THE FOODPATH BLOG

We decided to write a blog to let you know some of the fabulous food related things that happen in the Southern Highlands all the time. Keep checking back here to see what is going on. Get to know what hidden treasures we have and if you want to find out more - come on one of our tours and meet the people who grow our food.

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Click on our TOURS page to see our latest trips. If you can get a group together we can organise a tour just for you! Minimum 6 people. Contact us to discuss.

Visits

About Us...

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Jill Dyson,
Southern Highlands, NSW, Australia
Click on the link to read Jill's latest blog post. Jill has been running FoodPath in the Southern Highlands of NSW with her partner Nick since April 2010. They have grown the business to a level where they now include a range of activities including tours, workshops and collaboration with others (cooking schools, wineries, etc). During the past 10 years Jill and Nick have got to know the local producers and continue to promote and support these local small businesses. They have organised and run many food related activities including taste education workshops and producer visits. It was after they organised a successful tour for a group of chefs from some of the best restaurants in Sydney that they realised they could turn their interest into a business - and this led to the setting up of FoodPath - Culinary Tours with a Difference. Now Jill and Nick are working closely with Southern Highlands Tourism and Wingecarribee Council to help raise the profile of their area as a food destination where everyone will benefit - tourists, local consumers and the producers themselves.
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About Us...

Nick Padol, Southern Highlands, NSW, Australia.

Nick with his partner Jill has been running their business FoodPath in the Southern Highlands since April 2010. His motivation was to share his knowledge by taking others on a journey to discover local and regional food.

At the age of 4 when Nick had his first taste of coffee with his father at Andronicus’ Coffee Shop in Sydney he developed an interest in all things gastronomic. At the age of 24 his father gave him his 1st copy of Larousse Gastronomique. He now has an extensive library of cook books and he hasn’t looked back.

Not only is Nick an excellent cook and host with an interest in the cuisine of many cultures but he is also a food writer and cheese and coffee judge. He has been involved in regional food and wine related projects over the years and was an active member of Slow Food for 9 years.


PRODUCE INCLUDES:

Apples

Blackberries

Blueberries

Raspberries

Gooseberries

Grapes

Potatoes

Truffles

Garlic

Olives

Asparagus

Mushrooms

Cheese - cow, goat, sheep

Beef

Goat

Lamb

Eggs - hen, duck

Poultry

Pigs

Hazelnuts

Chestnuts

Vegetables

Jams and vinegars

Wine

Sunday, June 26, 2011
I forgot to tell you about our Croissant Workshop on Tues 7 June - things have been pretty hectic if that is an excuse?

Tracy Nickl owner of the Gumnut Patisserie ran this for us and it was booked out by a private group.

They were a bunch of friends from Burrawang who contacted me to say they are unable to do things outside school hours - so I came up with something that they could do on a weekday, within school hours!

We are very flexible and happy to put things together to suit your needs.


Tracy has kindly agreed to run another Croissant Workshop for us and this is scheduled for Tues 26 July!
10am - 12.30. Includes coffee and croissant of course!
Let us know if you would like to come?
Today we had another Fruit Bottling Workshop with Steve Hogwood from the 1910 Bottling Company and again everyone had a ball. The feedback was excellent! Some want to come back for more!

Steve has a range of topics he can teach - preserving lemons, pickle making, etc. Today they bottled tomatoes. It was nice to see everyone roll up their sleeves and get to work and have fun doing it.

The people in the group to-day came from far and wide - Huskisson, Falls Creek near Nowra, Currajong in the Blue Mtns, Sydney and on local - and you should have heard the chatter! They got on very well.

There is a real move back towards learning the old traditional skills and adapting them to or current times. Steve was full of information and all comments were extremely positive.

We are looking forward to the next one - on Sat 30 July, 10am - 1.30pm. Contact us from the website if you would like to come.
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
We are very excited because Noel Arrold, Micro-biologist and business owner of Li-Sun Mushrooms has agreed to us taking a tour to the famous Mittagong Mushroom Tunnel on Tues 2 Aug 2011!

These tours are very popular and there is limited access to them - so we are very pleased to announce three dates for these tours - Aug 2, Oct 25 and Jan 10, 2012.

We will be taking a bus from the Visitors Information Centre in Mittagong where you can leave your car. Noel will meet us at the tunnel entrance and tell us about his business. We will walk and talk all the way up the 500 metre disused railway tunnel, observing and hearing about the exotic mushrooms along the way - in a variety of shapes and colours.

Everyone receives a punnet of mushrooms to take away and some tips on how to cook them. If you haven't been before, this is an opportunity not to be missed!

To book ring Tourism Southern Highlands on 4871 2888.
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Our FoodPath Fruit Bottling Workshop on Sunday 29 May with Steve Hogwood of the 1910 Bottling Company was a great success. We have lots of great photos which speak for themselves.

Have had great feedback from the participants which was very gratifying.











The next workshop on Sun 26 June is almost full already. We have to limit numbers to 10.

During the workshop we had coffee from our local coffee roasters Rush Roasting and fresh roasted hazelnuts from our Farmers Market tour yesterday.

Plans are afoot to change the time of these workshops to accommodate those who are driving from far away. We plan to start this in July.

The new time will be 10am - 1.30 with a lunch break - and a lunch option for purchase, or you can bring your own. The lunch option is likely to be a Ploughmans lunch with Steve's pickles and local cheese, bread, wine.

More details about that when it is finalised.
  • We have our first Winter Food and Wine Wander scheduled for Sat 2 July. It is going to be a good day!

    We start by visiting a beautiful property between Bowral and Berrima where Lyn and Al have an olive grove and produce olive oil under the label Currawong. They also have a huge shed that is worth a look, because this used to be one of the biggest cattle properties in the Southern Highlands.

    Lyn will provide us with a delicious morning tea by a cosy fire in their beautiful house and Al will tell us about their olive business and treat us to an olive oil tasting.

    After a quick visit to the olive grove we will drive on to Joadja to the oldest vineyard and winery in this new cool climate wine area. Here Kim and Frances will be our hosts.

    We will be given a tour of the winery and a special tasting of their current range of wines including their new boysenberry liqueur! Nick Padol will give us a tasting of local cheeses and we will make up a pizza for lunch using local produce. These will be cooked in Kim and Frances' new outdoor pizza oven - yum!

    After lunch we will drive on to Tertini Wines out of Mittagong where Robert and Linda will be our hosts. We will have a tour of the vintner's shed and a wine tasting and talk by the cosy fire in the tasting room. If you can fit it in we finish with coffee and cake made by a local patissiere Mark Stone from Stone's restaurant.

    This tour covers about 15kms outside Berrima and Mittagong so we will drive ourselves and travel in convoy.

    For bookings contact us from the website. 10% discount for bookings of 4 or more and 10% loyalty discount for return visits.