Regional Flavours 2012

Regional Flavours is a food and lifestyle event held at Southbank Parklands, which aims specifically to promote food and wine produce from regional Queensland, including the Lockyer Valley, Granite Belt, Far North Queensland and South Burnett. Held over the 21-22 July weekend, this year marks the fourth year of this event. This is another one of those food events where you get to try before you buy. Now that's what I call informed decision-making - love it!

Here's some pictures from the event:

I really wanted to try their rainforest chiller, but the wait was too long.

There were a few educational tents scattered around the Little Stanley St Lawns, under which sessions were held about wine and dessert matching, types of beer, teas, etc, all of which were free to attend - but they were also with impossibly long queues.



My lunch from Ahmets Flavours (one of the food stalls): 'Gozleme - a traditional flat Turkish pastry folded over variou ingredients, then baked over a grill'

Relishes! I bought their pumpkin and their beetroot and chilli one at the Enrich Brisbane food show earlier in the year.

One of the more noteworthy shops is Broken Nose Vanilla. I first came to know of this business when I attended this same food event last year. I was surprised to find out that we have bourbon vanilla bean plantations not just in Australia, but in our very own Sunshine State! We all know that vanilla beans are typically grown in the tropics, like its native Mexico, Madagascar, Indonesia, Tonga, French Polynesia and Papua New Guinea, but I would never have picked out tropical North Queensland to be a suitable site for a vanilla plantation. But then again, why not? Best idea ever! However, despite being locally grown, these vanilla beans and the products derived from them are no cheaper than the imported ones. I have bought vanilla beans before for much cheaper from a farmers' market and from the Victoria Markets (Melbourne), though their sources of origin are unknown. Still, it is comforting to know that these beans come from a sustainably grown plantation, grown in pure rainforest mulch, without fertilisers or pesticides (though not quite certified organic yet), and better still, I can now splurge on my favourite spice, while concomitantly supporting our economy!

Some of their products: (clockwise from far left) vanilla extract, vanilla-infused honey, vanilla sugar.

Vanilla beans and ground vanilla

I bought a canister of vanilla tea and vanilla extract from their stall last year. The tea is composed of Queensland black tea blended with a ground Broken Nose vanilla bean. Although this product is a 'loose leaf' tea, the main issue I have with it is that the leaves are very processed, such that even when I'm using the finest teapot strainer to infuse the tea leaves, quite a bit of small little leaf bits still get through into the water, which really annoys me. On the positive side, the tea releases a lovely, natural vanilla aroma, which I love! As I associate vanilla with sweet things, I like to take this tea with a spot of milk and sugar.

Vanilla tea

I liked it so much that even though I still had half a canister of this tea left at home, I went ahead and bought another one, along with a pack of 3 vanilla beans. They had actually run out of the beans they had allocated to sell that day, but the boss was nice and sold me a pack from their next day's lot anyway. As you can see from the picture below, the beans are quite skinny, not unlike the ones I've bought in the past, but the picture of the cut vanilla bean from their brochure made me curious enough to take a risk and give them a go.

Vanilla tea and vanilla beans

I defy you to tell me that this image of a cradle of a squillion luscious vanilla seeds in their intensely dark and oily glory doesn't entice you. Fingers crossed that I see this when I cut open the pods I bought. They're only B-grade beans though, as they weren't selling the A-grade ones at the event. You can check out their products and/or purchase from their online store at www.brokennosevanilla.com.au.



In love.

Another stall I searched the grounds for was that of Mammino - locally hand-made ice-cream. 


Mammino!

