Food Night 18th June with Trevor Hart from Cedar St Cheeserie

Trevor Hart’s Buffalo Cheeses are in demand by top chefs all over Australia. Did you know he makes them locally right here in Maleny. Come along to our next Foodie night 6pm on Wednesday 18th June and meet the maker himself. Taste his award winning Haloumi, Mozzarella and A Love Supreme.

As Trevor says “I make cheese in a traditional way; fresh cheese from pure and unadulterated fresh milk by hand. My choice of milk is buffalo milk from Mal & Margaret Thompson’s dairy in Witta just 5 minutes down the road from my micro cheeserie in Maleny. Buffalo cheeses have many great qualities but its greatest is its uniquely creamy taste. The making of cheese is measured in millenia. As a way of preserving milk to stave off hunger in the winter months originally, it has risen to become a food artform.”

We will also have a brand new RAW Superfood GREEN Salad Dressing for you to try and warm local herbal teas and hot cocoa! Held at Maleny IGA's Gift s & Gourmet 15 Maple St, book your spot at Gift s n Gourmet. FREE to attend. Bookings preferred.

Trevor was recently interviewed by Mary-Lou Stephens from ABC Radio Sunshine Coast. Here is a recording of his interview.

Gluten Free Product Tasting Sat 14th June @ 9am

Taste 9 Gluten Free products at our first Gluten Free Tasting on Saturday 14th June at 9am in our Maleny IGA Gifts & Gourmet store located at 13 Maple St Maleny. Many of you know here at Maleny IGA we have a ‘pink’ shelf labeling system for Gluten Free items. These are products the manufacturers have informed us are gluten free.

Connor in the Perishables department and Craig from Grocery follow a Gluten Free Diet themselves and have selected products for us to taste test. Connor has recently sourced a new packaged gluten free frozen product range called “Health Sense-Sations” and we have other ready meals and snacks you’ll enjoy tasting.

The “Health Sense-Sations” range is made in Queensland and specialize in vegan and gluten free prepackaged frozen products. These are handy to keep in your freezer even if you are not gluten free, so that you’ve got something tasty on hand for when your Gluten Free friends drop in.

Thanks to Alison James from Maleny’s Facebook Gluten Free Group will be joining us and on hand to provide advice. Running time will be from 9am to 10am All welcome!

Walker Family “Chook Eggs”

Since our December Newsletter article and Maleny IGA Kenilworth Local Food Tour visited the Walker family farm last year, Kacey Walker has become famous! Appearing on the April cover of the Courier Mail “Taste” insert with an article and follow up interviews re changes to free range chicken laws reducing the ranging area.

The Walker family use the term ‘nomadic, pasture-laid eggs’ to describe their eggs. Walker Family Farm eggs actually are truly free-range, as their chickens roam around the pasture all day. A large area of land is enclosed in portable fencing creating their chook paddock.

Their enclosure and chook caravan is moved regularly around the property, so they always have green grass to eat.George Walker says “chickens can take up to 40% grass in their diet,” so unlike barn-laid eggs, their nomadic chickens get this valuable source of chlorophyll making their ‘Chook Eggs’ high in essential Omega 3 oils.

The Walker family have recently adopted another 450 chickens, and added a second chook caravan to their farm at Cambroon, 30 minutes from Maleny. This helps them keep up with Maleny IGA shoppers demand for their delicious nomadic, pasture-laid eggs.

According to Kacey, the response to their eggs has been phenomenal since the Maleny IGA started stocking them. They take 1800 eggs in to the IGA, twice a week, and they still sell out!

George remembers the phone call from Peter, the IGA produce manager, just before Christmas, saying “don’t wait for us to call you, just bring them in.”

With their children Lachlan, David and Abbie helping out on the farm and collecting the eggs you can feel this family’s care and pride in their product.

