Our favourite producers

NZ Artisan Honey

Jeremy Friend and Sharyn Woodnorth’s range of New Zealand artisan honeys are certified organic, single origin, single vintage and processed at a temperature not exceeding 40 degrees. What does this all add up to? Honeys that are completely unique, complex in flavour and gentle on the environment. Varieties range from dark and runny beechwood, to floral white clover and creamy manuka. Get your hands on a jar (or two) at J. Friend and Co’s website.

Disaster Bay Chillies

Stuart Meagher and John Wentworth have been farming chillies near Eden on the far south coast of New South Wales since 1999. They produce up to a dozen varieties, from the mild Anaheim to the fiery habanero and naga, crafting them into smoked jalapeño sauce, Indian chutney and chilli wine jelly. Disaster Bay Chillies products are available from food retailers, delicatessens and butchers around Australia, and online.

Ord River Chickpeas

The Ord River area in the east Kimberley makes for top chickpea-producing territory with its efficient irrigation, moisture-retaining soil and plentiful sunshine. The Ord River District Co-operative processes 1,000 tonnes of Kimberley Large kabuli chickpeas. “They’re just as good as Spanish chickpeas I’ve cooked with,” says Chef Frank Camorra of MoVida. “They’ve got a great nutty flavour, stay plump and soft like a pillow and they keep their shape.” They’re sold in bulk from markets and continental delis throughout Australia.

Ki Fresh Free Range Geese

Ki Fresh geese can roam for most of their lives across a 100-hectare farm at Wisanger on Kangaroo Island off the coast of South Australia. The result? Larger, more muscular birds. Their rich flavour and firm, but supple texture has made an impression on chefs who have visited the farm – including George Calombaris and Matt Moran, who use the geese in their restaurants. Contact KI Fresh for stockist info on (08) 8553 5133.

Inside Out Almond Milk

Inside Out Almond Milk is made in a similar way to homemade cold-pressed almond milk – sans the thickeners, preservatives, oils and other additives that might be used in heat-processed products. At 22 per cent, their milk contains at least double the proportion of almonds found in other brands, which results in a creamier milk, with a more pronounced almond flavour. It works nicely with coffee, too. Inside Out sells for about $7.95 a litre at selected health-food stores and farmers’ markets in Sydney.

Gamze Smokehouse meat

Slovenian-born Felix Gamze trained to be a butcher in Victoria and learnt the secrets of preserving meat from “people who would walk into the butcher’s shop and share their secrets”. After years of experimenting, his preferred cure is now based on fermented celery extract, salt, spices and honey, and he shuns chemicals that pump meat with water. Gamze also now uses Australian native hardwood blends for smoking, which give his hams, bacon and smallgoods a distinctive flavour. You can find his gear on the Gamze Smokehouse online store.

Alexandrina Jersey Milk

The quality of Dan and Krystyna McCaul’s pasteurised, non-homogenised milk and cheeses starts with the cows. The pampered Jersey herd feeds on pastures of clover grass on the McCauls’ 111-hectare property, with milk and cheese processed onsite. Buy it from the Alexandrina Cheese Company farm retail shop. It’s also sold at the Willunga and Adelaide Farmers’ Markets and in select delicatessens and food shops throughout the Fleurieu, Adelaide Hills and Adelaide area.

Two Rivers Green Tea

William Leckey has been producing green tea from his boutique plantation near Alexandra in Victoria for more than a decade. Where in the past his tea was produced exclusively for the Japanese market, today it’s available back home under the Two Rivers label. He’s a firm believer of farming in tune with nature, so you won’t find any harmful chemicals in his products. Another thing you won’t find is a hefty price tag – because Two Rivers is produced locally, it comes at a more reasonable price than many imports of its calibre. Prices start at $10/100gm.

Deutscher’s Turkey Farm

Daryl Deutscher’s turkeys are raised in a shed for the first eight weeks of their life before being released into fenced open ranges that are moved periodically to prevent disease and to rejuvenate the native grasses. The free-range birds move more and are exposed to greater extremes of weather than shed-raised birds. This, combined with their rare-breed genes, gives them thicker skin with a lovely layer of fat under it. The birds are available at a dressed weight between four and nine kilograms, from about $15 per kilo.

Atssu Divers

Ryan Morris is a second-generation abalone diver based in Sydney. While abalone is Morris’ key line, he also dives for turban shells and sea urchins. By the time most abalone reaches a Sydney restaurant, it has travelled interstate through a range of processors. By buying abalone and sea urchins from Atssu, restaurants are guaranteed the freshest local product. Look out for Morris’s abalone and sea urchins on menus at Rockpool, MoVida Sydney and Marque, among others.

Bundarra Berkshires Pork

Lauren and Lachlan Mathers are a husband and wife team with a herd of 80 Berkshire breeding sows at their property in Barham in southern New South Wales. Together they produce rillettes, fricandeaux, French hams and smoked hams. The rillettes capture the allure of French charcuterie to a tee. The fricandeaux is made with a pared-back recipe that lets the full flavour of the pork come through and the hams are wonderfully spiced, robustly smoked, and best served thinly sliced, with a little salad.

NZ’s raw milk cheeses

Raw milk cheese is having a moment, and the gear coming out of New Zealand is some of the best around. Among the leaders in the country’s raw scene is Aroha Organic Goat Cheese, famous for its gouda-style numbers; Mt Eliza Dairy, which produces a winning cloth-bound cheddar; and Christchurch’s Canterbury Cheesemongers, where authentic soft and blue cheeses are the specialty.

Wapengo Rocks Oysters

Shane Buckley’s rock oyster farm on Wapengo Lake, on the NSW south coast, became the first oyster farm to achieve Australian Certified Organic status in 2013. The consistent soft marine-vegetable flavours, delicate poached-egg creaminess and deep, even shells of his oysters are the welcome results of gentle treatment and the pristine environment he has preserved. Find them at the Wapengo Rocks Oyster Shop in nearby Bermagui.

Shiitake Mushrooms

Victorian shiitake mushroom grower Rob Wertheimer uses blue gum and sugar gum logs from neighbours’ farms to grow his fungus with winning results. The mushrooms have a firm texture, but their skin has an unctuous quality, which makes them ideal for soaking up any sauce they’re sitting in. Otway Forest Shiitake mushrooms are available fresh in season (to the end of April) at Georgie’s Harvest at the South Melbourne Market. The mushrooms are $7.50 for 100gm; their dried shiitake salt is $15 for 70gm.