Finalist - Gourmet Food & Delicatessan - Central Coast 2008 + 2007 Business Awards
As a local gourmet food producer ourselves, (we have several hundred products under our own label, many of which include ingredients grown by our family here on the Coast), Taste Gourmet has always believed it is important to support and nurture other regional food producers and growers. We have a policy of stocking as many locally made products and as many hand made Australian regional gourmet products as possible. We now carry a vast range of local produce along with regional specialties from all over Australia.
Buying local products will ensure jobs, supports local farmers and regional communities and most important supports our own local community. We are featuring Australia’s leading gourmet food makers, the people and the products created with passion and a love of good food. These products are mainly hand made, with premium ingredients, often sourced from nearby farms and producers.
Most of all, our Australian regional food month is about raising the profile of our farmers and food handlers, the growers who battle the rain, hail or heat to harvest their crops or grow their stock, or the wonderful cooks and chefs that spin their magic, creating tasty delicacies of outstanding quality. These products are available year round on our shelves and every month we search the country for new and innovative products to bring you.
OUR FAVORITE AUSTRALIAN GOURMET FOOD PRODUCERS
Alpine Berry Farms Jams and Marmalades - Mittagong. Established in 2002 and now winners of 42 awards, the family that grows the berries makes this stunning range of full fruit jams and marmalades.
Doodles Creek Dressings, Bowral. From the Southern Highlands comes Sarah Ross’s much sought after range of dressings, mayonnaise, and aiolis. Doodles Creek products are French in style and less sweet than Australian mayonnaises, naturally thickened with egg yolks.
Pastabilities Pasta - Marrackville. Producing the best fresh pasta in Australia, this passionate Marrickville family supply our fresh fettuccine and spaghetti, the best white wine mushroom and cream sauce, Bolognese sauce including the meat, and a range of gourmet frozen ravioli and includes filling such as duck, prawns, veal and caramelised beef.
AC Butchery -Leichhardt. This Leichhardt based butchery specialises in gourmet sausages and you’ll find their most popular varieties, in our freezer. Made with the best premium ingredients, sausage will never taste the same again.
Simply the Best Small Goods -Gladesville. The name says it all, these multi award winning producers supply our ham, pastrami, prosciutto, pancetta, and more. Simply the Best maximise the use of natural ingredients to produce the best quality products and all 100 percent Australian pork and beef. Best of all is the ham on the bone, an award winner. Made from the finest Australian pork, it has a long lasting smoky flavour with a gorgeous light, moist texture. Hand carved by us!
Kurrajong Kitchens - Kurrajong. Making European Lavosh is the passion of Ben and Karen. The Lavosh is still baked using traditional methods.
Bellata Gold Pasta - Tamworth. This farm family grows the durum wheat, mills the flour and makes the pasta - they call in from paddock to plate and it is the best dried pasta in Australian today. In a stunning range of flavours, an essential for the pantry.
There are many other regional foods on the shelves, and we will feature these over coming months. In the meantime, look out for:
Maggie Beer Pastes, Preserved Lemon and Verjuice - South Australia
Joseph Olive Oil - South AustraliaGwydir Grove Infused Olive Oils - Port Macquarie NSW
Goan Cuisine Curries, Pickles, Chutneys and Pastes- Perth WA
LOCAL PRODUCERS
These are the best of the best - our selections as the leading local Central Coast and Hunter producers. Supporting our local producers is very important. It helps the local economy, supports local jobs, supports local farmers and helps create jobs for us and our kids. It also gives us a chance to show what we can do here on the Coast.
And it helps the environment - the less kilometres our food has to travel to get to us, the less greenhouse gas are produced in transporting it to us. (Did you know that most of our food travels an average of 1500km to get to us?).
Anyway, enjoy the local goodies and get to know your local producers.
TASTE GOURMET
This is our own Taste Gourmet hand made range of gourmet jams, marmalades, mustards, sauces, desserts, chutneys, relishes, pickles and more, all made in small batches with fresh and natural ingredients. There are more than 200 quality products, each made with love and care to a traditional recipe.
TASTE OF THE CENTRAL COAST
This is Taste Gourmet’s own very special selected range of hand made gourmet products, made to family recipes, and containing ingredients - fruits, vegetables and herbs - grown by our family here on the Central Coast. These products are made by us in our own kitchen, in very small batches. The range includes dessert fruits in syrups, infusers vinegars, pickles and preserves, dressings, olives, dukkahs and salads seeds. Our signature product is the Wild Rosellas in Sparkling Syrup, using rosella flowers grown in Mum and Dad’s garden. These are a very limited edition range and are very, very special.
FUCHS HUNTER VALLEY OLIVE OIL
Heading further afield in the region, the Hunter Valley's Fuchs Extra Virgin Olive Oils are amongst Australia’s best. We stock the Premium Extra Virgin Olive Oils, as well as flavoured extra virgin oils - Garlic, Lime, Lemon, Chilli, Pepper, Mandarin. We also have Fuchs Caramelised Balsamic.
BINNORIE DAIRY CHEESES
From Pokolbin in the Hunter Valley, we stock two of our most popular cheeses. Created by award winning cheese maker Simon Gough, the Binnorie Dairy makes Labna, a Mediterranean yoghurt-based cheese that has been infused with chilli and rosemary and the "Gold Medal" Marinated Fetta, with distinctive characters unavailable outside the region. This is achieved is by using only locally sourced milk.
HUNTERBELLE CHEESES
Hunter Belle Cheese
of Muswellbrook produces a range of unique high quality cheeses made exclusively from the milk of Brown Swiss cows. Award winning cheese maker Kate Woodward creates Hunter Belle Camembelle, a camembert-style surface ripened cheese that is aged to produce more ripe and flavoursome white mould cheese and Hunter Belle Bluebelle, a mild blue-brie style cheese that is surface ripened with white mould. It has a subtle blue after taste.
SWEET AS
Wendy Sue Mitchell is the chocoholic behind Sweet As, a collection of the best hand made Coverture chocolates and now available in store. Wendy Sue also creates our mouth watering Rocky Road Brownies and Gourmet Rocky Road. We currently feature about a dozen flavours of hand made truffles —these will be available for tasting by a lucky few each Saturday while they last.
VEGETALI
As the name implies, these West Gosford based chefs specialise glorious vegetable based products including pestos and tapenades, antipasto, dips and spreads, sauces and confit fruits. Look out for the stunning range of products on our specials menu this month, and of the many new lines now available in the deli fridges.
WINNER - Best Café - Central Coast 2007 Business Awards WINNER - Employee Excellence - Central Coast 2007 Business Awards 2008 + 2007 Finalist - Outstanding Café - 2007 Central Coast Sun Weekly Business Awards 2008 + 2007 Finalist - Gourmet Food & Delicatessen - Central Coast Business Awards
