On air on Byron Bay’s Bayfm 99.9 community radio on December 3, 2012

This was a packed & delicious show as we celebrated 10 years of something that has changed so much in the food culture of this area, the farmers market in Byron Bay, with the first manager Joni Teal, the new markets president, avocado farmer & guacamole queen Kaye Shadbolt, and original stallholders Heather & Hugh Armstrong of Coopers Shoot Tomatoes. We also had Miss December’s seasonal deliciousness, & a report from the recent food tourism conference in the Barossa by Karena & Peter Wynn Moylan. Even a singing school principal!

BYRON BAY FARMERS MARKET TEN YEAR ANNIVERSARY

The Byron Bay Farmers Market is 10 this month.  Get thee to the market on Thursday December 6, dear bellysister, for a full range of fun from 7am – 11am:

– Hoopla Circus

– Cupcake the clown

– Celebrity guest chefs’ cooking & free samples (Clayton Donovan, Gavin Hughes, Sarah Swan, Victoria Cosford and Garden to Kitchen’s Julie & Phil)

-Special Guests  (The Farmer Wants a Wife’s Natalie Gruelinzki, Justine Elliott, Simon Richardson)

– Live Music (various local artists)

– Farmers Recipe Magazine Launch is at 8am

Official presentations and cake cutting is at 10.30am.

http://www.byronfarmersmarket.com.au/

Kaye Shadbolt.  avocado farmer and the new markets committee president, was on belly and talked about how the local market scene

Kaye and Chris armed with an eski of guacamole

compares with what is happening nationally.  She was involved with the market from when it was a glimmer in a few people’s minds, inspired by both a desire for a more ecologically sound food economy, and the need to support local farmers.  The message that came through loud and clear from everyone who was on the show today is that we have one of the best set up markets around the country, and we should be proud of it.  Kaye looked positively chuffed when she related the positive comments from people she met with her partner Chris Casagrande as they visited markets around Australia.

Kaye has been selling her ‘Nanna Kaye’ guacamole on her stall for a few years, and she is  sharing the recipe with us.  Thanks Kaye!

KAYE’S GUACAMOLE

2.00 kg of ripe avocados

100ml of lemon juice

5 teaspoons of sweet chilli sauce (optional amount)

1 teaspoon of salt

Peel and remove seeds from avocados

Combine with other ingredients in a blender until smooth.

Makes about 5 x 200ml tubs.

Can be kept in fridge for 3-5 days or can be frozen.

[mmm…. I have the feeling the secret is in that chilli sauce – or maybe Kaye’s avocadoes.  Kaye says that this is really a recipe that you have to adapt to your own taste]

– and by popular request, Kaye has also given us her chilli sauce recipe.

CHILLI SAUCE  (Kaye says these are just guidelines)

Mince fresh chilli in processor. ( I use medium strength)

Put in saucepan with enough lemon juice to make not too thick.

Lots of raw sugar – I use about 1kg for a large pot-full

Salt – about 1 tablespoon per 1kg of raw sugar.

Simmer for at least 1/2 hour

Keeps well in sterilized glass jars with metal lids, that are still hot.

( I sterilize glass jars and lids by putting on tray in oven, 100-150 for

about 1/2 hour, while chilli is cooking)

BELLY BULLETIN

The St Finnbar’s Catholic School in Byron Bay is putting on a huge Christmas Fair this Saturday, including a ‘mini taste of Byron’ with  stalls from several local restaurants:

– Fishheads’ Seafood BBQ

– Cypress Tree slow-cooked shoulder of lamb and salad and marinated grilled octopus

– The Beach Cafe’s tomato, basil and goat-cheese tarts fresh and warm straight from the oven

– Fat Belly Kaf’s saffron, mint and chilli grilled chicken with jewelled rice and pumpkin, feta and pine nuts pastries served with tzatziki and salad

– Earth n Sea’s kids pasta

Sound yum? Of course all the more traditional (and usually extremely vegan unfriendly) Christmas baked goods will be on offer too, dripping with butter and sugar!

