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Maleny Supa IGA Marketing
Recipes mentioned in the 11th October 2014 Newsletter are available here for you to print out as pdf files.
Life's Good Chicken Kipfler Chiang Mai Curry.pdf
Citrus Salad with Ginger Yoghurt.pdf.
Cooked Maleny Brie Brandy Nut Recipe.pdf.
Maleny IGA 11 Oct Weekly Newsletter.pdf
Life’s Good..
Take one dynamic couple, add a love delicious flavours and all things local, throw in a good dollop of passion, excellent cooking skills, a bit of entrepreneurial flair and you have a hectic, yet booming little business called ‘Life's Good Curry Pastes!’
Sam Caine grew up in the hospitality industry, learning from his parents who ran a seafood restaurant in Caloundra. He learned the importance of supporting local food suppliers and keeping customers happy while developing his love of food. Sam went on to manage five star hotels from Brisbane to Cairns and along the way met wife Alice. The pair teamed up in events coordination and restaurant management, their dedication earning them a string of restaurant awards and induction into the Australian Tourism Hall of Fame.
Travelled throughoutSouth East Asia, India and Europe the amazing flavours caught their attention… and their taste buds.
“When we returned home” said Sam, “We couldn’t find anything similar with that great authentic flavour. We started experimenting with a range of fragrant spices, making pastes for our friends. We kept introducing new flavours, then slowly began manufacturing and selling at local markets.”
The Life’s Good range now includes curry pastes, relish, sambal and chilli jam. Choosing fresh, authentic, natural ingredients is one of the keys.
“80 percent of our ingredients are grown locally” smiles Sam, happy to be supporting local farmers and producers. “We also love that the herbs and spices we use have some amazing health benefits.”
The products are also designed to be extremely easy to prepare and use. With five children aged from two to 11, Sam and Alice understand the need for ease in the kitchen. At a recent Maleny IGA Foodies Night, Sam cooked up a Pumpkin Soup made with Red Curry Paste and Chiang Mai Paste - Chicken Kipfler with Star Anise.
On the night, Sam suggested guests use the milder Massaman Paste, containing 20 fragrant spices with beef, lamb or goat. The hotter Green Curry Paste, which is kept to medium heat to suit the Australian palate is ideal with poultry, seafood or pork. The Laksa is great with vegies and noodles while the Coriander and Almond makes an excellent baster or marinade.
The popular Sam’s Chilli Jam is a pantry ‘must have.’ Add it to cheese platters, in wraps, even on ice-cream. Sam describes it as ‘Sticky, sweet, jammy goodness with a deeply satisfying chilli tingle that will linger on your palate just long enough to make it impossible to resist another mouthful!’
“Our kids love cooking with us” he said, “So we’re always trying out new recipes. Their young palates have become used to the different spices and they are always quick to jump in with feedback!”
“Maintaining a balance” says Alice“Between paste production, market stalls, supplying our retailers and enjoying precious time with our five young, busy, crazy children is what we strive for in our lives today.We hope you love eating our products as much as we love making them!”
Maleny Supa IGA Marketing Creative Direction, Content & Engagement Strategies was managed exclusively by Blainey Creative & Consulting during from June 2012 to December 2014
Please contact us @ Maleny IGA for written approval prior to using this copyrighted material.
Maleny Supa IGA • 26 Maple St, Maleny • Ph: 5494 2257
For Sunshine Coast locals Sam and Alice Caines, from Life’s Good CurryPastes, the name says it all and with their 5 children, they sure make the
most of it!
They run the whole business themselves, from cooking, to packaging, and selling to customers, so there is never a dull moment in the Caines household. Sam has been around the hospitality industry since he was a baby, spending time at his parent’s seafood business before he went to kindergarten. He went on to work in hospitality for years, in between travelling through South East Asia, where he found his love of curry. In response to family and friends asking for their curry pastes, 12 years ago the couple decided that it was time to start making in bulk & sell at farmers markets and through their website.
As their reputation grew, customers at the Maleny IGA started requesting Life’s Good Curry Paste. Sam & Alice welcomed the opportunity to make their curries more accessible to customers who cannot get to the markets and began supplying us in March 2014. Their curry pastes are all gluten and dairy free, and made using local produce wherever possible. You don’t need to be an experienced cook to create a Life’s Good curry, as every jar has instructions on the back, with 12 servings (of mild to medium flavour) in each one. Life’s Good Curry Pastes will last 6 months in the fridge, so they are perfect for people who only eat curry every now and then. You can now find Life’s Good Curry Pastes in Maleny IGA’s Gifts and Gourmet Shop as well as in the main Maleny IGA store.
A big congratulations goes to Sara and Markus Bucher and all the staff at the Maleny Cheese Factory for their multi-award winning Apple and Cinnamon yoghurt!
After Apple and Cinnamon yoghurt won Gold at the Royal Queensland Food and Wine Show in 2013, they were invited to submit it into the Australian Grand Dairy Awards this year, and it won again! Maleny Cheese was one of only two Queensland winners in the Australian Grand Dairy Awards categories so the award was a great opportunity to put Queensland on the dairy map!
A few years back when deciding to add a new flavour to their current yoghurt flavours, Sara and Markus wanted something unique, and came up with the idea of Apple and Cinnamon. Markus says “What I really like about this combination is the strong cinnamon flavour coming through, and I think yoghurt flavours need to be strong to be appreciated.” Markus believes food needs to be an experience for all the senses, and keeps this in mind when creating a new flavour.
With their newest flavour, a chocolate yoghurt, Markus aims for the chocolate scent to hit the consumer first, and ‘excite the senses’ before they have even tasted the first bite. Maleny Cheese Factory manufactures Greek & Swiss style yoghurt. Look for their brands “Maleny Cheese Factory” “Maleny Gourmet Yoghurt” and “Georges Authentic Greek Yoghurt”. One of their top sellers is “Bucher Muesli” yoghurt. Manufactured as a single serve yoghurt and muesli combined under their “Georges” brand.
Daniel and Linda Tabone have been lime farmers since 2002, and enjoy making their lime cordial for themselves at home.Their cordial recipe is one that has been passed down for generations in Linda’s family. In 2010 due to a flood of produce in the lime market, they found that they were not getting paid enough for their limes, so they decided to trial selling their lime cordial commercially at the Eumundi markets.
When they started they didn’t think it would take off, but it did, and over the next 4 years they built it into a successful business. Linda and Daniel have developed their range to include their all natural pre diluted Suncoast Limes cordial in small bottles, ready to go. A sugar-free cordial and a lime salt, and lime chilli salt have recently been added to their range as well.
Daniel commissioned a prototype machine to remove the lime zest which goes into their lime salt, saving him a lot of time doing it by hand. They are currently working on a delicious ‘Limeberry Fizz’ recipe; combining strawberry and lime, with a planned launch sometime next year.
Maleny IGA is delighted to have Suncoast Limes locally made products now available for our customers. Pre diluted, read to drink Suncoast Lime drink is in the fridge section in Maleny IGA. Two standard and sugar free Lime Cordial are available in 500 mls and 1 litre bottles. Suncoast Gourmet Salts, Chilli and Lime and Lime add a delicious flavour to salads and vegetables. You’ll find them both in our Gifts and Gourmet store and in the Local Products section near the milk in Maleny IGA.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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:
You can buy your ticket from Maleny Visitor Info Centre or via our Maleny IGA Eventbrite Booking Page.
