Early last Sunday morning, rain falling, I was moseying about the market when across the way from the muddy potatoes and tangled roots of horseradish I spied Jamface out of the corner of my eye. Here at the Adelaide Showground Farmers’ Market, among the lemon bergamot pears and earthy winter vegetables, this bespoke stall is so gorgeously presented that a magazine stylist may well have waved a wand over it. 

Artfully arranged with a hefty dose of panache and a cheeky, fun logo, I should have known that Poh had something to do with it!

Newcomer Jamface by Poh is the latest venture of the enthusiastic and multi-talented Poh Ling Yeow, who finished runner-up in the first season of MasterChef Australia (remember those cake decorating skills!) and went on to have her own cooking show, Poh’s Kitchen. She is also an author and a professional artist, which shows in the creative detail here.

Iced with style, the whimsical counter is laden with delicious cakes and pastries – at once rustic French provincial and bountiful country-Australian spread. There are glazed madeleines, apricot crumble tartlets and voluptuous clouds of fluffy meringue, the smooth mixture swirled with chocolate. The pastry layers in the Milly Fillys look so crisp that these vanilla mille-feuilles could have been ‘made to order’ in a Paris pâtisserie! Oh, and there are orange melting moments sandwiched with cream cheese and Grand Marnier, chewy Anzac biscuits and gluten-free chocolate hazelnut cake. Homemade with love and local, organic ingredients, it all feels so generous, wholesome and accessible, with a touch of CWA. 

Looking closer, there is a plum tart, and cheddar crusted apple pies with brandy anglaise, best eaten with the hot custard poured into those dainty little holes. And dark chocolate beetroot cake sandwiched with orange cream cheese frosting and covered in dark chocolate ganache. Shall I go on?

Launched a few weeks ago with Poh’s partners, the delightful stand also sells a range of homemade jams and pasta sauces, pot-set natural yoghurts and pan-fried pizzettas. A quirky sign announces ‘Pizza Fritta, Neapolitan pan-fried pizza with our two timing tomato sauce’.

I found myself ogling the golden chaussons, simply named Paris Pasties. These turnovers of cheddar-crusted pastry are filled with savoury delights such as caramelised onion & thyme, potato & parsley, and roasted sweet potato & rosemary – warming parcels of pleasure to tuck into on this cold July morning. 

On Sundays, you’ll find Jamface by Poh at both The Adelaide Showground Farmers’ Market and The Market Shed on Holland, the newest food market in Adelaide with an emphasis on organic, vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free fare.

So tuck in with gusto and get some jam on your face!

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France’s mussel-growing is concentrated in Brittany, but some of the most prized mussels are from Normandy. Bouchot mussels from the bay of Mont-St-Michel are nurtured in the waters in front of the Benedictine abbey, and farmers have been using the same growing methods since the ninth century.

Dreaming of slurping up some good mussels in rich broth, my interest was piqued last week when I read that Kinkawooka Shellfish was celebrating their new season Petit Bouchot Mussels with a traditional cook up at both the Adelaide Central Market and the Adelaide Showground Farmers’ Market. Riding on a wave of success following their 2011 Delicious Magazine ‘Product of the Year’ award, Kinkawooka (an Aboriginal word meaning clear water) has again produced a small, seasonal crop of the classic French style petit bouchot mussels, adopting methods used in the traditional farming of mussels in France.

And so, last Sunday morning I rugged up and headed for the Farmers’ Market. I grabbed a strong, creamy latte from the Abbots & Kinney caravan at the entrance just as the bell ‘rang in’ the market, and made a beeline for the Kinkawooka stall.

Photo courtesy of Kinkawooka Shellfish

Soon I was talking mussels with Kinkawooka’s Andrew Puglisi, a fifth generation fisherman. I discovered that their petit bouchot mussels are only available from the beginning of June to the end of September, in limited quantity, before the launch of the mussel season. Characterised by their small size, soft and tender texture and sweet flavour they are one of the most prized eating mussels in Australia, and snapped up by chefs.