Terra Madre Day is a worldwide celebration held every year on December 10 to reconnect communities with local food. Organized by Slow Food since 2009, each year over 1000 unique events show the diversity of our food cultures.  Find an event near you or create one, big or small, wherever you are on the planet. Or just have a look at what is happening around the world, on www.slowfood.com

Nominations open for the ABC Delicious magazine awards for food producers, from earth. sea, paddock & dairy, & Outstanding Farmers’ Market – Shoppers, producers and market managers are invited to nominate their candidate for this prestigious best practice national award

Indonesia’s fresh fruit industry has sent produce to Australia for the first time,  lovely mangosteens which arrived last Thursday. Previously they were unable to,  mainly because of Australia’s strict quarantine rules.  Banun Harpini, the Head of the Indonesian Quarantine Agency, says the company is working with hundreds of small farmers to grow and pick fruit, and ensure they meet our quarantine standards. The breakthrough is important for Indonesia which is keen to prove its food products can be of international quality. Getting produce into Australia shows that they can meet very stringent standards. Hopefully you will never cut into a beautiful shiny mangosteen and be covered in ants, as has happened to Sister T in Thailand. Fabulous fruit if you’ve never tried it, delicate and perfumed.

And there may be a breakthrough in the food labelling wars. Industry has been fighting a traffic light system, bad red, green good, but may agree to a star system similar to that on whitegoods, with more stars for better nutritional content.  The Public Health Association of Australia’s Michael Moore says it is a major breakthrough. “The message will be very, very simple and straight forward. If you like, a five star system it’s very good for you,” he said. “Something that only has half a star, well sure, you’ll eat it occasionally, but it’s not a food you would choose for its nutrition value.” Negotiations will continue under the guidance of the Federal Department of Health, but industry and public health advocates hope to have an agreement on a star system ready for state and federal ministers early next year.

BELLY CHRISTMAS – recipes and words by Miss December Alison Drover

Grab a box of cherries and make your own Christmas decorations this year from all your old paper even newspaper is great or wander around the garden and see what you can find to dress the home. Please leave the Christmas trees in the ground or create your own from branches or improvised items.

Bake from scratch this Christmas and focus on the process rather than elaborate menus. Real custard, gravy and stuffing from heaven rather than rushing these things take time and work on making these the best your can.

NECTARINE, GINGER AND DATE CHUTNEY RECIPE

Chutney is a great accompaniment to Christmas. Aside from using it on the day it can be served with a tasty cheese like Parmesan or pecorino and can be added to a left over Turkey or Chicken curry a few days after the Christmas or for vegetarian dishes like frittata, roast vegetables or quiches.  Chutney making is flexible however and of course you can improvise which is great depending on fruit quality and availability.

Chutney principles

Choose fruit, which is ripe but firm

Make sure you season well and account for the fact that flavours may intensify when they settle

Adjust your support fruit i.e. dates in this instance to the amount of fruit you have and size i.e. you may have smaller nectarine sand therefore need less dates

Spice accordingly and be creative i.e. you could add coriander seeds to this recipe

Make sure you don’t fry the onion in any chutney recipe it should be sweated

Prepare your jars well – see notes

10 -15 freestone or combination of peaches & nectarines

200ml water

250ml sherry vinegar

50g demerara sugar

1 cinnamon stick

2 star anise

2 teaspoons mustard seeds

2 cups of dates

4 small pickling onions or 2 small brown onions

1 small 20g knob fresh ginger

Make the chutney up to a week in advance. Combine the water, sugar and vinegar together in a small saucepan. Crush the cinnamon, star anise and mustard seeds in a mortar and pestle. Add the spices to the water, vinegar and sugar. Chop dates into around 3 pieces.

Simmer very gently until the liquid is reduced by half. Strain the mixture though a fine sieve and discard the spices. Peel and slice the pickling onions in quarters. Peel and finely julienne the ginger. Add the ginger and onions to the remaining vinegar mixture in a fresh saucepan. Very gently sweat the ginger and onions together with the vinegar mix until the onions are just translucent. Remove from the heat.

Peel the nectarines and cut the flesh away from the seeds. Add the nectarine flesh and to the pot with the onion, ginger and vinegar mixture and then add dates. Stir well and simmer on a very low heat for 15 to 20 minutes. Use a lid to cover the pot but continue to stir the mixture from time to time throughout the cooking period.

The end result should have the nectarine flesh broken down a little. Place the chutney into sterilized glass jars and store in the fridge for up to two weeks.

