Taste Test: Huntley Berry Farm jam, Huntley (7 June 2013)

Huntley Road, Huntley NSW 2800

http://www.huntleyberryfarm.com.au

Community made jam

“Huntley Berry Farm is an OCTEC-owned and operated Australian Disability Enterprise, as well as a significant contributor to Orange’s reputation for high quality locally grown produce. The farm has long been known for its large variety of berries, which visitors can pick themselves between November and May each year.”

Thanks to Tom Harvey from OCTEC (Orange Community Training and Education Centre) for sending me some jam samples made by Huntley Berry Farm. OCTEC is a not-for-profit community business providing employment, education, training and advocacy services to all members of the community in the Central West of NSW. At the farm, a number of people with disabilities are employed to carry out activities associated with operating Huntley Berry Farm. I did a taste test of 12 jams, 1 jelly and 1 chutney on some pancakes which I thought would make a suitable base. Overall the jams were well received with the Boysenberry and Bourbon Jam being a clear favourite amongst many including myself. It had an enjoyable well-rounded mouth flavour with a bit of punch. I also liked the Blackberry and Whisky Jam. It must be the balance of alcohol that I found really worked a treat although probably best to avoid feeding to the kids. I thought the Strawberry Rose Jam would be good on scones and the Strawberry and Vanilla Jam would suit a sponge cake. The Feijoa and Macadamia Jam might work well with cheese instead of quince paste and the runny Red Currant Jelly with a turkey sandwich. The Feijoa Chutney would probably go well on a ham sandwich. Marmalade or mixed berry jam don't seem to be available in the range which are some of my favourite jams I tend to look out for. Pricing comes at a premium at $2.50 for a 40ml, $7 for 200ml, $9.50 for 300ml and the jams with alcohol $8.50 for 200ml and $10.50 for 300ml. I'd recommend visiting the farm to sample products before purchasing as there's so many choice and everyone's taste is different in what they find appealing.

Here's a great video by ABC Central West NSW
http://www.abc.net.au/local/videos/2013/08/07/3820065.htm

SNAPSHOT REVIEW:

PROS: Interesting flavour combinations, Quality ingredients, Supports people with disabilities and local community

CONS:  The online shop needs a bit of refresh to make it easier to navigate and purchase products, Jams are at a premium price, I'm assuming you need to avoid feeding alcoholic jams to kids, Marmalade or mixed berry jam not available

MUST TRY: Boysenberry and Bourbon Jam, Blackberry and Whisky Jam, Visiting Huntley Berry Farm during fruit picking season

VERDICT: An extensive range of jams that tempts me to visit the farm during fruit picking season as a family outing

—

Boysenberry and Bourbon Jam — good balanced flavour

SIMON FAVOURITE :-)

Strawberry and Cointreau Jam — nice, slight marmalade taste from I think the Cointreau

Strawberry, Balsamic Vinegar and Pepper Jam — OK although quite a thick consistency

Blackberry and Whisky Jam — good flavour
SIMON FAVOURITE :-)

Strawberry Rose Jam — would go well on scones with cream

Strawberry and Vanilla Jam — would go well in a sponge cake

Raspberry Jam — good

Spiced Blackberry Jam — nice

Blackberry, Balsamic Vinegar and Pepper Jam — quite thick, robust flavour notes

Rum and Raspberry Jam — nice

Feijoa and Macadamia Jam — would probably go well with cheese like quince jam

Blackberry and Lime Jam — lifted end notes of lime

Red Currant Jelly — nice but very runny consistency, might be good for turkey sandwiches

Feijoa Chutney — nice for perhaps ham sandwiches or roast meats

Tasting survey

My tasting notes

Toscano pancakes ($4, Coles) — I used these as the tasting base. They taste better if you quickly pan fry them with a bit of butter to warm them up

View Larger Map

Product Test: Coway Juicepresso, Cold Press Juicer (19 Dec 2012)

http://juicepresso.com.au
http://www.youtube.com/juicepresso

Cold blooded nutritional juicing

“Juicepresso squeezes slowly rather than grinds quickly, so on top of not producing friction and heat, it minimises noise and is whisper quiet. It also consumes less electricity and is up to 10x more energy-efficient than traditional juicers.”

Thanks to Vivien Mah from Andatech for providing a Coway Juicepresso to test. I was hoping to have seen it demonstrated at the MasterChefLIVE 2012 but I missed out so this was a good opportunity to see how it performed. It takes up less bench space than the Philips HR1871 Juicer and is much quieter being a cold press juicer. I've never used a cold press juicer before and found a pretty good website that compares a few of them based on their features. The parts are quite simple to put together and take apart for washing. Performance wise the juicing of apple, orange, grapefruit, pineapple and kale went well but tomato left pulp and carrot left bits. Possibly a second juicing would have refined these to a more pure juice. All fruit and vegetables needed to be cut and prepared to fit in the chute to be juiced which is more time consuming than using a juicer than can take whole fruits. Flavour wise the apple, orange, grapefruit and pineapple were very enjoyable to drink with lots of distinctive flavour while the kale probably should have been mixed with another fruit like apple to make it more palatable but it did a very good job at juicing it. Washing up was relatively easy and some brushing of the filter mesh was required to clean it thoroughly. The machine comes with a simple recipe book for juice ideas and overall it's a simple juicer to use.

