and as a fresh food product, the only limitation on salad is availability and creativity.

And let’s not overlook eggs in their many variations; all good, especially on the breakfast menu.

Going AWOL

No sooner has my first team invitee accepted the challenge of joining the Ausfood Search team than she announces she is off to distant lands.

Strictly speaking this holiday was arranged long before the team invite was issued and has been anticipated with great excitement.

The great attraction will be some time spent living and learning about elephants in a refuge for rescued elephants in northern Thailand.

This leave of absence has absolutely no connection to Australian food but I hear there is the possibility of enrolling in Thai cooking classes, most likely in Bangkok.

Let’s hope there is no unexpected stampede of elephants through the living quarters.

As sweet as

Honey was one of the ingredients listed on my first February Ausfood Day; I used it as a sweetener on my breakfast cereal.

This is a very special Tasmanian honey which I was lucky enough find when I was on holiday in Tasmania last November; it was on the counter in a small general store on the north-west coast.

 It is Tasmanian Manuka honey and I searched ‘you-know-where’ and found the following information on this website.

Here is the gist of it – I have put up the abbreviated version to spare you the details of the extra-ordinary number of disorders which Manuka honey may alleviate. However, if disorders are high on your daily agenda, please feel free to look at the website.

Manuka Honey is a premium product with a distinctive flavour and a dark amber colour. Manuka honey has a darker and richer taste than clover honey and has strong antibacterial and anti-fungal properties.
Manuka honey is a unique type of mono-floral honey produced by bees gathering nectar predominantly from flora found on the Tea Tree bush (Leptospermum scoparium), which is indigenous to New Zealand and the drier east coast of Australia. Manuka (from Māori 'mānuka') is the plant’s common name in New Zealand, also known as 'tea tree' in Australia.
Research has recognize that Manuka Honey contains very commanding antibacterial, antimicrobial, antiviral, antioxidant, antiseptic, anti-inflammatory and anti-fungal properties, making it extremely effective and may assist with a wide variety of health issues.

There are vast tracts of tea-tree on the west coast of Tasmania and no doubt the bees have a busy time in the flowering season making this honey. The beekeeper is one Russell Kay; no other details were provided on the container label.

I am here to tell you this honey is wonderful; as described above it is a dark colour and it does have a distinctive flavour – maybe a little too strong for some tastes - but I found it the perfect topping over plain yoghurt on my breakfast muesli.

I intend to keep it for special occasions, and as honey has a long shelf life, it is my aim to make it last until my next visit to Arthur River.

Team Happening

A step in the right direction today.

We have a name and an image for one of the team.

The name of choice is lami, an abbreviation of that famous Australian cake, the lamington. If by some chance this is a cake about which you know nothing, there is always Wikipedia to give you the inside information.

Here is the image.

 This image will accompany the lami posts on the blog.

And now we will wait patiently and before too long lami will introduce us to her kitchen cupboard.

Med sensation.... or is it?

I recently discovered another variety of pear in my local Green supermarket.

The label description - hand written - read Med Sensation; it is a well formed pear with a red blush.

A day or so later I see this fruit in the local Green supermarket again. This time it is labelled Red Sensation. Aha, a labelling error.

I search on the internet for more information and I learn it is a medium size pear with a distinct red and gold colour and is available from February to the end of May.

It is also possible it is only new to me. This variety, according to some sources, is part of the Bartlett pear family and has been around nearly as long as I have!!

Further along in the fruit display at the supermarket, I am highly amused to find a pack of William Bartlett pears with what appears to be a interloper nestled in among all the other small golden pears.

 

It looks suspiciously like a Red Sensation. What scallywags these new arrivals are – cosying up to some of the forty-second cousins.

Look out for this logo

This is a logo I have come across in my early searches for Australian grown produce.  It is an image to keep in mind when looking for Australian produced food, especially in supermarkets where it is often seen in the fruit and vegetable sections.

Here it is - the Australian Grown logo.

For further reading about the history and application of the Australian Grown logo have a look at this website, suited to students, but good reading for anyone interested in Australian products and labelling.

It is often linked with another logo of a similar design which uses the words Australian Made but for the purposes of this blog which revolves around food, I am specifically interested in Australian Grown. The lines between the words grown and made are sometimes blurred and close attention has to be paid when reading labels on food products.

Welcome to the challenges of label reading.