The revered shellfish company has developed a genius vacuum-packing system called sea-sure that re-creates the briny environment the mussels are plucked from, helping to reduce stress on the live mussels and preserve their natural sweetness and softness, resulting in a mussel that is far superior in freshness and flavour. It also means that live mussels can be whisked to domestic and overseas retailers within 48 hours of harvesting.

The Kinkawooka mussel farms are located in the deep, cold, pristine waters of the Great Southern Ocean on the West Coast of South Australia, with sites across Port Lincoln’s Boston Bay. A leader in the aquaculture industry in Australia, the company surpasses the most rigorous standards of quality assurance and is a standout in sustainable aquaculture, ensuring minimal impact on the environment. Like all of Kinkawooka’s mussel crops, les petits bouchots are seeded using spat harvested from the wild.

For me, the real drawcard is that these fresh-as-a-daisy mussels are pot ready; scrubbed clean, de-bearded and ready to go in 1 kg bags. Take away the usual prep time, and a meal of mussels is incredibly quick and easy to cook and plate up. Andrew also tells me that they are rich in omega 3, iodine, potassium, zinc and selenium, and have more iron than a fillet steak! Oh, and that old wives tale about throwing away any that are unopened after cooking – simply not true. Prise open and eat. Do, however, throw away any that don’t smell fresh and sweet.

After picking up a recipe with my mussels, a kind of moules marinières with cider, I gather a few other goodies called for in the recipe and head home for a cook up.

I melt a walnut-sized knob of butter, add a sliced shallot and a fat clove of tangy Bull Creek organic garlic.

Next, I glug in 100ml of apple cider from McLaren Vale Orchards, pour in my 1 kg bag of mussels and cook with the lid on for around 3 -4 minutes. Et Voilà! The mussels open. I throw in a handful of chopped flat-leaf parsley and stir in a tablespoon or so of incredibly thick and luscious crème fraîche from the Alexandrina Cheese Company, made from pure Jersey cream.

My recipe recommends Pepe Saya crème fraîche, a cultured cream made the authentic way. This Sydney company also creates a creamy cultured butter, so good that the hand churned, hand cut artisan pats are supplied to Qantas first class and business passengers on international flights. (South Australians can purchase Pepe Saya products from Say Cheese in the Adelaide Central Market.).

Photo courtesy of Kinkawooka Shellfish

I ladle the rowdy, clanging mussels into bowls and serve with rustic bread and cider. They are sweetly perfumed and soft, the broth wonderfully intense and as I slurp it up I am transported, for a moment, to France.

N.B. Kinkawooka mussels are also available at Foodland and Romeo IGAs around Adelaide, Samtass Seafoods in Keswick and at the Willunga Farmers’ Market on Saturdays.

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The vibrant Fringe Parade kicks off the Adelaide Fringe, an annual, open-access arts festival that runs over four weeks during February and March and ushers in an exciting carnival atmosphere. This year it runs through to 16 March. Artists from all over the world converge on Adelaide for Australia’s largest arts event and the streets come alive as a fun, spontaneous vibe takes over the city. Local artists also get in on the act, and there are special free events that run through the program, including the parade.

Its growing popularity has seen the festival spread into the burbs and regional South Australia and this year a record 977 Fringe events are being staged in more than 350 venues – ranging from quirky pop-ups in lane-ways and warehouses to shows in galleries, cafés and theatres.  The 2014 program boasts an astounding variety of shows and a diverse range of art forms from circus, dance, cabaret and theatre to music, comedy, film and visual arts.

‘The Fringe is an extraordinary event unlike any other, at which audiences and artists collide in an explosion of art, entertainment and great fun.’

