In this week’s column: Local cheese producers get bigger, olive oil with a deeper meaning, the future of Fleurieu Poultry and more change for the Gouger Street restaurant scene.
Cheese spread
With two new cheeses – a haloumi and a double-cream camembert – about to be released under the Udder Delights label over the next few weeks and a further two brands launching this month, the local artisan cheese producer now officially calls itself a “group”.
Udder Delights started making goat cheese at Lobethal in the Adelaide Hills in 1998, processing 1000 litres of local milk per week. Since the recent factory upgrade, Udder Delights is now set to process 120,000 litres to produce cheese for its five brands: Udder Delights, Divine Dairy, Cremeux, Derry-O Cheese and Onkaparinga Creamery.
“We’re heading into our 17th year since Mum and Dad started Udder Delights and we’ve grown anywhere from 30 to 50 per cent year on year – it’s been a fast-growing food market,” says director and general manager Sheree Sullivan.
“Compared to other cheese producers in the state, we are a medium-sized producer. We’re small enough to be artisan, but big enough now in our economies of scale to compete against the big boys.
“Udder Delights and Divine Dairy remain our flagship brands, but Cremeux, Derry-O Cheese and Onkaparinga Creamery are designed for national reach and food service.”
The Udder Delights haloumi and double-cream camembert are available for tasting at the Udder Delights Cheese Cellar in Hahndorf until their full release into selected supermarkets and providores. And watch the Udder Delights Facebook page for more pop-up haloumi bars at the Cheese Cellar.
More cheese
Barossa Valley Cheese Company at Angaston is more than doubling in size. Photo: supplied
Barossa Valley Cheese Company at Angaston is also flourishing. Owner and cheesemaker Victoria McClurg says it is in the process of expanding the cellar door and processing facilities to three times their current size.
“We’re building maturing rooms for our move into the hard cheese production,” says McClurg.
“We’ve been experimenting with hard cheese for the last three or four years and developed a semi-matured cheddar style with a unique Barossa flavour. To produce the cheese in larger volumes we needed to build a new cellar with specific temperature and humidity control.”
The expanded cellar door means that Barossa Valley Cheese Company will bring some special cellar-door projects to fruition over the next few months.
Sacred oil
A volunteer harvesting olives at West Terrace Cemetery. Photo: supplied
The olive harvest in South Australia is in full swing now until the end of August and the trees at the West Terrace Cemetery are no exception.
This will be the third vintage for the 100-year-old Oleo Europa trees, which will be hand harvested next week by The Friends of West Terrace, a group of Adelaide Cemeteries Authority volunteers. About 750 kilograms of olives are expected to be harvested to produce the 250ml limited-edition bottles of extra virgin olive oil which is sold through Jagger Fine Foods at the Adelaide Central Market.
The 50 olive trees in the 29ha grounds were planted in the late 1800s and are among some of the Adelaide plains last remnant vegetation making up the cemetery’s significant natural history.
“The pharmacist Francis Faulding was the first person to produce olive oil in South Australia and he is buried at West Terrace,” says Adelaide Cemeteries CEO Robert Pitt.
“We came to recognise that the olives falling on the ground each year were going to waste,” he says. “There is a lot more to running a cemetery. Cemeteries are a place to remember and the olive oil is something we do to complement that thinking.”
The West Terrace Cemetery runs a number of guided tours and trails. The Natural Heritage interpretive trail delves into the cemetery’s hidden landscape of rare native and exotic vegetation, including the significance and stories behind the olive trees.
Fleurieu poultry future in question
D Day is approaching for Fleurieu poultry producers who hope to launch a cooperative venture at the closed Inghams turkey processing plant in McLaren Flat.
After the plant’s closure was announced in December last year, the State Government provided some support to the Fleurieu Poultry Association to undertake a feasibility study to see whether local producers could make a go of it at the large plant.
The association’s Rick Duke told The Forager that the results of the four-week study, now well underway, would decide whether any more time and money would be spent on examining the proposition.
“It’s looking like we will need to look outside the square to re-open the factory because it’s likely to be too big for our needs,” Duke said.
The study team, which includes a consultant with experience at Victoria’s Goulburn agricultural co-op, will look at the needs of all kinds of poultry producers in the region, both existing and potential.
The nearest poultry processing plant to the Fleurieu is in the Barossa – a 300km round trip, which Duke says isn’t ideal for the quality of local product and prohibits some potential producers from getting into poultry.
“It’s holding some people back,” he said.
If the proposition gets a positive report after the four-week study, the project will move to a full-blown feasibility study. – David Washington
The changing face of Gouger Street
The sign in the window at Mesa Lunga.
Mesa Lunga is the latest Adelaide dining institution to shut up shop on Gouger Street, with the owner set to replace it with a new restaurant.