SNAPSHOT REVIEW:

PROS: Flavoursome juice, Simple to use, Fairly easy to clean

CONS: Fruit and vegetables need to be cut up before juicing, Tomato and carrot didn't juice as effectively as hoped, Apparently doesn't juice avocado, banana and mango particularly well

MUST TRY: Juicing tomato and carrot through a second time

VERDICT: Quite a powerful yet compact juicer that's easy to clean and simple to use. Pricing and features compared to other cold press juicers will determine its attractiveness to purchase

—

Requires small bench space

Simple step by step recipes — very basic instructions

Day 1 testing: apple, orange, grapefruit, tomato

Day 2 testing: carrot, pineapple, orange, kale

Apple juicing — good result and flavour

Orange juicing — good result and flavour

Grapfruit juicing — good result and flavour

Tomato juicing — too much pulp made it through to juice. A second juicing is recommended.

Carrot juicing — too many bits coming through with the juice. Perhaps a second juicing would refine to just juice?

Pineapple juicing — good result and flavour

Kale juicing — good result but would suggest mixing in apple juice to make flavour more palatable

Washing water through after kale juice

Components for washup. Easy to disconnect and carry without mess

Parts quite easy to take apart and clean fairly easily

The mesh filter requires a bit of extra cleaning with brush supplied which isn't too difficult

Parts that required washing — fairly simple and easily to put back together

GraysOutlet Cooking Challenge: Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker (12 Dec 2012)

http://www.graysoutlet.com.au

I scream for ice cream

Admittedly if given the choice between buying a tub of ice cream or making it from scratch I'd choose the lazy way but when Sarah Cichy from Polkadot PR invited me to participate in the GraysOutlet Cooking Challenge to make ice cream using a Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker provided I thought I might learn a thing or two — and indeed I did. I chose to attempt the Matt Moran’s Raspberry Ripple Ice Cream which sounded pretty straight forward on paper although for a cooking novice like myself it wasn't as simple as I had hoped. Making custard was the first challenge. Measuring, pouring and mixing was fine but knowing how to cook the custard to the right consistency before it turned into scrambled eggs was the tricky bit. I think in hindsight I might have undercooked it a bit because my custard was still a bit runny which in turn I think affected how thick my ice cream ended up after being churned. 

Blending frozen raspberries was the next challenge. My blender didn't handle it well. In fact it didn't want to blend it at all so I had to squash it all up and add water to make it more runny so it could blend. My blender wasn't up for the task or perhaps I should have used a food processor instead. Passing the blended raspberry through a sieve should have been easy but not when you discover you only have a coarse metal sieve which allowed all the seeds to go through — ahh! I could only find a small tea sieve to do the job which was frustrating and tedious at best. I'll certainly know better next time what I actually need to do the job right. Anyway after 30 minutes I finally had my custard and raspberry sauce to make some ice cream.

The next day I took my chilled custard and raspberry sauce into work to churn in the Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker. The churning bowl had been in the freezer for 24 hours and was ready to use. There was anticipated excitement in the air from work colleagues hearing the machine churning away. After 20 minutes it looked like the mixture wasn't going to get any firmer so I took it out and folded through just a fraction of the raspberry sauce. The final consistency was still on the runny side but everyone enjoyed the flavour. There was no way I'd be able to make quenelles out of this batch. I placed the left over ice cream in the freezer to firm overnight plus also in a mould. The following day the ice cream texture was as hoped although it did have a more icy taste. It was certainly an interesting cooking exercise for me to partake in and I learnt how ice cream can be made. I was surprised to discover how many egg yolks it used and I definitely need to get a better sieve if I ever attempt this recipe again.

SNAPSHOT REVIEW:

PROS: When you make ice cream yourself you know exactly what's going into it, Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker was simple to use and very easy to clean after

CONS: Takes a lot longer to make ice cream than simply going to the shop and buying some, My ice cream didn't turn out as firm as hoped

MUST TRY: Making frozen yoghurt which doesn't involve cooking

VERDICT: When I do have ice cream it's a bit of a spur-of-the-moment kind of treat so I'd rather buy it from a supermarket than try and plan ahead to make it myself

—

Goodie bag of Cuisinart and supplies from GraysOutlet

Time to make some Matt Moran Raspberry Ripple Ice Cream

Use one vanilla bean

Place the seeds and scraped pods into a saucepan, add 500mls of milk and bring to a simmer

In a bowl, whisk the egg yolks and sugar together for approximately 2 minutes until pale and fluffy — so many yolks!

Pour the mixture into the saucepan of milk and return to a medium heat stirring constantly

Cook the custard for approximately 5 to 7 minutes until it has thickened and coats the back of a spoon — for me to it longer than this and I was worried I'd scramble the eggs

Remove from the heat and pass through a sieve into a mixing bowl — I didn't have a very good sieve for this

Stir in the cream then place in the refrigerator to chill for one hour

Place the raspberries into a blender and blend until smooth — that didn't work well so had to add water to make it more a liquid before blending

Pass the mixture through a sieve to remove the seeds — this failed for me using this metal sieve which was too coarse

Do not attempt to use a tea strainer — very messy and pretty much useless

My raspberry sauce still had some seeds in it but was OK

Transfer the raspberry juice to a saucepan on a high heat. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes until the raspberry juice reduces to a thick sauce consistency.

Time to make some ice cream

Some topping options — coconut, milo and hundreds and thousands

Place the custard into the ice cream machine and churn until thick and creamy

After 20 minutes this was about as thick the ice cream was going to get. I think my custard wasn't thick enough to start with?

Fold through the raspberry syrup using a spatula until a ripple effect has formed — I only needed to use a fraction of the amount of raspberry sauce I had made

Left over ice cream placed in the freezer to firm up for the next day