Greg Clarke

Director and Chief Executive Adelaide Fringe

As if by some miracle the downpour of rain stopped just in the nick of time, the water evaporated like magic from city streets and the 2014 parade kicked off with an vibrant explosion of colour and light. This year’s theme for the Fringe is ‘Two Colour Collision’, and we were treated to a kaleidoscopic crash of colour as sparkling lights moved along the street to the rhythm of dance music. Floats, artists on stilts, acrobats, dancers and camels made their merry way along the parade route, which culminated at Victoria Square in a spectacular fireworks display.

Highlights included moving fire sculptures, the Cooper’s float featuring a trailing dress made of Cooper’s beer cans, and a giant skipping girl surrounded by young performers from Cirkidz. Fringe Ambassador Katie Noonan glided by in her pretty live projection frock and the BankSA float was topped by Fringe Club host Fez Faanana, resplendent in a ring of LED lights.

The final float was an amazing 13 metre Disco Cuttlefish that changed colour before our eyes. Native to the Southern Coast of Australia, the giant cuttlefish is a unique creature that has the ability to rapidly change colour and adopt striking patterns. The males set out to dazzle the females with a strobe effect on their skin. A vibrant finish to a wonderfully entertaining evening of colour collision!

Here are a couple more pics from the evening, but to see some great pics of the giant cuttlefish and other floats, visit the Adelaide Fringe website above.

If you missed the parade, don’t despair, there are still hundreds of exciting shows and events on the program, so get yourself into town and join in the fun. Hopefully the weather will behave itself!

 Georgi’s Top Five Picks

A Simple Space presented by: Gravity & Other Myths & Aurora Nova Productions (Circus & Physical Theatre)

Illuminate presented by: Madhouse Theatre (Circus & Physical Theatre)

You Wanna Talk About It presented by: isthisyours? (Theatre)

Steve Sheehan’s little boring story event presented by: Steve Sheehan (Dance)

Spandexx Ballet: Aerobics 80’s Style presented by: Spandexx Ballet (Dance)

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Hot Chocolate at The House of Donkey

With busy lives, my girls and I find that breakfast or brunch is a great way for us to catch up with minimal planning and fuss, and a renaissance in the Adelaide breakfast scene makes our outings all the more enjoyable. Cool and quirky cafés are peppering the suburbs and seasoning the city as diners snap-shut tired menus in large generic cafés and turn to smaller spots with personality.

At many of these vibrant addresses you will still find a classic ‘big breakfast’ of bacon and eggs made from quality South Australian produce but there is also a new wave of more creative dishes, ranging from baked eggs with chorizo in a tomato and capsicum salsa to coconut rice porridge made with bio-dynamic rain-fed rice, topped with toasted nuts and seeds.

Our conversations, comme toujours, seem to revolve around food, and our get-togethers offer the perfect opportunity to bounce addresses off each other and relay our latest experiences. With so many new eateries opening up in the past couple of years, there is always somewhere new to try and talk about but at the risk of a very long list, today, we have each chosen one brunch favourite. Not an easy task!

Georgi: Café Troppo

On a corner overlooking Whitmore Square this bohemian, eco-friendly spot describes itself as a ‘café with conscience’ and its ethos centres around sustainability, our environment and community. The façade is created from recycled, natural materials, pot plants hang from the vertical garden and the terrace has a cool vibe. Inside, freshly baked goods and garden produce tempt from the bench and hot dishes stream from the small open kitchen. The coffee is excellent (organic and fair trade) and produce is also organic where possible. Breakfast is served Tuesday to Friday with earthy dishes such as Mushroom Fancy Toast: sautéed Swiss brown mushrooms with fried local haloumi on thick-cut handmade sourdough with rocket and toasted almonds. On weekends there is a changing brunch menu. One of Georgi’s favourite dishes is the homemade waffles, soft and fluffy, served with seasonal fruit and bio-dynamic cream.

