A very special recipe, monthly appearances, a seasonal sweet treat, and a new family member.
Not a literal live birth, a new stallholder. More on that later. For now, suffice to say that everyone’s feet are back on terra firma and minds on the reality of this working life. Would we all love to be on the coast living it up still? Sure. The consolation prize is summer’s lingering warmth and the market’s joy on a Saturday at Harvest. And what a joy it promises to be this week.
A seasonal sweet treat at Harvest
In much the same way as cherries, garlic scapes, asparagus, and the like, sweetcorn has a short but intense season. Also in the same way, homegrown sweetcorn is vastly, incomparably superior to that of supermarkets or broadacre producers. Elphin Grove Farm’s sweetcorn is exactly this. Small-scale, lovingly grown, intensely flavoursome and just beautiful. Keen readers may remember some less-than-subtle digs at our former colleague Heidi around this time last year. Her bordering-on-unnatural obsession with this particular seasonal pleasure was too easy a target. Digs aside, we’re filled with excitement about Matt and Ruth returning with their sweet corn, popping corn, plus their famous baby corn. We’re predicting more than a few ears served with comical amounts of butter, salt and pepper on dinner tables across Tasmania this weekend.
The rota
It being the fourth Saturday of the month, we’ll be treated to the presence of Dan and Kim from Fork it Farm. Apart from all their usual award-winning porky goodness, we’re reliably informed (by them) that they’ll be bringing along their beef as well. What form that will take, we don’t know. But we’re 100% confident that it will be as good as any beef you’ll find anywhere else in the world. Japan, Texas, Argentina… if you’re listening. We stand by it. Another prediction for the weekend’s dinner tables.
This week, we’re also being treated to an appearance from Sue and Tom from KimchiMe. Always a delight to see. Certified organic, nominees for Organic Farmer of the Year, and all-round great people, Sue and Tom love bringing their wonderful and healthy products to Harvest. While their attendance may be somewhat sporadic, it is always very well received. Do you know what Kimchi goes really well with? Marinated and seared beef. Just saying.
A new family member at Harvest
Join us in welcoming Boston Cream Pie Co to the Harvest family! Tony and Elle have been wedding and events caterers in Sydney for over 10 years. In what is probably the most common story of interstate migration, they came to Tassie for a little trip, decided they loved it and moved here. Although Elle had one caveat: no more wedding cakes. They believe that they’ve been working at Boston Cream Pie Co their whole lives. They wanted to do something new, original, and that they could get passionate about.
So they trialled and erred, they waited, tested, tasted and perfected a proprietarily soft sponge base and creme filling. We won’t lie, at first we were a little sceptical. Would they satisfy our requirements for Tasmanian produce? Were they really up to scratch? The answers are yes, and absolutely yes respectively. The stars have aligned, the hoops jumped through and now, we’re as proud as them to welcome them to their start at Harvest. Congrats Tony and Elle!
A very special dinner
There are few things in this life that are as satisfying as cooking things you’ve grown, raised or caught. Rhys hasn’t stopped banging on about his Sunday dinner this week, so we had to let him get this out of his system. Featuring a fish he speared, and cooked over a fire with vegetables from Harvest, and herbs from the garden at the Bay of Fires Bush Retreat. This was a special dinner in every conceivable way. It highlighted just how much work really goes into a dinner that is, on its surface, very simple. A fish chased down, bled and cared for. Vegetables planted, grown, protected, harvested and bought to market. Ingredients prepared, fire lit, a meal cooked and table set. All this for what amounted to fish, veg and salad. Staple fare of any dining table on any given day.
But the satisfaction that comes from this simple meal prepared for and with others, enjoyed in a magnificent setting and appreciated by all is a satisfaction that is difficult to properly describe. May there be more like it.
Thanks for reading, have a great weekend and look forward to seeing you in the sunshine at Harvest.