A Celebration of Lost Culinary Arts [Past Event]

Long before the era of refrigeration and supermarkets, countless generations of women (mostly) grew and prepared food for large families in the Scenic Rim. They were thrifty and creative, using produce they had grown in their own gardens or sourced from nearby farms.

This event pays tribute to these pioneers in the ‘eat local’ movement. It’s a celebration that honours the history of food preparation and preservation and the recipes passed down through generations, from a time when you would bottle your tomatoes to last all year and ensure you had enough jam for the pantry, along with a couple of extra jars for the neighbours too.

Here is a taste of what will be on offer on the day:

• Templin Museum – display of old culinary equipment, wares and utensils.
• Boonah CWA – homemade baked goods, jams and preserves.
• Pam Leckie – Pamela’s Kitchen – homemade jams, pickles, sauces, oils, chutneys and relishes.
• Jules Sparrow – Jules Yummies – homemade pickled onions, cucumber and garlic, mustard pickles, relishes, preserves, sauces, chutneys and rosella jam.
• Lizz Hills – The Cottage Collective – display of kraut crocks made on Tamborine Mountain, along with homemade sauerkraut, spicy Kim Chi, brown rice Miso, Kombucha and lime Kefir.
• Lana Bissett – Flutterby Gourmet Creations – homemade preserves, jams, chutneys, relishes, pickles, sauces and syrups.
• Kerry Owen – display of her personal collection of vintage to modern electric Fowlers Vacola preserving units, with jars and preserving utensils, along with original recipe books from the Kalbar Potato Festival and the Country Women’s Association.
• Morgan Fuery – The Drunken Farmhand – a variety of pickles using an old brine recipe and technique, plus small batch sauces (one smoked over wood chips for 6-7 hours), and mulled red wine pears.
• Colleen Benstead – homemade rosella jam and citrus marmalades and citrus butters.
• Dot Cooper – a range of preserved fruits and vegetables grown locally at Valley Pride Produce.
• Katrina Goldsworthy – local Kalbar artist in residence – sketching the day.

Presentation Program:

11am – Sandwich spreads and secret relishes with Sally Peach from The Pickling Project and Val Brown

Sally shares her family meat paste recipe which a generation will remember on their school sandwiches. The secret behind Val Brown’s legendary local tomato relish will also be revealed!

12pm – Small batch butter making then and now with Kay Tommerup from Tommerup’s Dairy Farm

Kay shares her love of butter making with her mum and will demonstrate how she still makes it today with son Harry

1pm – Celebrating the Shrub with Alison Alexander from ABC Radio Brisbane

Alison demonstrates a fruit vinegar dating back to the 1600s that nowadays is used to make non-alcoholic drinks and also cocktails

2pm – What to do with veggie leftovers with Lizz Hills from The Cottage Collective

Lizz demonstrates how to create a simple ‘counter top’ veggie pickle – reduce food waste, save money and create a tasty little jar that’s good for your health!

Want to get involved? We invite Scenic Rim locals still practicing these lost culinary arts to be a part of this new event in 2024. Whether you preserve and pickle for pleasure or are part of a community organisation creating these products to fund raise or you have a small business focused on these techniques, we would love to hear from you. Click here for more information.