Anni: ARGO on the Parade

Catering to an eastern suburbs’ crowd this funky deli spills its colourful tables onto a wrap-around terrace on Norwood Parade and buzzes all day long. There is a good selection of interesting breakfast, brunch and light lunch options, and with an enormous turnover you can be assured extra-fresh ingredients. Anni eats here often with her friends because, she says, ‘It is consistently good and they are never disappointed’. Her favourite brunch dish is Morocco by Day, a ramekin of Napoletano sauce with pine nuts and a hint of chili topped with Kangaroo Island free-range poached eggs, provolone cheese and rocket, served with continental bread. Sweet-tooths may prefer the Strawberry Hotcakes with berry compote and fresh Adelaide Hills cream.

ARGO Big Brekky (sans chipolata!)

Green being the new black, there is an enticing range of freshly made green juices as well as smoothies. Anni is a fan of the Ninja juice, a combination of goji berries, mixed berries, banana, apple and kale. The only hitch is the deli’s popularity and it can be quite difficult to score a seat at peak times, although service is usually super-fast.

Jane: The Pantry on Egmont

This suburban gem tucked away on a quiet, leafy street in Hawthorn is my café du moment. Small and welcoming with a relaxed, retro vibe, it’s furnished with mismatched tables and chairs, and works by local artists are exhibited on the walls.

By 8 am on weekdays the pantry is already filling fast with ‘neighbours in the know’ who drop in for breakfast or a coffee to takeaway en route to work. Beans are locally roasted, single origin and fair trade and cycled through every 3 or 4 days. This morning it was Mexican ‘Fietch’ by De Groot. There’s a small selection of alternative beverages. Orchid Daisy is a refreshing mix of apple, pear and mint juice, or try a mango smoothie or a Fizz lemonade (fresh berries blitzed with a bubbly lemonade). On a hot day an Iced Freddo hits the spot – a double shot of espresso shaken over ice and chilled milk with a dash of sugar syrup. 

Servings are generous and on the current spring menu along with the ‘Big Breakfast’ and  ‘Garden Breakfast’ is French Toast: sweet cinnamon-spiced sourdough served with blueberry and apple compote, vanilla cream cheese & almond crumble with maple syrup. Being a savoury girl, however, this morning I opted for the smoked salmon bagel served open with black pepper & dill cream cheese, pickled red onion and rocket. Good morning Adelaide.

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Adelaide has just been named one of the Top Ten Cities in the world 2014 by global travel authority, Lonely Planet. Coming in at number nine, Adelaide is the only Australian city to win a spot, and with Paris ranked number one I am thrilled that my two favourite cities (and the places I most write about) are now on the list!

Read more about the Top Ten Cities here.

A decade ago, after returning from Paris to a rather buttoned-up Adelaide, my youngest daughter Annabelle remarked as we drove through the city streets one evening, ‘Where are all the people Mummy, has a bomb gone off?’ Since that time I have watched on with interest as Adelaide has slowly thrown off its conservative, old-school image and evolved into a vibrant city. The past two or three years in particular have seen a tide of creative energy sweep through the streets and the beginnings of a true transformation. Finally, the perception of Adelaide as the stuffy City of Churches is well and truly being shaken off.

Adelaide Fringe Festival Youth Float

Cyclists, along with a colourful fleet of food trucks have taken over city streets (read my blog about them here). Splash Adelaide, an initiative of the Adelaide City Council, is experimenting with all kinds of urban projects from pop-up food carts to outdoor entertainment in unused public spaces. Coffee has been elevated to an art form, a rash of inner city boutiques bars are emerging, and there is a healthy arts and sporting scene with events like the Fringe Festival, the Tour Down Under bike race and WOMADelaide music festival, adding energy, colour and excitement. 

