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Chefs
| Product glossary | Flavour frontier |
Menu ideas | Recipes
| Articles Have you visited our on-line shop? The flavours of AustraliaWell, the Olympic Games have come and gone and our products were used by most of the innovative official caterers. Sure, some caterers presented the same old same old but it was largely native Australian flavours which powered those special offerings which highlighted our uniquely Australian cuisine. And where to from here? Well, our markets around the world are growing rapidly and no doubt, it was the Olympics which put us on the culinary and destination maps. If you are a local entertaining visitors, a visitor to Australia yourself or an Internet surfer interested in foods of the future, please take the time to explore the world's newest spices, herbs, fruits, seeds, nuts and the many other foods of our Great South Land. Sure, the Aborigines have used these ingredients for millenia but non-Aboriginal Australia is only just discovering the flavours of the next flavour frontier. So please remember that our products are no longer called bushfood or bush tucker. They are simply Australian ingredients and are now gracing the tables of celebrities, royalty and the upper echelon of society. Not to neglect us lower mortals, we have continued to introduce our wild flavours as native ingredients to pubs and clubs, restaurants and eateries at all levels of food service. So what are Cherikoff Flavours?
These ingredients were once only eaten by Australia's indigenous peoples who gained their sustenance from a wide variety of plants and plant products and game meats. Our rainforests provided tree nuts of which the macadamia nut is now the best known and fully commercialised species. In fact, nuts were probably a more important protein source than meats for rainforest peoples. Across the country, both protein sources were complemented and flavoured with herbs such as lemon myrtle, Australian thyme, mint and peppermint; spices including mountain pepper, pepperberries and akudjura (a Solanaceous spice); and fruits such as wild limes, riberries and lemon aspen, to mention only a few of the three dozen or so species now commercialised. If you want some background on native foods we recommend the best selling book, The Bushfood Handbook by Vic Cherikoff. Order a copy now over our secure site. It is an invaluable reference with recipes, descriptions and discussions on my favourite topic. The book is not only a great (tax deductible) gift to yourself but if you ever have visiting chefs or travel yourself, what a terrific way to introduce the flavours Australia has to offer. We can easily post you a copy if you simply order on-line now. Some products have evolved from their traditional use, for example, the seeds from species of Acacia were once parched with hot coals to make them brittle so that they could be milled into a coarse flour and then baked into seed cakes. However, during a nutritional study of Acacia seeds an accident resulted in the development of a brand new flavour. In my home kitchen in September of 1984, I was preparing some seeds by toasting them to the traditional brittle stage before taking them for analysis of their nutritional contents. Inadvertently over-roasting the seeds, resulted in a totally new coffee substitute. In this way, Wattleseed was born as a new product and its coffee, chocolate and hazelnut-like notes are perfect in desserts like ice cream or the pavlova pictured below:
The fruits, herbs, spices, nuts, seeds and food adjuncts (like
the paperbark which is used as a food wrap and flavouring) are all different
to conventional, more familiar ingredients in their taste and appearance and
a few new ways of cooking are part of this exciting world of Australian flavours.
Nutritionally, native foods are also distinctive. The Kakadu plum is found in Australia’s tropical north and is the world’s highest fruit source of vitamin C which I proved analytically at the University of Sydney where I began my professional interest in native foods. The vitamin C discovery was published in Nature in 1983 and was even reported on the front page of the Wall Street Journal shortly afterwards. Wattleseeds are high in proteins, unsaturated fats and complex carbohydrates. This latter nutrient group appears to offer a protective role against diabetes and other diseases of civilisation. Many foods of plant origin contain anti-oxidants which inhibit the action of reactive free-radicals (chemicals which can damage DNA and cause cancers, tumours and cell mutations). Many herbs have significant and practical functional effects such as being emulsifiers, stabilisers or anti-oxidant. Some contain compounds which are tonic, relaxing, restorative, phytoestrogenic, anti-microbial or anti-arthritic and more. Several edible seeds and nuts appear to be protective against diabetes, obesity and other diseases of civilisation. And we are only just discovering these valuable effects and how best to use them. Have a look at the articles on functional foods, bush medicines and more. However, these ingredients are already finding their way into manufactured products as functional flavourings and some, along with selected bush medicines, are even being used in cosmetics and pharmaceuticals. Yes, foods that were once only used by Australian Aborigines have come a long way. They now grace the tables of 4 and 5-star restaurants around the world and have been eaten by celebrities and dignitaries all over the planet. Clinton enjoyed wattle pancakes at the Atlanta Olympics and our products were very visible throughout the Sydney Games, Prime Ministers, ministers and trade delegates are often served food with native flavours at foreign functions, the Duke of Edinburgh ate, saw manufactured and smelled them on his last visit to Australia and the household of the Sultan of Brunei enjoys lemon aspen syrup over yoghurt on their breakfast muesli. Rock’n’roll performers, from Madonna to The Rolling Stones ate and drank native flavours and many used them medicinally to maintain their voices in 'good' form when performing in Australia. Please note that these comments do not imply their endorsement of any of our products. They simply indicate the scope of the penetration and acceptance of our offerings to date. It is probably obvious to you that the terminology of 20 years ago had to change. How could you use the term 'bush tucker' to describe a dish explained as duck
breast, rubbed with riberry syrup and served with a mini-tower of
Oz Lemon rice Remember, that if you think your clientele is too conservative to try new flavours, you could describe this same dish as aromatic warm salad of glazed roasted duck breast with a fragrant rice Another could be an Oz
Lemon scented mixed seafood sushi with 3 dipping sauces of or describe this as an Australian sushi with a trio of sauces then see how many pieces disappear on tasting. These are important points. There is little reason to introduce the uncertainty of new ingredients as descriptions on menus when the best way to have your clients try new things you go to the effort of offering, is to give a simple idea of the main ingredient or cooking style and leave the flavours as the discovery and interest of the dish. Do you mention the garlic you add or the pinch of salt or dob of butter? Then why make a fuss of the pinch of Australian herbs or toss of riberries? The native flavours uniting the dishes of any world cuisine of the future are versatile, enticing and infinite. And this only based upon the first few dozen ingredients. Just wait for the next lot…. To get the rundown on a host of applications and menu ideas using Cherikoff flavours, have a look at our menu ideas on-line (or download a pdf copy for printing here) and let your creative juices flow.
Chefs
| Product glossary | Flavour frontier |
Menu ideas | Recipes
| Articles Have you visited our on-line shop? Copyright
Vic Cherikoff Food Services Pty Limited
|