Again, I first knew of this brand when I went to Regional Flavours last year, and I knew I had to return for more. If you like full-fat, rich, creamy, real ice-cream, then this will be your cup of tea; I mean, er, ice-cream. Literally. The ice-cream comes in frozen yoghurt-like cups, and a paddle-pop stick is stuck into it for you on purchase, which is used to twist and release the whole mould of ice-cream - et voila! You've got yourself a massive ice-cream pop. I bought the coffee and macadamia one, which was deeeelicious! However, it's a lot more rich and creamier than I remember it being (I would describe it as being much like softened butter, but it makes me feel a bit sick to think of it like that), so it's probably best shared between two people. Not that that stopped me from finishing the whole thing on my own, of course! My two friends shared one between them, and one decided that she didn't really enjoy it, because of the dense, creamy taste and texture. (www.mammino.com.au)



Coffee and macadamia handmade icecream

Another stall that deserves special mention is the Tomarata Orchard stall, which was there to promote and sell their Sensual food product range. The business runs a lychee orchard along the Sunshine and Fraser Coasts, and is apparently one of the main suppliers of lychees in Australia. Their business is comprised of the fruit growing and selling component and their gourmet product line, which are created from ingredients grown on their own farm.

After taste-testing a few of their liqueurs - perhaps a bit too much! (forgot which one I liked on my return to the stall to make my purchase, so had to try them all over again!) - I decided on the lychee and ginger liqueur. It has the taste of fresh, sweet lychees, without the strong alcohol-y aftertaste that a few of the others seem to have. Keep in mind that I'm a non-alcohol drinker though, so you might not have the same problem as me. I have, of course, bought alcohol before, but they were all for cake/dessert-making purposes (e.g. Tia Maria, Kahlua, Midori, Marsala). So yes, this was my first alcoholic purchase for beverage-making purposes. According to the owner, their lychee liqueurs are made by combining the juice extracted from the lychees grown in the orchard with grape spirit. No artificial flavouring - that explains the delicious real lychee flavour!


Different types of fruity liqueurs

Sauces, chutneys and jams

I have been using the lychee and ginger liqueur to make refreshing drops, by adding a little splash of the liqueur in a glass and topping with chilled sparkling mineral water. It is especially nice with added fresh juicy lychees. The ones I used in the picture below were so juicy that I peeled the skins directly over the cup to catch all the natural, sweet juice. Yum!



My lychee drop

I also bought their lychee dessert sauce. Well, technically, I got it for free, because the owner forgot to add the cost to the card transaction, and when I pointed that out to him, he said not to worry about it, because he knows I'll be a returning customer. If that was a business strategy, it worked, because I now feel morally obliged to make a future purchase. More than that though, I would be a returning customer anyway, because I quite like the dessert sauce. For the next few nights after the event, I had Sara Lee vanilla ice cream every night drizzled with the lychee dessert sauce and topped with toasted flaked almonds - heaven! The dessert sauce has chopped pieces of real lychees in a runny (even on refrigeration) syrup. I could probably make this myself, but due to the cost and availability of the fruit, it's more convenient and probably works out more convenient to have a bottle of these on hand, for last-minute dessert ideas. I'm thinking of swirling it in whipped cream to fill a layered sponge cake too; that is, if there's any sauce left by the time I get to making that cake! I must remind myself to try their nectarine and peach dessert sauce next time, which are also made from the stonefruit on their own farm. You can read more about the orchard and their products at http://www.tomaratalychees.com.au.





Good vanilla bean ice cream + lychee dessert sauce + toasted flaked almonds

A very unique thing they had going on at the event this year was the herbal tea garden. Neatly lined around the lawns were wheel barrows of a range of different herbs - some I was familiar with, some were totally new to me. At first, I thought they were just displayed there for people to learn about them, but realised afterwards that their purpose was for people to make their own herbal concoctions from them. The idea was to get a paper cup filled with boiling hot water at the T-Licious stall, then go around adding the herbs of choice to create a unique herbal infusion. I asked one of the ladies at the stall if any pesticides were used on the herbs and whether certain herbs combined together for consumption could be dangerous. She expressed uncertainty and said it "should be safe, because that's what the herbs are there for". Normally, the prudent me would err on the side of caution and go on my merry way, but I think it must be increasing age, which is prompting me to take more risks. I figured everyone else was doing it anyway, and no one seemed to have been reported ill from this thus far, so I decided to join in this herbal tea-making experiment.