HELP us bring Ian Hemphill from Herbies Spices to MALENY IGA

Herbies Spices is running an Australia-wide competition on Facebook. The winning grocery store enjoys a tasty and educational visit by Ian & Liz. We want to bring them to MALENY IGA and need your help. Please Like our photo on Herbies Facebook page. We need a LOT of help to beat the southern states so please spread the word and ask your friends to LIKE this image. Ian Hemphill has been in the herb and spice industry for 50 years. He sources their high quality ingredients from all over the world, travelling to Turkey, Egypt, South East Asia and the America’s, to source the best spices available for his blends. Ian and his wife, Liz even take groups on ‘spice tours’, as pictured in Jaipur, India.

Their spices are all natural, with no artificial free flow agents or padding, which is why they taste so good. Because they are a small artisan company they do short production runs all by hand; blending, packing, and sending the spices out all in the one day, so they are as fresh as can be.

Maleny IGA has the full range of Herbies Spices available over in their Gifts and Gourmet Shop, 15 Maple St. From individual packets to gourmet gift boxes and spice collections you can be sure to find the perfect spice in the Herbies Spice Range. When the Maleny IGA renovation is complete the Herbies Range will move over to Maleny IGA main store.

Gourmet Maleny Montville Food Tours

In 2013 Lisa Blainey-Lewin created & tested six different local food bus routes for us visiting our fabulous local food providers all over the Sunshine Coast. One of those routes, the Maleny, Montville tour was so popular during 2014 with Lisa at the helm we partnered with Lynn from Mystic Mountain Tours, Karen & Richard from Montville Coffee, Sara & Markus of Maleny Cheese Factory, Chris & Jodi from Pomodoras on Obi, Pete & Belinda of Wild Rocket at Misty’s, Matilda from Gourmet Afrika, Ross Hopper of Maleny Dairies and the volunteers from Maleny Visitor Information Centre to bring you the same tour each month.

This ran until October 2014 when we ceased our subsidy of the tours and Lisa began running them and new food tours under a new business Food Tale Tours.

In April 2015 Lisa sold the tours to Lynn from Mystic Mountain Tours who continues to run them today both as scheduled tours and smaller private tours.

We are very proud to have played a part in establishing local food tours on the Sunshine Coast.

Maleny IGA commissions local food producer videos & behind the scenes footage

Taking you behind the scenes...Our Maleny IGA renovation went great guns in the dry weather but the recent rains have slowed it down a bit. We know you are curious about what’s going on behind the scaffolding. To answer your questions Lisa Blainey-Lewin is working with local filmmaker Ernest Marcum to document our renovation and create short videos promoting Maleny IGA’s local food producers.

Over the coming months you’ll see more behind the scenes video content uploaded to our Vimeo & YouTube channel and shared via social media. The two renovation videos are now online. In video one Rob explains why the 3 metre extension on Maple St, next to Happy High Herbs. Video two shows you through the cold rooms going in underneath the store and our third video will feature Rob and Chris Bond from Pomodoras on Obi, a local food producer. We’ve made the move to video as it’s easier to show you what’s going on & we want you to feel a part of our renovations as ultimately it’s all for you.

Maleny IGA Foodie Nights

In April we introduced “Foodie Nights” over in our Gifts and Gourmet store. Held on a Wednesday night, featuring a cooking demonstration and a taste-testing and has no entry fee. The photo above is from our second Foodie night featuring Matilda from Gourmet Afrika and Beigli Cake. Our first foodie night Todd from Fine Life Food Company showed us how to cook with Truffle Oil and answered questions on why Italian Olive oil and pasta tastes different to Australian varieties. Todd is coming back on 30th July so if you missed him last time you can catch him this time around.

On our first foodie night we also sampled the delicious Suncoast Limes cordials and gourmet Lime Salt. Two brands will be featured at each foodie night; one local and one international or two local.

We decided to hold Foodie nights so you have the opportunity to mingle and meet local food producers and taste international gourmet food.

FOODIE NIGHTS FOR 2014 Wednesday nights 6pm to 8pm on the 28 May, 18 June, 30 July, 20 August, 10 September, 1 & 29 October, 12 & 19 November, 3 & 10 December. Note: These dates may vary dependant on supplier availability.