A sunny Mediterranean climate makes Adelaide an ideal place to enjoy the outdoors – perhaps surfing, relaxing on our beautiful beaches or cycling along Linear Park, but what I most love about Adelaide is the revolution in the food and wine scene that has been gathering momentum for some years. There’s an extraordinary array of top-notch local produce grown and crafted by a band of passionate producers, and a real push for sustainable, ethical and organic food. Vineyards run in every direction and menus are creative, original and contemporary. As well as an excellent selection of high-end restaurants, there is an explosion of fresh and quirky cafés and good casual eateries tumbling onto side streets, sprouting in the suburbs and opening down laneways. 

Peel St restaurant, Adelaide

My absolute new favourite is Peel St, an address that is easily accessible to visitors exploring the city on foot. The guys behind Goolwa’s casual waterside eatery, Aquacaf, have recently opened this cool restaurant, bien sûr, on Peel St, a laneway in the CBD.

It’s not easy to find really good, ultra-fresh food that is simply prepared and delicious, but you will find it at Peel St. The high quality, well sourced ingredients speak for themselves with pure, natural flavours shining through. I found the small menu with a mix of cuisines innovative and inspiring and on the day I visited a month or so ago, my generous serve of green mango fishcake salad with peanuts, pineapple and nam jim was ever so refreshing and addictive. It reminded me of the kind of food that Peel St’s award-winning Chef Jordan Theodoros cooks at Sticky Rice Cooking School in the Adelaide Hills where he teaches as a guest chef, offering his expertise and guidance in Asian cuisine.

The visually appealing mulloway fish pasty served on a board with iceberg, tartare and lemon was a hit with my fellow diners, as was the Cavolo Nero and meatball frittata.

Changing seasonal offerings are scribbled on the chalkboard. You might find a chargrilled spatchcock with kasundi, baby carrots, fetta and coriander; or roasted Jerusalem artichokes with pear, hazelnuts and blue cheese. The small wine list is well thought out and has interesting selections that range from Louis Jadot Beaujolais to Willunga 100 Cabernet Shiraz. 

On Peel Street you will also find the new boutique bar, Clever Little Tailor, and chatting to the guys at the restaurant I am told that plans are underway for more, including Chihuahua, a Mexican tequilia bar. The vibrant pedestrian laneway, Leigh Street, is a stone’s throw away with a number of good eateries and drinking spots and excellent coffee at Coffee Branch (see my blog here). Plans are in the wings to connect Leigh Street and Peel Street with a pedestrian walkway, creating a bar and restaurant precinct. With the area being revamped and Adelaide exploding, who knows what might be next.

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I can only imagine how flat the team who have put their heart and soul into organising this event for the past five months must be feeling. This includes my daughter Georgi who was so looking forward to seeing the evening unfold. Désolé ma chérie.

The gunpowder was let off without the fireworks and only one lantern was lit, the very last, just as it was packed away.

I think it deserves to be seen.

The Rolla Bolla Lantern built for Cirkidz & United Care Wesley. Photo: Georgi Paech

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In Adelaide’s western suburbs, Kilkenny Primary was one of the first South Australian schools to roll out The Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Program. A highly regarded Australian cook, restaurateur and food writer, Stephanie launched the program in 2001 with an aim to ‘Educate the next generation of Australian children to enjoy the pleasures of fresh, seasonal food and to develop the skills that lead to lifelong health.’ The program is currently operating in 380 schools around the country.

The 90-minute class is taken by Kitchen Specialist Mel Gush, a qualified chef who witnesses first-hand the real-life impact of this wonderful program; not just the positive changes it brings to the health and behavior of her students, but the flow-on benefit to their families and the wider community. ‘I’ve watched these kid’s palates change…And more kids are now cooking the recipes at home,’ she says. Students attend the kitchen garden lessons from year 4 to year 7 and are exposed to various cuisines from Vietnamese to Italian.

The year 5 class sits transfixed on their seats while Mel runs through today’s Japanese-inspired menu and talks about soba noodles, silken tofu and miso paste. With all these unusual ingredients there is not a screwed-up nose in sight! Instead, there appears a genuine curiosity and eagerness to learn.

