Buy West Eat Best connects suppliers to the market

But sometimes, finding products which are WA-made and owned can be a challenge.

That is an obstacle which the Buy West Eat Best labelling program aimed to overcome and last month some of the State's top food and beverages were on display at the second annual Meet the Buyer trade exhibition.

The expo connected local producers with a range of buyers to help them grow their businesses and extend supply chain networks.

In total, more than 80 WA businesses had the opportunity to meet with independent and national retailers, distributors, wholesalers, chefs, sommeliers, educators, students, foodservice and caterers servicing domestic and international markets.

Below Farm Weekly samples a handful of the incredible WA-based businesses serving up the finest quality ingredients to the State, the country and the world.

Bluey Zarzov's Hotsauce

STARTING from a love of chillies, gardening and cooking, the three had to come together and Bluey Zarzov's Hotsauce was born.

Owner and creator Paul Storm had made his own hot sauces for years as a hobby, experimenting with chilli varieties and flavours.

When he and his wife lost their jobs due to COVID-19, they decided to go fully into hot sauce manufacturing.

Gathering the best recipes, he set to work to make the hobby into a business, using the best fresh produce WA had to offer.

"Eager to bring my favourite flavours to the world, the journey began, streamlining the processes of bottling, labelling, and then marketing," Mr Storm said.

"It isn't a difficult job when you love what you do and the feedback from everyone was so overwhelmingly positive that we decided to enter Awesomesauce into the Perth Royal Food Awards only a few months after starting up.

"When we were awarded a bronze medal, we knew that this was going to be the beginning of something wonderful."

Bluey Zarzov's Hotsauce offers a wide range of flavours categorised into three levels of heat - mild, hot and superhot - to suit a wide range of pallets and heat tolerances.

They are produced locally in Perth using the best and freshest chillies grown in the State.

It also showcases the very best fresh local produce that the area has to offer, including capsicums, paprika, massive sweet onions, garlic, organic lemons and limes, strawberries, tomatoes and stone fruits.

All of the products are gluten free, plant based, nut free and contain no artificial preservatives, colours and flavours to give a 100 per cent natural flavour experience.

The sauces can be found in some independent IGA stores, specialty butchers, Farmer Jacks and now in specialty Woolworths stores all over Perth.

"After two years we have now spread far and wide across the State, with stockists as far north as Dongara and as far south as Margaret River," Mr Storm said.

"If there is one thing that rings loud and clear, it is that the people all over absolutely love our hotsauce."

Coastal Crunch

COASTAL Crunch is guided by a simple philosophy - eating tasty food, made from wholesome locally grown ingredients, is good for the planet.

All of its products are unique and innovative and take a special WA ingredient - lupins - and turn it into delicious granolas and snacks, designed with care, taste and nutrition in mind.

Utilising only gluten free ingredients, Coastal Crunch tries to source from as close to home as possible and 100 per cent of its lupins are grown in WA.

Created by Tim Corrick, a restaurant trained chef from Perth, Coastal Crunch wants to give people products they can feel good about enjoying.

"Our mixes are distinctly different from anything you've ever tried," Mr Corrick said.

"All our blends pack a protein and fibre punch and are perfect with your favourite yoghurt or milk.

"We have also ensured that each flavour contains less than a teaspoon of unrefined sugar per serve."

The granolas work great as an addition to smoothies and smoothie bowls, sprinkled over porridge in the morning or over ice cream at night.

The range of Protein Crunch (granola) has been endorsed by Coeliac Australia, so people know they're eating a genuinely gluten free product.

In fact, all of Coastal Crunch's products are manufactured in a completely gluten free facility for peace of mind.

"We don't have anything against gluten, but we know how careful you have to be if you suffer from coeliac disease," Mr Corrick said.

As a more recent edition, Coastal Crunch has also started offering protein bars which are also made with 100pc WA grown lupin flakes, as well as WA honey.

They are also gluten-free and chock full of nutrition and flavour, including 12 grams of protein per bar.

Lastly, there is a gluten-free high protein alternative to breadcrumbs which are flavoured in many varieties to suit crumbing fish, chicken, meat, vegetables and many more.

Black Garlic Co

IT may not sound overly appetising at first, but black garlic tastes delicious and has an overload of nutritional benefits.

Produced by Black Garlic & Co, the product takes fresh, raw, organic garlic from a grower in Margaret River and undergoes a slow ageing process using pure water and gentle heat.

