Amid the hundreds of exhibits and the alpaca show at the 2016 Farm Fantastic Expo is the opportunity for connoisseurs of good food to deal direct with the people who guarantee their products literally from the paddock to the plate.
After checking out the farm machinery, sheds, tools and mowers at the Caboolture Showgrounds, Destination Food will be a must-visit at the Expo from July 22-24. The pavilion, housing Destination Food, will showcase market style sites featuring the region’s home-grown delights and there’s the chance to taste Illawarra Prime Alpaca.
Early bookings for Destination Food include Merbye Pines’ fresh pineapple juice and fresh cuts, Scenic Rim 4 Real Milk’s milk products, Gourmet Xcellence salami, cheese and relish, Spice ITT spices, wines from Riversands Vineyards and Squished Berry Wines, Chinchilli’s chilli, Eumundi Strawberries, Green Living Australia cheese making and yoghurt cultures.
Long Yard Beef Company, a finely tuned family operation spearheaded by Josh and Kristie Long, will focus on their home grown beef and smallgoods. Josh’s parents Alex and Annette, raise 900-head of commercially bred and fattened Black Angus/Limousin cross cattle on the 1900-acre spread at Kilcoy.
The Longs have master-minded a feeding system to ensure quality rather than quantity. Cattle are especially pasture raised to optimise flavour and consistency.
The wholesome “hormone and chemical-free product from the heart of the cattle country” is the cornerstone to Josh and Kristie’s growing gourmet butchery at Bellmere at Caboolture and then Ningi Butchery.
Josh Long says “We use all the beef cuts.
“The tongue is used for pressed brawn, there’s woodsmoked honeywurst (made their own Kilcoy honey), and there’ll be free samples of kransky, cheese kabana, beer sticks and salami.”
In their drive to get more families back in the kitchen and eating wholesome meat dishes The Two Old Ducks, namely Annette Long and her sister Jen Hill, will cook up a storm using their beef and a variety of the produce on display in the pavilion.
They will prove just how easy cooking can be and show you how you can make six meals from a freshly boned chicken. Also on stage Mr Long will have celebrities testing their skills in snag tying after he demonstrates how sausages are made “from scratch”.
Farm Fantastic will be held at the Caboolture showgrounds on July 22-24. For more information about Farm Fantastic, visit the event website here>