The class is divided into groups; each group is allocated a work station with a volunteer and is responsible for one dish. I listen-in on the team making Soba Noodles with Broad Beans, Mint & Lime as they read through their recipe and step-by-step instructions. There are notes on what to collect, from a Microplane grater to a small basket of broad beans and a handful of snow peas. The broad beans, coriander, snow peas and mint were all harvested from the garden. They divide their chores and make a beeline for the ingredient table. It’s reminiscent of MasterChef and in fact there is an annual MasterChef competition for the students, judged by high-profile chefs.

I wander from station to station and watch in wonder as this well-behaved class finely chops mint and coriander, makes wafu dressing for the salad, cracks eggs for the omelet and juliennes vegetables for the quinoa and vegetable sushi. It doesn’t seem long ago that many Australians had no idea how to even pronounce this healthy, ancient grain.

There are lots of different techniques required and I am ever so impressed with their knife skills!

As the grandson of one of the volunteers slices nori en julienne for the top of the salad, it’s clear that his grandfather is a strong  advocate of the program that has run at this multicultural school for three years. ‘Sadly, some of the kids here eat takeaway seven days a week and have never sat at a table to eat,’ he says. Here, they learn how to grow, harvest, prepare and share fresh, organic seasonal food. ‘Some of the kids are now teaching their parents how to cook,’ he continues. ‘We all sit and eat together. The tables are reminiscent of a home table, they always have vases of flowers, and are neat, clean and tidy.’ He proudly tells me that his grandson has really advanced his skills and even sears his own tuna and snapper for sushi at home. All proof of the positive changes the program plants. 

A few months ago, Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, visited Kilkenny Primary. The couple sat on the deck and shared a meal with a class of year 7s. They were thrilled when Camilla’s Lady in Waiting poured Camilla a drink, and then served them all.

It’s time to clean up and set the tables. There’s no whining or slacking off. Everyone pitches in to help. The vegetable scraps go into buckets and are fed to the school chooks that scratch around the orchard.

Outside there is a pizza oven, and in the scrub, a fire pit. One of the parents tells me that a kangaroo tail was cooked up in it not long ago. The scrub is used for overnight camps, and cubby houses have been built for the younger students to play in, many of whom do not have access to one at home. For those of you who have read my book A Family in Paris, it really is a world away from school life in France. 

Dishes are plated up and placed in the middle of the tables to share, around bunches of golden wattle. Aromas waft by as dishes are passed about. The children try everything and comment politely on the food, diplomatically even, such as ‘It’s not my favourite but I’m glad I tried it’. Still no fuss and no screwed-up noses as they slurp up miso soup with silver beet.

The only complaint is that there is no salad left. Not bad for a bunch of 10-year-olds.

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Alternatively, and perhaps an easier option, is to hop on the free city tram that glides down to the Entertainment Centre, and cross the road to Station Place.

Inside the old stone station, soaring tin ceilings with exposed beams give the space a loft-like feel and the large cafe is filled with mismatched rustic tables and brightly painted chairs. Outside is a deck with colourful umbrellas, a pleasant spot no doubt to spend a breezy weekend morning in summer. I love the retro and unique touches including the complimentary water bar in the entrance. Here, I grab an enamel jug, fill it with sparkling water on tap at the porcelain sink, take two little cups and proceed to our table.

As we choose our dishes and catch up on our lives a train pulls into the station.

There is a constant rumble from the fancy coffee machine…

Susie is a regular here and says the weekends are very busy. An all-day breakfast menu is served from 7 am to 2.30 pm daily, with coffee served to 4 pm. Some options are more suited to lunch such as quiche or frittata with seasonal salad, or today’s special of gourmet chicken, mushroom and thyme pie with salad.

There is an array of savoury and sweet options on the All Day Timetable. A waiter in red braces dashes about delivering dishes on wooden boards to a multi-generational crowd. Susie enjoys one of her favourites, the Caboose Board: poached eggs, bacon, roasted truss tomatoes, organic avocado, thyme roasted mushrooms, Meredith feta and toasted sourdough.