Sterilizing Jars

Sterilize all jars and lids prior to potting. One of the following methods can be used.

Dishwasher Method: 
1.Put the jars and lids in the dishwasher and wash on the hot cycle.
2.Ensure they are completely dry prior to using.

Oven Method: 
1.Wash jars and lids in hot soapy water and dry
2.Place into an oven set to 140 degrees for 15 minutes on a tray. Turn oven to low and keep warm until ready to use.
3.Remove from the oven with tongs.

Boiling Method: 
1.Set a large pot of water to boil and submerge the jars and lids in the boiling water
2.Rapid boil for 12 minutes.
3.Remove with tongs and place upside down to drain on a tea towel.
4.Ensure the jars are totally dry before potting.

Merry Christmas from Miss December!  If you have any questions please email : contact@alisondrover.com

[tune in to belly on 17 December for Alison’s  Christmas gravy and stuffing recipes, including vegetarian suggestions]

AUDIO FROM THE SHOW

If you were cooking or eating somewhere really noisy and did not catch every word, here are a few tasty bits from today’s belly.

Joni Teal on belly dec 2004 – Joni Teal was the first manager of the Byron Bay Farmers Market.  This is an interview I recorded under the Butler street trees, complete with wind and passing helicopters, to celebrate and look back on the first 2 years of the market.  My favourite bit is at the end, when Joni looks forwards to a day when there is a market in every town in this region, including Ballina and Murwillumbah.  You got your wish Joni!

John Wilson – The Finnies Christmas Fair – Definitely our first singing school principal on belly, but hopefully not the last!  Apparently John writes and performs a song for every one of the St Finbarr’s Catholic School’s events.  He recorded this on the morning of the show, when we worked out that he could not get to the studio and do a live number.  The least you can do is go to the fair on December 8 and try out their miniature taste of Byron event – tell him you are a belly listener and would like to hear him sing again!  Thank you Monique and Denise for coming in and talking about the mini taste of Byron event you are putting on as part of the fair, it sounds delicious.   And Denise for telling the listeners that Catholics invented Christmas, I am waiting for responses to that statement.

More info about the fair – https://www.facebook.com/StFinbarrsPrimarySchoolChristmasFair

SUMMERTIME IS TOMATO TIME

Just a few varieties of Coopers Shoot tomatoes

One of the best things I get to do as a belly presenter is farm visits.  The best way really to see where our food comes from, but also an opportunity to get to know some really gorgeous people.  Good farmers seem to love showing what they do and how they do it, proud parents all really.  One of the things that farmers markets allow them to do is to retain a lot more control over their product all the way from deciding what to produce, to handing the produce into the consumer’s hands.  Hugh and Heather Armstrong both have deep roots in this region, but they probably would not be farming today without the local markets.  And they both obviously love what they do, in spite of the hard work.  In the two sound clips below they also talk about the history of the Armstrong farms, which produced the first cream that ever went to the local butter factory, they give advice to anybody thinking about getting into the farming game and into the markets, and they laugh a lot.  The background noise is the wind, which apparently is pretty hard to get away from at Coopers Shoot.

Do make sure you tune in next week for a tour of the farm, and Hugh and Heather’s top tomato growing tips.  Also a subscriber giveaway for a tomato laced dinner by Francisco at the Federal Hall.

Heather & Hugh Armstrong at Coopers Shoot Tomatoes – part 1

Heather & Hugh Armstrong at Coopers Shoot Tomatoes – part 2

Heather Armstrong in her catburglar farmer outfit, with 3 colours of beet

carefully preserved bird's nest in the tomatoes

love and chocolate guacamole, sister Tess

just a slice of the Byron Bay Farmers Market

CHILLI SAUCE GUIDELINES
Mince fresh chilli in processor. ( I use medium strength)
Put in saucepan with enough lemon juice to make not too thick.
Lots of raw sugar - I use about 1kg for a large pot-full
Salt - about 1 tablespoon per 1kg of raw sugar.
Simmer for at least 1/2 hour
Keeps well in sterilized glass jars with metal lids, that are still hot.
( I sterilize glass jars and lids by putting on tray in oven, 100-150 for
about 1/2 hour, while chilli is cooking)