Pre-Renovation Flashback

I bet many of you can’t remember what the old Maleny IGA checkouts looked like now. Isn’t it funny how time moves on and we forget. These photos may help jog your memory. The express lane was on the MCU Bank side of the store and only had two registers, not three as we presently have. In general we had less checkouts before the renovation with each a single stand-alone registers not double sided like many are now. Other recent changes have been widening the entry into the produce section. Changing the trolley storage bay; remember they used to be where the express lane checkouts are now.

Christmas 2012 saw us reclaim the back left part of the store, where the milk is kept. This area used to be a staff room. New wooden floor was laid and major electricity rewiring was required.  Early 2013 the new fridges went in and this greatly expanded the dairy goods selection we can provide for you.

A large part of the changes have been ‘behind the scenes’. Digging out underneath the store. Strengthening the foundations, pouring concrete, and all this was before we began the major construction work.

Let’s not forget the disruption when the entire walkway to the car park was replaced. While we love the covered walkway now, it was a nuisance for some negotiating trolley’s during the makeover. Then the entire carpark itself, major changes to the layout as required by Council and paid for by us.

Finally the concrete reinforcing of the area trucks will drive over at the rear of the store as they use the new loading bay area. Moving the loading bay from Maple St has long been a dream of ours and soon it will happen!

Matilda from Gourmet Afrika

Matilda Scarfe local producer of Gourmet Afrika range of products recently took a group over to South Africa on a ‘Gourmet Safari’, to meet the locals, taste some of the dishes and see the animals.She says the diversity of culture in the country has introduced new South African versions of mainly European dishes into homes and restaurants in South Africa. This ‘blending of flavours’ is an emerging trend in South Africa and has developed as a result of the merging of local flavours with migrant’s favourite traditional meals. One of these is the Bobotie Lasagne which takes a traditional South African meat dish (Bobotie) and blends it with the Greek lasagne, creating a spicy union of the two traditional meals.

Did you know that Matilda Scarfe’s kitchen is a regular stop on the Maleny, Montville Local Food Bus Tour? Matilda recently gave a cooking demonstration and taste test including the newly released and very popular Gourmet Afrika Dukka at the Maleny IGA Gifts & Gourmet store “Foodie Night.”

What a great opportunity it was to try some of the diverse flavours of South Africa – the ‘rainbow nation’. The name refers to the country being a melting pot of cultures from across the globe, with Malaysian, Afrikaans, English, French and German people just some of the different nationalities living in the country Matilda cooked her Special Malay Curry for us, and said she wants people to know that unlike in India, South African curries are rarely hot. They are however, very flavoursome, due to the combination of the many different herbs and spices in the recipe.

Maleny Coffee

A new Has Garanti 15kg Coffee Roaster was installed in Maleny last year as we in Maleny and the Hinterland continue our love affair with coffee. Maleny has long been renowned for our high-quality coffee cafe scene with many tourists and locals choosing to visit and relocate based on the location, congenial atmosphere of a small country town with a love for coffee and community. The smell of coffee roasting now drifts over our green hills thanks to Steve & Adrian from Maleny Coffee. Steve and Adrian have been regular visitors to Maleny during their 17 year partnership. They love the diversity of Maleny with its robust conversations, great foodie locations and the ethos of developing a new product for Maleny. In 2012 Adrian and Steve chose to relocate to Maleny from the inner city Brisbane suburb of Windsor to pursue their dreams of creating an artisan roasted, signature blend.

It has taken Steve and Adrian a year to perfect the blend they call 1891. Why 1891? Well it’s the year Maleny was proclaimed a town. The world demand for quality coffee continues to grow with 1.4 billion cups of coffee drunk every day worldwide but Steve and Adrian have no plans for world coffee domination. They want their business to be successful but not to the point where it devours the laid-back lifestyle of an artisan coffee manufacturer.