Someone lining up to get hot water from the kettle for their herbal infusion

Herbs, herbs and more herbs!

Chocolate mint?!

For my herbal infusion, I decided to try using the unique herbs that I've never heard of or seen before: Chocolate Mint (which does smell a liiittle tiny bit like chocolate when you crush the leaves, I suppose), Pineapple Sage (smells a liiittle bit like pineapples), Apple Mint (which smells a bit like apples), as well as some Lemon Thyme and Lemon Myrtle leaves to add to the fruity notes. Unfortunately, on this occassion, herbal tea-concocting success was not to be mine. It so turns out that combining fruit-scented tea leaves does not quite give the same effect as combining the juices of different fruits. My infusion was bland and just tasted liked boiled water...that's been tainted with dirt or something (probably that too, come to think of it, since the leaves weren't washed). As you can see from the photo below, my infusion remained clear, whereas my friends' turned a slight greeny colour and smelt a bit lemony - probably because they added more lemon myrtle leaves than I did. Apparently it tasted a bit lemony but also a bit weird. I had a few little sips of mine, but its unpalatable taste meant that the remainder of it was fated to be used to water the grass with.

Custom herbal infusions! (Mine is the bottom left one)

The Regional Flavours is a great little event to showcase the edible delights that regional Queensland food producers have to offer.  I intend to go every year and I would recommend it to other foodies who are interested in supporting local growers too. I especially have a soft spot for the food producers in the regional areas after the terrible floods and cyclones happened last year, which affected so many people, and meant that a lot of farms and businesses had to start all over again.

Try to carry a hands-free bag if you go though. Trust me - you'll need your hands free to carry your many bags of goodies home!



My shopping bag: (Clockwise from top left) Fava Nuts Moroccan-flavoured toasted broad beans; Broken Nose Vanilla tea and vanilla beans; Gourmet Afrika Spicy Malay Coconut Sauce; Tomarata lychee and ginger liqueur and lychee dessert sauce; Jim's 'Safari' beef jerky; ducky tea strainer from T-Licious (floats on top of the water); Dadz Farm zucchini relish

Edit: I spoke to one of my friends today, who went with me to the herbal tea garden at the Regional Foods, and she mentioned that her and the other girl felt really sick when they returned home that day, and couldn't eat that night. They suspected it might have been the self-made tea they had (so maybe it was a good thing my tea didn't turn green afterall; however, do note that I only had a few small sips of my tea anyway), although one of her other friends, who didn't have any herbal tea, reportedly also felt sick after they went. I think it has a lot to do with the fact that there's hundreds of people taste-testing the same things as you are at the stalls, and you have to think about factors like the cleanliness of the dishes holding the samples; the hygiene of the person handling the samples; the despicable double-dippers; the people who cough, sneeze, and send spittle flying when they talk to each other/with the vendors... Not a pretty picture, but what do you expect from this sort of event arrangement? Let's also not forget that any popular, open public events means that there will be crowds of people, which leads to increased human contact and proximity, and, thus, naturally increases the spread of infection. It' like how everyone gets sick after going to the Ekka.

If you are otherwise healthy, I would not be too concerned about going to these sort of food festivals (because if you are, then really you are also ruling out all other food events, like the Good Food and Wine Show, the Taste Festivals, the Chocolate Festivals... which would be a downright shame). If you're worried, then make sure you boost your immune function by eating healthy, regularly exercising, and, if you're into complementary medicines, take regular doses of olive leaf extract (marketed to improve immune function) and a multivitamin (but only useful if you don't eat a well-rounded, balanced diet). I wouldn't say I have the best immune system, but I've been to many a food fest without experiencing any health problems. If you are sick, please stay at home. And of course, the immunocompromised, the pregnant, young children and babies, and the elderly are more susceptible to getting sick, and should avoid being in crowded places period.