Join Jill and Nick as they take you behind the scenes to see where your food actually comes from!

We used to think that you should only use second grade fruit for jam making. Now it is common knowledge that really delicious jam is made from gorgeous fresh fruit.
We used to busily make jam when we had an abundance of fresh fruit on our trees. Now we know we can take the pressure off by freezing surplus fruit at its peak and make it into jam all year round.
However, the best jam is still made from beautiful fresh fruit in season. Slightly under ripe fruit makes even better jam because it has higher acidity; and the faster jam is made the fresher it will taste, which is why we warm the sugar.

Come along to our next Jam Making Workshop with Biddy Maupin on Sun 2 March 2014 and find out how to make delicious jam and more! Recipes and notes to take home.

On arrival enjoy morning tea with local freshly roasted coffee and Biddy's wonderful cake and after the class we finish with a light lunch of crusty bread, cheese and Biddy's famous duck and chicken liver pates.
Time: 10am - 1pm
Venue: The Berrima School Stephanie Alexander Garden Kitchen
Price: $95 pp

To book contact us - foodpath.com.au, info@foodpath.com.au or ring 0419 617 021

Did you know that the United Nations has declared 2014 the Year of the Farming Family?
Did you know that 99% of Australian farms are still family owned and operated?
All the more reason for us to support our local producers, eat local fresh produce and generally celebrate how lucky we are to have access to these wonderful farming families in our community.

We love meeting new farmers and exploring if we can include them in our FoodPath Tours. In the past 3 weeks we have discovered:

• An Australian wildflower farm at Alpine, near Mittagong
• An alpaca farm at High Range where Jessica raises alpacas for meat, and
• A new certified organic free range egg farm at Colo Vale

Can you believe that - three new farms!! We love it.

Also have a meeting lined up next week with a Naturopath who runs cooking classes.

So - keep an eye on our program, we have lots of interesting things in the pipeline :)

We have been busy firming up several tours and workshops for next year and have a busy schedule lined up. If you are on our mailing list you should have received our December Update the morning. If you didn't and you would like it, please let us know and we will email to you.

Scheduled Summer activities include:

• Two Berry Picking tours (Sat 11 and 18 Jan)
• A Winery Tour (Fri 3 Jan)
• Two Family Farm Tours (Fri 10 and 17 Jan)
• A FoodLovers Walking Tour in Bowral (Sat 15 Feb)
• Preserving Class with Steve Hogwood (Sun 16 Feb)

We are looking forward to welcoming Robyn Darley to our FoodPath team next year. She will join Steve Hogwood and Biddy Maupin who run regular classes for us and also Patricia Phillips from the Blue Bowl Cooking School with whom we collaborate for the Market to Table Tours.

Robyn will be running a wide range of cooking classes including Making Dairy (quark, yoghurt, marscapone, gourmet fetta and paneer - a full cream ricotta), Sausage Making, Bread Making, Pastries and more. Robyn has extensive experience as a Cooking Teacher - you may have seen her demonstrating cheese making at the Southern Highlands Food and Wine Festival? Robyn runs Cheese Making Classes for Small Cow Farm so she will not be running those for us. If you want to learn to make cheese please contact Small Cow Farm. When you live in a small community it is important that you all work together...

Cheers,
Jill

We are running a Preserving Workshop at Eling Forest Estate, Sutton Forest with Stephen Hogwood of the 1910 Bottling Company on Sun 20 Oct 2013. Steve is very knowledgeable and a great teacher. This time he will show us how to bottle fruit using the Vacola system.
Finish with a light lunch including many of Steve's products.
During the next month we also have a private class and this is always available if you have a group you would like to bring?
Eling Forest Estate is a beautiful venue with a historic house, B&B accommodation, a Cellar Door Cafe and a Winery. The workshop is run in the restaurant kitchen in the historic house. Details provided on booking.

DTE: Sun 20 Oct 2013
Time: 10am - 1pm
Price: $105 pp

Group size 8 - 12. Minimum numbers apply.