The maillard reaction results in a natural superfood with hints on the palate of balsamic vinegar, molasses and licorice with a sweet and savoury umami flavour.

It melts in your mouth, with a beautiful texture similar to a jellybean.

Black Garlic & Co sales director Dionne Sibly owns and runs the WA-based business alongside her husband Julian, and said they had spent several years perfecting how to make black garlic to maximise its flavour and bioactive properties.

"The method we use to make black garlic optimises the medicinal properties of the produce," Ms Sibly said.

"Black garlic has higher amounts of antioxidants and biological activity than regular garlic and antioxidants can help reduce inflammation and lower cholesterol, among other health benefits.

"There are also no additives or chemicals as we only use Margaret River certified organic garlic, plus our products contain no sulphites and are gluten free."

One clove of black garlic is equivalent to eating several cloves of raw garlic, but without the breath and body odour.

All of the products use the finest ingredients which, where possible, are sourced from local producers and the quality was recognised last year when it was awarded champion at the Royal Tasmanian Fine Food Awards.

That range of products includes balsamic vinegars, savoury pastes and the black garlic cloves.

There is also a wide range of recipes which the company provides to make cooking with its products easy.

"Our motto is food is medicine or poison and our range of products reflects this philosophy," Ms Sibly said.

New Leaf Orchard

YOU can taste the difference in New Leaf Orchard's juices.

Unlike many products which are made from imported apple concentrate, their juice is pressed from fresh local fruit gathered from their small orchard just outside Manjimup.

Run by husband and wife duo Dean and Kate Baker, New Leaf's farm contains an eight hectare commercial apple orchard where they grow all the main varieties of apples they like to juice.

They also source extra apples and other fruits, including strawberries, lemons and cherries from other local growers.

Ms Baker said they used fruit which was not quite beautiful enough for the supermarket shelves but tastes perfect.

"We press the fruit using a cold-press juicing machine, filter it and add a little sparkle, otherwise known as carbon dioxide," Ms Baker said.

"The juice is bottled in recyclable glass, before being gently pasteurised to preserve the ripe fruit flavours.

"This traditional method means that our juice contains no additives at all, but can be stored at room temperature for an extended period."

Nothing in the process is wasted with the pulp from the apples either fed to cattle or composted.

Occasionally they have a small volume of juice left over and they add yeast to make this into apple cider and then ferment it further with mother of vinegar to make one of the best apple cider vinegars Western Australia has to offer.

New Leaf has also planted more than 40 varieties of heritage apples and plan to harvest a small crop of their favourite varieties to turn into specialty drinks.

Natural Vanilla

YOU might not have heard of Natural Vanilla Store, but you've almost certainly heard of the impressive range of food and beverage businesses it supplies to.

Rocky Ridge Brewing, Get Chunky, West Winds Gin, Swan River Distillery, Gusto Gelato and North Street Store - the one thing they all have in common is the use of Natural Vanilla Store's high quality products.

As a primarily online store, the company is able to maintain low prices and its annual turnover consists of several tonnes of vanilla pods, ground vanilla and vanilla seeds, along with several thousand litres of vanilla extract and vanilla paste.

"Our founders undertook extensive travel across the Indonesian archipelago to identify vanilla plantations who produced very high quality vanilla that was free of pesticides and grown organically without the use of artificial fertilisers," said operations manager Nina Henderson.

"Agreements were negotiated with these plantations confirming a guaranteed continuous supply of some of the highest quality vanilla being produced."

The vanilla pods are now sourced fresh from the largest plantations in Indonesia, Madagascar and Papua New Guinea and while that might not sound particularly Western Australian, new stock is frequently air freighted into the Perth-based distribution office.

With the climate not quite right in Australia to grow high quality vanilla, the Natural Vanilla store uses produce from its closest neighbours and uses its double curing method to ensure the vanilla beans are highly fragrant with dark glossy appearance making them true gourmet quality.

"Through extensive research and development over the past 10 years we have developed our own proprietary in house recipes for all of our vanilla preparations," Ms Henderson said.

"Because we use only highly fragrant vanilla pods as the primary ingredient in all of our manufacturing processes, there is a very high level of aroma and flavour imparted into our vanilla products."

Natural Vanilla Store is now Australia's largest supplier of vanilla and also plays a role in markets in Asia, Europe, the Middle East and North and South America.

OTHER GREAT READS: