We're a Finalist in the Central Coast Business Achiever Awards

Wow, fabulous news. It's just been announced that Taste Gourmet Grocer & Cafe is a Finalist in the Central Coast Business Achiever Awards for Best Cafe /Casual Dining!

Thank you so much to everyone who voted for us - we really appreciate it!

It's the third year in a row we've been a finalist and we won Best Cafe in 2007. Our much loved Administration Manager Sharon Thacker also won the Employee Excellence Award in 2007.

This is Sharon and Brian celebrating in 2007!

We were also a Finalist in 2008 in the Deli & Gourmet Food Category.



AND THE AWARD NOMINATIONS KEEP ON COMING.

We've also been nominated in the Anthill Magazine "Cool Company" Awards, which recognise Australia's coolest companies! How cool is that!

And Michele has been nominated in the Central Coast Business Women's Awards.

It's been quite a week!

Good Food Month at Taste Gourmet

Australian Good Food Month at Taste Gourmet! Taste the best!

Over the coming weeks, we'll be celebrating the achievemnets of Australia’s leading gourmet food makers, the people and the products created with passion and a love of good food.
These products are mainly hand made, with premium ingredients, often sourced from nearby farms and producers.
Most of all, our Australian Regional Food Month is about raising the profile of our farmers and food handlers, the growers who battle the rain, hail or heat to harvest their crops or grow their stock, or the wonderful cooks and chefs that spin their magic, creating tasty delicacies of outstanding quality.
These products are available year round on our shelves and every month we search the country for new and innovative products to bring you. Find them on the shelves and for tasting throughout September & October.
We’ve also interviewed some of our favourite producers so you can get to know them a little better, hear about their products and enjoy their passion!
Over the coming weeks, we'll be featuring profiles on:

Alpine Berry Farms Jams and Marmalades - Mittagong, NSW. Established in 2002 and now winners of 42 awards, the family that grows the berries makes this stunning range of full fruit jams and marmalades.
Hog Bay Apairies, Kangaroo Island, SA. We believe these are the best honeys in Australia; we’ve loved them for years. A range of five gourmet seasonal pure honeys, including creamed honey. This is unique organic honey from the Ligurian bee, only from Kangaroo Island, South Australia.
Doodles Creek Dressings, Bowral, NSW. From the Southern Highlands comes Sarah Ross’s much sought after range of dressings, mayonnaise, and aiolis. Doodles Creek products are French in style and less sweet than Australian mayonnaises, naturally thickened with egg yolks.
Nicholson Fine Foods - Yamba, NSW. From the foothills of Yamba comes these Australian chef made native food products and their signature range of Essence of Hibiscus, glorious hibiscus flowers in syrup. SEE MORE INSIDE
Pastabilities Pasta - Marrackville, NSW. Producing the best fresh pasta in Australia, this passionate Marrickville family supply our fresh fettuccine and spaghetti, and a range of gourmet frozen ravioli and includes filling such as duck, prawns, veal and caramelised beef.
AC Butchery - Leichhardt, NSW. This Leichhardt based butchery specialises in gourmet sausages and you’ll find their most popular varieties, in our freezer. Made with the best premium ingredients, sausage will never taste the same again. They also have their own range of verjuice, which we now have in stock!
Simply the Best Small Goods - Gladesville, NSW. The name says it all, these multi award winning producers supply our ham, pastrami, prosciutto, pancetta, and more. Simply the Best maximise the use of natural ingredients to produce the best quality products. Best of all is the ham on the bone, an award winner. Made from the finest Australian pork, it has a lasting smoky flavour with a gorgeous light, moist texture. Hand carved by us!
Serendipity Ice-creams & Sorbets, Marrickville, NSW
An another award winning gourmet producer, creating glorious rich ice-creams and silky smooth sorbets hand made in dozens of flavours. SEE MORE INSIDE
Bellata Gold Pasta - Tamworth, NSW. This farm family grows the durum wheat, mills the flour and makes the pasta - they call in from paddock to plate and it is the best dried pasta in Australian today. In a stunning range of flavours, an essential for the pantry.
There are many other regional foods on the shelves, and we will feature these over coming months. In the meantime, look out for
Maggie Beer Pastes, Preserved Lemon and Verjuice - South Australia
Joseph Olive Oil - South Australia
Gwydir Grove Infused Olive Oils - Port Macquarie
Lotus & Ming Yum Cha, Sydney,
Goan Cuisine Curries, Pickles, Chutneys and Pastes - Perth WA

We'll be featuringing Gourmet Food Producer profiles in this blog over the coming weeks!

Celebrating our Central Coast & Region Gourmet Food Producers!