To book contact us - www.foodpath.com.au, m: 0419 617 021, e: info@foodpath.com.au

We have another Jam Making Workshop coming up with Biddy Maupin, affectionately known as Lady Bucket.
Biddy has a stall at the Mittagong and Moss Vale Market every month and makes a wide range of jams, jellies, chutneys, fruit cake and a chicken and duck liver pate.
Our first class with Biddy was fun. This time we will learn how to make:

• Seville Orange Marmalade
• Passionfruit and Lemon Butter
• Strawberry Jam and
• Quince Jelly

We have a preserving class with Steve Hogwood of the 1910 Bottling Company scheduled on Sun 4 Aug. This time it will be on Pickling and Fermenting.
This is an interesting topic and covers the history and health benefits of fermenting food.
Our venue has changed to Eling Forest Estate which is on the Hume Highway at Sutton Forest, just before the Moss Vale/Canyonleigh exit - about 1.5hrs from Sydney. Steve runs his business from Eling Forest now and this is a beautiful historic location, well worth a visit.

Date: Sun 4 Aug 2013
Time 10am - 1pm
Price: $105
Inclusions: Tea/coffee on arrival, DVD with handouts, a jar to take home and a light lunch of crusty bread, cheese and Steve's pickles.

If you are interested in pickling and would like to come to our Pickling and Fermenting workshop contact us from www.foodpath.com.au and we will email you a booking form.

Saw Biddy today at the Mittagong Market and she is keen to do more Jam Making Classes. She loved it and so did we!
Spoke to several people who were sorry they missed out - so, all being well, we should have our minimum numbers (group of 8) soon and can set another date.
Let us know if you would like to come?
Includes morning tea on arrival and light lunch at the end with tastings of all Biddy's wonderful products - parmesan biscuits, flourless fruit cake, duck and chick liver terrine.
Next time we will ask Biddy's French husband to come along too - because he is part of the team.
Date: To be confirmed
Venue: The Cookability Kitchen, Bowral
Time: 10am - 1pm
Price: $85

Can't believe it is nearly the end of May and I have been slack with my blogging! Have been posting on Facebook and Twitter and even started on Instagram - but no excuses, should have kept up our FoodPath blog too...

This month has been super busy with our two Art of Food dinners at the Milk Factory Gallery in Bowral on Sat 4 and Sat 18 May. What a nice feeling it was to collaborate with other local businesses, support our local food growers and wineries, include them as speakers at the dinners, showcase Steve Harris' wonderful paintings and put our chef John Shelly in touch with so many local suppliers that I know is going to be the beginning of a beautiful relationship. All good.

Already we are exploring other opportunities to collaborate and bring you different and special food related activities - watch this space!

In the meantime we have some special tours to look forward to next week for World Environment Day as part of the Wingecarribee Shire Council's program of activities. FoodPath are taking a Southern Highlands Farm Tour on Thurs 6 June to visit three farms and enjoy a delicious lunch at Mt Ashby Estate. Our first farm has 19 baby boer goats and I am looking forward to seeing them! The second farm has beautiful alpacas of all colours and the third is a beautiful beef property. All are interesting and we feel privileged to be able to visit.

On Sat 8 June we have a Market Tour at the Bowral Produce Market where you can meet the local producers and hear their story. Always interesting.

On Sun 9 June Biddy Maupin is running a Jam Making Workshop for us at the Cookability Kitchen in Bowral. That will be fun and we will learn how to make

• mandarin marmalade, 
• passionfruit and lemon curd, 
• rhubarb and raspberry jam and 
• crab apple jelly. 

She will tell us lots of tips and tricks for success and we will have lots of tastings and a light lunch. Check the website for details and contact us if you would like to come.

Not long now until our first workshop with Biddy Maupin or Lady Bucket as she is affectionately known in the Highlands.
Biddy can be found at several local markets where she sells her wonderful jams and jellies as well as several other products.
During this workshop she will show us how to make a range of things so you go away feeling confident to try at home. This will include marmalade, crab apple jelly, green mango chutney and lemon curd (or lemon butter).
Biddy will provide handouts too and you will have a jar to take home to enjoy.