Creating relationships and being strategic by choosing to stay small and boutique but high quality is part of their business plan. Lifestyle needs to come first, with Maleny Coffee sustaining their new lifestyle and contributing to the draw and ‘branding’ of Maleny.

Packaging and branding Maleny Coffee was a big consideration. Maleny Coffee’s main logo is a tree, symbolic of Maleny and our deep appreciation for trees and nature. Steve and Adrian’s  graphic artist created ‘seasonal’ versions of the tree. The version shown on the packaging is the ‘summer’ tree and on their business cards is the ‘autumn’ tree, very appropriate as Maleny Coffee makes it’s debut now in Autumn 2014.

You can now find Maleny Coffee for sale at both Maleny IGA and across the road in our Gifts & Gourmet store. Available in 250g, 500g and 1kg packs. Perfect to brew a great coffee at home and they also look great in a gift hamper! Remember our Maleny IGA Deli staff are always happy to grind your coffee, purchased through us for free. Let us know what grind you would like and we can easily do this for you.

Come along to our next Foodie night at Gifts & Gourmet on Wednesday 28th May 6pm to meet Steve and Adrian and sample their delicious coffee. Steve and Adrian cup each roast of coffee they create. This is a quality control method ensuring each bag you buy of Maleny Coffee is high quality and the flavour, aroma etc you expect. The way you prepare your coffee makes all the difference. During the Foodie Night you’ll learn all there is to know about the different methods coffee can be prepared for drinking.

From percolating to brewing to espresso and everything in between including what sort of grind you want from your beans to make the perfect coffee.Come along and join us for this free Food Night. Bookings preferred. Please book your spot at Gifts & Gourmet.

Stephen starts and Ty returns

Maleny IGA promoted Stephen Anderson to Store Manager in March this year, anticipating the wealth of retail knowledge that he brings to the role. Having worked in retail for 20 years, Stephen is excited about the opportunity to be a part of the fresh, local food revolution that has been happening over the two years at the store. He is a family man, who married his high school sweet-heart, Susie, in Maryborough, where her family were cane farmers. They now live locally and have two boys, Beau and Ronan, and a new baby on the way in August. Stephen was drawn to the Maleny IGA for its “reputation as being a good employer”, its community focus, and its range of products “that are a bit out of the ordinary”.

You’ll notice some changes around the store as Stephen utilises his extensive retail knowledge to streamline accessibility of products in the store. If you see him around, stop and say ‘Hi’.

You may remember we did a farewell article to Ty in our December Newsletter. Guess what? He missed us and Maleny so much he’s returned. You’ll find this friendly young man back working in the Maleny IGA Deli.

Whats going on underneath Maleny IGA? Renovation Video 2!

Salads @ Palmwoods

Blake Nicolle has been farming his whole life. He and his family moved to Laidley from Zimbabwe in 2008, and opened a hydro farm growing Asian greens, and fresh herbs in 2011. They moved to Palmwoods in 2012, taking over the ‘Salad Bros’ lettuce farm and renaming it ‘Salads @ Palmwoods’, and adding his Asian greens and herbs. Blake is passionate about the importance of buying local, to ensure that farmers get paid adequately for their produce, and believes that cutting out the ‘middle man’ is imperative to keeping smaller farmers in business.

Thankfully the Maleny IGA is focussed on buying fresh, local produce such as Blake’s tasty lettuces; straight from farmers. Look for ‘Salads @ Palmwoods’ Watercress, Salad Mix, English Spinach, Baby Cos Leaves and Roquette in the Maleny IGA Fresh Produce Section.

Maleny & Montville Gourmet Local Food Tours in 2014

A great day out! NEW for 2014 are monthly Maleny IGA Maleny & Montville Local Food Bus Tours. Leaving at 8.45am for a jam packed foodie day, visiting 6 local producers, enjoying a gourmet lunch and all in the scenic Sunshine Coast Hinterland. Tickets are $59. NOTE: this is a heavily subsided and discounted ticket price designed to kick start local food tours in our region. Dates for 2014:

• April 2014
• May 2014
• June 2014
• July 2014
• August 2014
• September 2014
• October 2014

You can buy your ticket from Maleny Visitor Info Centre or via our Maleny IGA Eventbrite Booking Page.

Maleny IGA Renovation Video 1

Maleny IGA Community Benefits Club over $940,000 and counting

Since its inception in 2006, our Maleny IGA Community Benefits Club (CBC) has poured over $940,000 into charities, schools, sporting clubs, essential services and special interest groups across this Sunshine Coast Hinterland community. Over 7600 customers of the thriving, locally owned store are a part of the CBC program and one cent from every dollar they spend at the checkouts goes directly into the community group of their choice. Owners, Rob and Samantha Outridge say it’s an easy way to put money where it’s needed without groups having to come asking for a handout.

“The feedback we’ve received over the years has been extremely positive” Mr Outridge said. “Several smaller clubs have admitted that were it not for their CBC funding they may have had to close their doors.” CBC is a simple loyalty program. Customers sign up at the checkout and receive a CBC number linked to the group of their choice. They then quote the number when shopping and one cent from every dollar is deposited into that group’s account.

Samantha Outridge said groups can use their funds any way they choose. “As well as larger cost items such as building work, purchase of equipment, maintenance and repairs, many groups feed their CBC funds back into our store, buying food for events, vouchers for raffles or simply paying their store account.” “It’s about making the community we live in a vibrant and thriving one” Mrs Outridge said, “And helping individuals feel good about the part they are playing in that process.”

Maleny Rural Fire Brigade CBC Cheque Presentation.

CBC Maleny IGA

CBC - Montville State School

The Montville State School was thankful to receive the $6740.62 from the Maleny Supa IGA CBC Funds, which assisted them purchase new furniture for the students, replacing some that has fallen into disrepair. The lovely handcrafted wooden tables and benches are made from recycled Camphor Laurel, at the workshop of one of the student’s parents, Brad Davidge, who is an experienced local wood craftsman. The design of the furniture was assisted by another parent, Architect David Gole. The Montville P&C are glad to be able to use the aromatic wood of the Camphor Laurel tree that grows abundantly in the area, and is considered to be a weed. Brad said that the tables and chairs took around 2 full days to make, with 3 people working on them, and is very happy with the results. The children are excited about the new furniture that has been designed specially to suit their small stature. The Montville State School P&C President, Corin Kelly, said that they “wanted to support local business and expertise”, and it has proven to be a great business opportunity for Brad, as he has received orders for more furniture from parents, for their homes. The Montville P&C was so impressed with the furniture that they have commissioned him to make more for another area of the school, to be used in conjunction with their Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Project. The Kitchen Garden Project is an initiative of Adelaide based chef Stephanie Alexander, who has put on her ‘Jamie Oliver Hat’ and is encouraging schools to grow vege gardens and teach children how to cook with the food that they grow. The Kitchen Garden Project at Montville State School will kick off next year, and be a part of the science program curriculum. The program will involve the children assisting in the cultivation of the vegetables, and they will learn how to cook them into delicious meals in the school kitchen,and enjoy a shared meal together. Corin applauded the IGA’s contribution to local communities and wants to reinforce the practice to ‘shop locally’. “We are encouraging our school families to support the IGA because this can be turned into really valuable contributions, to a small school that has limited fund raising opportunities.”

CBC - Blackall Range Care Group

The Maleny IGA CBC contribution of $1366.89 has been of huge benefit to the Maleny members of the Blackall Range Care respite group with the creation of an extra day at the Maleny Neighbourhood Centre, on Monday mornings. The Blackall Range Care Group provides community care services for people living on the range that require “assistance with health care, personal care and home maintenance”. For sick or elderly residents of the range, the opportunity to engage in social outings is an important part of life, and without it they would spend a lot of time in isolation, confined to their homes due to immobility, lack of transport and lack of social connections. The Blackall Range Care Group goes some way towards providing a better quality of life, through providing activities that bring them together with other like-minded people of their age group.Until recently the Maleny residents of the Blackall Range needed to travel to Flaxton for the daily respite activities which involve games, social outings and other activities, but due to the travel distance they were finding it to be a long day. The 6 month trial of the addition of the new day of respite in Maleny will mean that more people will be able to enjoy the community care services from the Blackall Range Care Group, without needing to travel so far from home.

The financial contribution from the Maleny IGA allowed the Blackall Range Care Group to fund the Monday morning session at the Maleny Neighbourhood Centre, with the purchase of new games, morning tea and other activities for the group. While at the MNC, the group enjoy a morning tea of food purchased from the IGA, and learn how to play Mahjong and other board games. Beryl and Cathy from the Blackall Range Group are excited for the opportunity to extend the service to allow for an extra day for residents from the Maleny area. “It was a long time on the bus for them, as there are lots of stops on the way to the Flaxton Cottage, so having it here in Maleny is great because it’s a very central place, and they’re enjoying it a lot.”

CBC - Maleny Bowls Club

The Community Benefit Fund contribution of $1191.76 has come just in the nick of time for the Maleny Bowls Club, as their cash register broke recently and cost $647 to fix! “The money came at a very opportune time for us as the register just broke,” said the Clubs President Ian Hanson.The bowls club has been trading at a loss this year because of the rain, which means they have lost quite a few days of play for their regular groups. When they can’t play, nobody pays, but they still need to pay for all the amenities and keeping their bar stocked so they can enjoy a beer after the game, so the rest of the CBC money will help with maintenance and keeping the place going. Ian invited the community to come along sometime and try out a game of bare foot bowls, which are held at 2pm on Fridays at the Bowls Club. He said the Maleny Bowls Club is a great place to hold functions for Birthdays, Christmas or any other celebration. He regularly has group bookings for people celebrating an occasion, who come along to enjoy a game or two of bare foot bowls with a barbecue catered by the Bowls Club.

Incase you weren’t sure where it is, the club is situated next to the Maleny Primary School and just behind the Maleny Hotel. A zen-like feeling of calm washes over you as you step onto the green, with a backdrop of the rolling green hills of North Maleny. As well as being open during the week, the club is open Saturdays and Sundays and takes bookings for groups to come along and have a game.  Ian appreciates the CBC members who have nominated the Maleny Bowls Club as their beneficiary and welcomes anyone else who has not yet become a member to join up and nominate them, as every dollar helps.

For bookings phone the Maleny Bowls Club after 2pm on 5494 2335, or Ian Hanson on 54999932

CBC - Maleny Community Kindergarten

For the C and K Kindergarten in Maleny, the local Maleny IGA has been a huge support, allowing them to keep the centre afloat, but also assisting them with their sustainability projects around the centre. Director Ruth Law said that because they are a non-profit organisation they rely heavily on community support and their biggest supporter is Maleny IGA. Ruth said the recent contribution of $275.00 assisted them to buy a wooden dresser for the children in the classroom. “Over the years the IGA has helped us with purchasing all sorts of things for the centre. They have assisted us to buy the rainwater tanks, they helped with the plants, they paid for our 3 chooks, and they’ve paid for equipment. It’s been fantastic!” The movable chicken tractor cost $900 which they were able to buy with money from the Maleny IGA Community Benefit Fund. Having the chickens helps with teaching the children about where baby chickens and their eggs come from.

The centre has a strong focus on sustainability, and Ruth says that it is all ‘hands on’, with the children learning all aspects of sustainable living, including recycling everything, and apart from the chickens they also have a worm farm for the children’s lunch scraps. They have recently started planting an orchard with apple and other fruit trees, indigenous trees and an undercover area where they will be holding a yarning circle. “We’ve just got another grant through and we’re putting in an orchard and will be extending the undercover area to have musical instruments, and its really just a great place for the kids.”  Ruth said they like to give back something to the community, and they reciprocate with the money that comes to them from the Maleny IGA, by putting it back into the area. “If we use Maleny IGA funds then we use local builders. The money stays in the community and it’s not going elsewhere.”