These are the best of the best - our selections as the leading local Central Coast and Hunter producers. Supporting our local producers is very important. It helps the local economy, supports local jobs, supports local farmers and helps create jobs for us and our kids. It also gives us a chance to show what we can do here on the Coast.
And it helps the environment - the less kilometres our food has to travel to get to us, the less greenhouse gas are produced in transporting it to us. (Did you know that on average, most of our food travels 1500km to get to us?)
Taste Gourmet, East Gosford, NSW- This is our own Taste Gourmet hand made range of gourmet jams, marmalades, mustards, sauces, desserts, chutneys, relishes, pickles and more, all made in small batches with fresh and natural ingredients. There are more than 200 quality products, each made with love and are to a traditional recipe. Amongst our most popular products are the Roasted Red Capsicum & Chilli Jam, Blood Orange and Cointreau Marmalade, Classic Red Tomato Relish & Caramelised Onion Jam
Binnorie Fairy Cheeses, Pokolbin, NSW - From Pokolbin in the Hunter Valley, we stock two of our most popular cheeses. Created by award winning cheese maker Simon Gough, the Binnorie Dairy makes Labna, a Mediterranean yoghurt-based cheese that has been infused with chilli and rosemary and the "Gold Medal" Marinated Fetta, with distinctive characters unavailable outside the region.
Sweet As (Chocolates), Central Coast, NSW- Wendy Sue Mitchell is the chocoholic behind Sweet As, a collection of the best hand made Coverture chocolates and now available in store. Wendy Sue also creates our mouth watering Gourmet Rocky Road. We currently feature about six flavours of hand made truffles and great shortbread.
Fuchs Estate, Cessnock, NSW - Heading further afield in the region, the Hunter Valley's Fuchs Estate Extra Virgin Olive Oils are amongst Australia’s best. Created by chef John McGain, we stock the Premium Extra Virgin Olive Oils, as well as flavoured extra virgin oils - Garlic, Lime, Lemon, Chilli, Pepper, & Mandarin. We also have Fuch’s Caramelised Balsamic.

We feature all these producers products in our Gourmet Grocer selection, at our food store and cafe in East Gosford, NSW Australia.

The Good Oil - Olive Oil

Olive Oil, the world’s most commonly eaten mono-unsaturated oil, has been enjoyed for many thousands of years around the Mediterranean. Not only does it taste good, but there is a mass of evidence that a diet based on olive oil can promote longer life and may prevent some of the diseases associated with our usual western eating pattern.

In recent years, medical researchers have turned their attention to the virtues of the Mediterranean style of eating and to olive oil. On closer inspection, this ancient oil has proved to be more than just a source of monounsaturated fat. It is also a rich source of antioxidants - substances now attracting great scientific attention.

What is the difference between extra virgin olive & ‘pure’ olive oil?
Extra Virgin Olive Oil is very simply the best you can buy, with an acidity level of less than 1%.
Extra virgin olive oil is essentially the naturally extracted juice from fresh olives. The olives are crushed into a paste, and the oil is physically extracted from this paste without the use of chemicals or excessive heat.

Extra virgin olive oil has a distinctive olive fruity aroma and flavour and it contains natural antioxidants. The aroma and flavour, of olive oil adds complementary flavours to a wide variety of dishes.

‘Pure’ and ‘light’ olive oils are olive oils that have been refined and they lack the aroma, flavour and the natural antioxidant content of extra virgin olive oils. In fact the word “light” refers to their light colour, aroma and flavour.

Which Olive Oil do I choose?
Extra virgin olive oils can be intensely flavoured and can also be strongly bitter and pungent. Many ‘early harvest’ styles fit in this category. Others can be very fruity with only hints of bitterness and pepper, while ‘late harvest’ styles are typically mild with very ripe fruity flavours.
As a general rule, oils with a strong flavour suit strongly flavoured dishes, and mild oils are used in dishes that are delicately flavoured.

Is Olive Oil good for me?
The incidence of heart diseases and some forms of cancer are much less in countries with a high consumption of olive oil.

Olive oil has NO CHOLESTEROL, it reduces the IDI (low density lipoproteins) which is bad cholesterol, and it increases the HDL (high density lipoproteins) which is the good cholesterol.

Which is good for the heart?
Olive oil has 14 grams of fat, or 120 calories per tablespoon. This is true for all oils.

Can I use extra virgin olive oils for frying?
Yes, but to be honest, refined olive oils (that is those labeled as ‘Pure’ or ‘Light’) are probably a more cost effective alternative. Furthermore, refined oils begin to smoke at a higher temperature than most extra virgin olive oils, making them more suited to deep-frying. However, extra virgin olive oils are a better alternative when shallow frying.

NOW IN STORE!
Taste Gourmet Grocer carries a wide range of oils, including extra virgin olive oils, and flavoured and infused oils including truffle oils from Colavita, Simon Johnson, Fuchs, Joseph, Padthaways and more. We also have the best Australian Olive Oils, Joseph and Dangaran Estate.

SERVING SUGGESTIONS:

DIPPING BREAD
Choose your favourite bread (we have a great woodfired sourdough or a crusty Italian pane de casa both baked fresh daily) and roughly tear, slice or chop into bite size pieces. Onto a platter, place one or more small bowls. Choose your favourite oils & vinegars to either mix or serve separately in each bowl. Surround bowls with bread pieces and serve. Try heating the bread pieces for an even more sumptuous experience.

ROASTED KUMARA (SWEET POTATO) & FETA CHEESE SALAD
Lightly brush some bite size chunks of Kumara with EVOO of kumara in a moderate oven until golden brown. Spread baby English spinach over a wide bowl or platter. Spread roasted kumara evenly over spinach, followed by crumbled feta cheese and toasted pine nuts. Drizzle caramelized balsamic vinegar (we carry four different varieties) over salad before serving.