Gail Wilson is hosting us again at her wonderful Bed & Breakfast at Burradoo.
Start with morning tea at 11am then look and learn for a couple of hours, with tastings along the way.
Will be fun - tell your friends, the more the merrier!
Date: Sun 17 Feb 2013
Time: 11am - 1pm
Price: $75 pp
Bring your own apron.
Minimum numbers apply - group size 8 - 12.

If you have been to the Mittagong or Moss Vale Markets you will have met Biddy or Lady Bucket as she is affectionately known. Biddy is famous locally for her range of yummy jams, chutneys and jellies and also for her fruit cake and her chicken and duck liver pates.
Biddy is running a Jam and Chutney Making Workshop for FoodPath on Sun 17 February at Monreale a beautiful B&B in Burradoo.
Yesterday we had a meeting to fine tune the program and it sounds great - Biddy will set things up so she can give instructions in both jam making, jelly making and chutney making AND she will be handing out written instructions and recipes. I am excited!
She will be showing us how to make -

1. A citrus marmalade
2. Lemon curd
3. Crab apple Jelly and
4. Green Mango Chutney

Our next preserving class is scheduled for Sun 19 Aug, 10am - 1pm. These are always fun and you go away confident that you can bottle your own fruit and serve to your family and friends. Get some friends and come and join us! Price: $95 -includes a light lunch. Contact us from the website www.foodpath.com.au to enquire or book .

Our next Preserving Workshop is coming up on Sun 17 June 2012 at Monreale Bed and Breakfast in Burradoo. This month Steve is going to tell us about pickling and fermenting food - another way of preserving our food in ample times to use during the year.
These workshops are popular and Steve is very knowledgeable. We always have fun.
The day finishes with a light lunch of crusty bread, cheese and some of Steve's pickles.

If you are interested contact us from the website www.foodpath.com.au and we will send you a booking form.
Monreale is a fabulous venue and we are grateful to Gail who owns the premises and who is a generous host.
Date: Sun 17 June 2012
Time: 10am - 1pm
Price: $95

• Next Sunday 27 May – Celebration Sunday at Biota where we celebrate local food. This is a regular event on the last Sunday of the month. FoodPath are collaborating with Biota and very happy to do so because, as you know, we are passionate about local food and supporting our local producers. This month we have found fresh hazelnuts from Werai, apples from the 100 year old Tennessee Orchard at Yerrinbool (the large apple you see from the Hume Highway) and a large range of potatoes at Wildes Meadow. You are welcome to come on a FoodPath Market Tour in the restaurant garden at Biota and join us for lunch at the FoodPath table.  $55 per person.
• Sat 2 June – A Food Lovers Walking Tour in Bowral where we set up with about 5 specially food shops to have a talk and tasting. Includes coffee with our local coffee roasters. Price : $55
• Sun 3 June – a Pasta Making Class with Gail Wilson at her beautiful B&B in Burradoo. We will be making pumpkin ravioli with sage burnt butter sauce and will then enjoy this as part of our lunch with a glass of wine. Gail has grown the pumpkins herself and they are currently being cured in preparation for the class. Price: $95.

To book contact us from the website www.foodpath.com.au.

On Sat next weekend - 31 Mar - Luigi de Luca will entertain us at Howards Lane Winery with tales of his family business that spanned several generations.

He will also tell us the history of gelato making and show us how to make gelato using fresh local ingredients.
This will be a fun workshop. Actually more of a Masterclass I guess because we will be watching and tasting (yum), not actually making.

One of our group is bringing her own buffalo milk (!) and Luigi has asked me to source some local produce. He said olive oil but I'm not so sure - I think I will get some of our wonderful local fresh raspberry sauce. The raspberries have just finished so there should be lots of value added products that carry the farmers through the rest of the year.

Nick and I were lucky to be invited a couple of years ago to Luigi's launch of his Prickly Pear Granita at his Leichhardt Gelateria. That was delicious!

Come along and join the fun. Price: $66
To book contact us from www.foodpath.com.au, info@foodpath.com.au or ring Jill on 0419 617 021

Today we had another Market to Table Tour. We normally have these on the 2nd Sat of the month. We start with a tour of the market in Bowral where Jill talks about each local producer and takes you to meet them. Patricia buys the ingredients for the lunch. Then we moved on to the Fitzroy Inn for a cooking class and lunch.
Today there was a new stallholder with smoked meats from Camden way. Very good.
Pecora Dairy - a very new ewe's milk cheese maker was represented by The Cheese Store who have a shop but also take a stall at the market because it is so popular!

What a great bunch of people in our tour group today - 4 members of one family - a Italian mother with a daughter and 2 daughters-in-law! Two friends who came together. One solo male whose wife joined us for lunch. He had been given the tour by his children, what a nice gesture! A happy and enthusiastic bunch.
Patricia chose Moroccan as the theme for lunch today and the menu was:

• Lamb Kefta with Yoghurt sauce
• Chicken Lemon and Fennel Tagine
• Apple, Fig and Walnut Pastries

What a busy week!
First we have had a group of 17 women come on a customised tour with us while their partners played golf. That was a new itinerary which was a great success and we will definitely be repeating!
We ran TWO Farmers Market Tours yesterday at Bowral Public School! One was as part of a Market to Table Tour and was followed by a cooking class with Patricia from the Blue Bowl Cooking School and a long table lunch.

Thirlmere Poultry has been going for over 40 years and John and Jeanie represent them at the Bowral market

Patricia bought the ingredients at the market and these included free range duck, minced free range pork, organic shallots and other vegies, blood oranges, rhubarb and prawns (up from Wollongong).
The meal had an Asian theme and the group made -

•  Steamed Prawn Dumplings with the pork and prawn, with black vinegar dressing
• Mushroom Fried Rice using the shiitake, oyster and swiss brown mushrooms from the Mittagong mushroom tunnel (we have a tour to the tunnel scheduled for Tues 25 Oct)
• Szechuan Duck which was so tender and delicious
• Blood Orange Sorbet served with rhubarb which had been cooked in the juice of the oranges.

Enjoying the fruits of their labour the group lingered over lunch at Fitzroy Inn. Great to see the men cooking!

We were all given a book with the recipes and some useful information about the produce - AND we got to take the apron home!
Thanks Patricia!
I am looking forward to the next one which is on Sat 8 Oct. Contact us from the website for bookings or more info www.foodpath.com.au.
The website for Patricia at the Blue Bowl Cooking School is www.bluebowl.com.au

Had a great day on Fri being the participant rather than the organiser!




This was a very pleasant day and it was such a beautiful environment. The property was studded with many old buildings that have been beautifully restored.
Mickie runs her workshops from time to time - check her website - just search for Glenmore House.

Another fun session with Steve Hogwood at the Fruit Bottling Workshop last Sat 30 July.

The 1910 Bottling Company makes a great product - look at these!

This time we were bottling pears and I was asked to judge the best. This was not easy I can tell you! I had to look at the pattern, the number of air bubbles, whether the jar was packed to the rim with fruit, etc.

Sizing up the finished products

There was also a team challenge where everyone combined their newly learnt skills to pack a large bottle. So - we ended up with an individual winner and also a winning team. Check out the photos!

Paula won the best jar award

The winning team

Next time Steve is going to introduce you to steam canning as well as covering the boiling method. Steam canning is what you do to preserve vegetables. This is a great way to use up extra produce from the garden or when you buy a case from the greengrocer when the price is right.

Buy when the fruit is in peak season and preserve for a rainy day

Bookings are coming in for the next two workshops so don't delay.
In October Steve is going to teach us how to do pickling. Contact us from the website if you are interested.