The Spanish restaurant and bar’s closure follows that of Celsius, in the same dining strip. Mesa Lunga has posted a photo on its official website, Facebook page and Twitter account stating: “Mesa Lunga is now closed. Thank you for all your support over the past 10 years.”
A message on the restaurant’s landline has a similar message confirming the permanent closure.
Mesa Lunga is owned by Adelaide restaurateur Walter Ventura, who opened North Adelaide’s Cliché on O’Connell Street and is also about to open new bar and restaurant Hispanic Mechanic on the site of his former Glen Osmond Road restaurant Mesa Osteria.
InDaily was unable to contact Ventura, but Restaurant and Catering SA CEO Sally Neville said she had spoken with the owner.
“I understand they’re closing to refurbish and reopen as a Mexican restaurant.”
This week at the Adelaide Farmers’ Market
Russian Red and Cavolo Nero kale. Photo: supplied
Frost-tolerant kale has been grown and consumed in Europe for centuries, but in recent years it has become known as a “superfood” for its high levels of beta carotene, vitamins K and C, fibre, calcium and other nutrients with anti-cancer properties.
Kale is part of the brassica family (along with cabbage and broccoli) and there are number of different varieties grown in South Australia. New stallholder at the Adelaide Showground Farmers’ Market, The Garden Farmers, specialises in two varieties – Cavolo Nero and Red Russian (a sweet variety).
Fleurieu Peninsula producers and recipients of the inaugural 2014 Young Farmers Scholarship, awarded by the Willunga Farmers Market, The Garden Farmers have kale for sale for $3.30 per bunch or you can purchase their fresh green juice to drink while shopping at the market. The juice is made with kale and other leafy green vegetables such as spinach and silverbeet, blended with fresh apples and oranges from fellow stallholders McLaren Vale Orchards and Fat Goose Fruit.
What’s on?
Wine tasting at O’Leary Walker wines. Photo: supplied
Clare Valley Gourmet Weekend – May 15 to 17
The food and wine producers of the Clare Valley region will again band together for the 31st Clare Valley Gourmet Weekend, with 18 cellar door events and 10 exclusive ticketed events over the weekend. A highlight will be regional food group Clare Valley Cuisine Inc’s Annual Gourmet Market on Saturday from 9am to 3pm, featuring local produce and cooking demonstrations at Ennes Park, next to the Clare Town Hall.
Home Brewer vs Pro Brewer vs Hops – May 16
Join Sandy Ross & Jon Burridge (Hopco), Red Proudfoot (Pirate Life), Owen Lynons (Young Henrys), Laura Mirsch (Wheaty Brewing Corps) and the SA Brew Club at the Wheatsheaf Hotel for a tasting and panel discussion looking at hops in brewing as viewed by those who brew for a living, those who brew for fun and those who source hops from all over the world and sell to both. Tickets are available here.
Adelaide Street Food Festival – May 16 to 17
This tiny street food event hosted by the Flinders Street Market brings street food lovers and hawkers together for two days of exotic food and drink. Awards will be given out for the Best Street Food Dish and the Best Market Stall Design. More information can be found here.
Cheese and Sparkling Wine Pairing – May 21
Enjoy some of the best sparkling wines paired with some of the finest cheeses from all over the world at the Smelly Cheese Club, including Champagne from France, cava from Spain, sparkling from Australia and prosecco from Italy. Tickets are $80 ($72 members). More information can be found here.
Sea and Vines Festival – June 5 to 8
Four new events have been added to the Saturday program for this year’s McLaren Vale Bank SA Sea and Vines Festival on the June long weekend.
Pizza at the McLaren Vale BankSA Sea and Vines Garden Party at Willunga Oval. Photo: supplied
Tim Freedman, singer-songwriter from The Whitlams, will perform at Willunga Recreation Park’s BankSA Garden Party site, where there will also be a two-course lunch catered by The Barn restaurant with local wines and beers. Tickets are $35 for the show only and $85 including lunch.
Fleurieu food legend Pip Forrestor will host a tour of the Willunga Farmers’ Market, followed by a cooking class of cheese-making, sour-dough pizza-making and wine blending, and a shared feast at The Producers in McLaren Vale. Tickets are $165 and limited to 12 guests only.
Vine to Sea is a 7.5km race starting at the McLaren Vale Visitor Centre, meandering through vines and countryside to Moana Beach. Or choose from a 1km or 2km distance along Moana Beach for the Sea & Vines Beach Run starting at 8am. Prizes will be awarded to walkers and runners, including children.
If you’re not feeling so energetic, you can jump aboard sommelier Matt Skinner’s Magical Plumm Bus Tour to experience his hand-picked selection of cellar doors from the McLaren Vale region, stopping at Oliver’s Taranga Vineyards, S.C. Pannell and Paxton. followed by a two-course lunch at Red Poles. Tickets are $150 and limited to 45 places.