Among the savoury options are a BLeT (a bacon, lettuce and tomato toasted sandwich with an egg), a pulled pork slider and a taco…there’s quite an American flavour to the menu. After much deliberation I tuck into smashed avocado with feta, radish, mint and lemon on toast with a poached egg.

Sweet tooths, however, will find it difficult to pass on the peanut butter and chocolate French toast (peanut butter, salted chocolate and caramel served with pure cream).

The cafe is not licenced but given the hours and the interesting drink options, it seems almost irrelevant. I choose a hand-blended Scullery Made Tea called Barossa Breakfast that arrives with my very own minature milk bottle, and there is also Orange Earl, Green Apple and Rainwater Mint tea.

You may prefer a healthy Ginger Tinge – a carrot, apple, ginger and cinnamon juice served in an amber glass bottle with a straw, or perhaps a Beetroot Tingle with beetroot, carrot, apple and orange. Kids will love the milkshakes and smoothies (and there’s also Coco Pops with milk on the menu).

Today the open fire is flickering and jazz floats lightly through the loft-like space. In a deja vu moment, I am suddenly back in Manhattan in the early 1990s…in the days before brunch was big in Australia at one of our favourite winter breakfast spots that buzzed all weekend long. There was always jazz swirling in the air, a queue waiting in the cold, and the appetising smell of crispy bacon, sweet muffins and warm banana bread.

The only thing missing on this wintry day is a brick-thick New York Times, its freshly pressed pages strewn across the table, and snow on the platform.

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The award-winning Cheesery based in the Adelaide Hills is well known for its  delectable range of artisan cheese made from milk sourced from small, local dairies, but their foray into butter is relatively new. Determined to get my hands on a pat, I arrived early at the Showground Farmers’ Market on Sunday morning to snaffle a block to take home and slather on a fresh loaf of sourdough. Incredibly rich with a subtle blue vein flavour and curdly texture, this hand churned, cultured butter melted away immediately in my mouth.

There are two types of butter. In Australia, we are more familiar with ‘sweet cream’ butter, made from churned fresh cream that does not go through a ripening process. I fondly remember my grandmother making big pats of buttercup yellow butter with cream fresh from the cow. After being put through the separator, the cream was so thick that you could stand a jar of it upsidedown without spilling a drop.

The superior, ‘cultured’ butter is popular in Northern Europe where it has been produced and enjoyed for centuries. Made the time honoured way with slightly soured cream, it has a more complex flavour, a different texture and is very rich. If you are a butter lover planning a trip to France there are a number of beurres de baratte (traditional hand-churned butters) of exceptional quality from Normandy, Charentes and Isigny that will make you swoon…and then there is le beurre Bordier. Made by the celebrated Jean-Yves Bordier in Brittany this fabulous butter imparts an incredible richness to dishes and the grand chefs of France can’t get enough.

Still relatively new in Australia, there are just a handful of cultured butter makers in the country. Woodside Cheese Wrights make their butter with thick, naturally rich cream that is innoculated with cultures and set aside to ripen. After the buttermilk is removed it is washed with filtered water and sprinkled with South Australian Murray River pink salt.

There is nothing quite as delicious as good butter smeared on fresh bread but chatting at the Woodside stand at the farmers’ market I discover that Blue Butter goes exceptionally well with mushrooms. Simply pan-fry a medley of mushrooms in the butter, sprinkle the dish with fresh parsely and add a grinding of pepper. As is often the case with outstanding produce, it’s best to keep things simple in order for the flavours to speak for themselves. Apparently, the Blue Butter is wonderful on top of a steak. I imagine it would also be tasty melted into a hot baked potato, or used to finish a velvety cauliflower soup…With half a pat of butter left, I’d better get cooking!

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