Cool down with these Scenic Rim ice-cream collaborations, created by regional food ambassador and MasterChef 2017 runner-up Ben Ungermann.
Why drink your beer when you can have beer ice-cream? Who has time for tomato salad when you can cool down with a refreshing tomato sorbet? Does your vodka need a hit of something? Try a splash of camel milk and honey.
If you love quirky and curious food and drink concoctions then you’ll love Scenic Rim Eat Local Week. Producers have partnered with chefs and brewers to create some delicious and whacky combinations.
Taste Ben Ungermann’s unique Scenic Rim ice-creams and sorbets at the Winter Harvest Festival.
Scenic Rim regional food ambassador, Ben Ungermann, is leading the creative charge. He’s created a selection of out-of-the-box ice-creams which hero ingredients from the fertile south-east Queensland food bowl.
There’s a tomato sorbet, a blue cheese and fig ice-cream and a carrot cake ice-cream. But it’s probably his beer ice-cream (yes really!) which is likely to have the crowds bubbling with excitement.
“The beer ice-cream has a subtle flavour,” he says. “You’ll have that real earthiness from the beer come through.”
Ben, whose Ungermann Brothers ice-cream shop is situated a short drive from the Scenic Rim, was keen to work with producers to take their ingredients to the next level.
“I feel incredibly spoilt to live here because we have so much amazing produce right at the tip of our fingers,” he says.
“The carrot farmers in the Scenic Rim supply a lot of Australia during this time of year and people don’t realise that. The Scenic Rim is a hidden gem and part of me wants to get the word out there and part of me wants to keep it a secret because there’s so much great stuff going on.
“I have access to all of these amazing ingredients and the producers have been so kind and willing to help.”
Ben’s ice-creams are all-natural and organic and don’t feature any synthetic stablisers. Ben says while that’s good for consumers it does make the ice-cream-making process harder.
“There’s a lot of trial and error,” he says. “The natural enemy of ice-cream is water and carrots have a tonne of water. We’ve had to reduce the carrots down to a natural syrup which we’ve added to the ice-cream. But we’ve also baked a carrot cake which will be throughout the ice-cream to add some texture.
“The tomato sorbet is a little bit sweet and a little bit savoury. It features a medley of tomatoes as well as a little basil. “So many hours go into creating new flavours. Not every batch works but we get there in the end.”
Mike Webster from Scenic Rim Brewery will be selling his Milk Stout, made with sheep and cow’s milk whey.
Scenic Rim Mayor Greg Christensen says the quirky collaborations are what Scenic Rim Eat Local Week is all about.
“It’s about celebrating the local produce and developing creative partnerships between chefs and farmers to inspire new ways to serve local food to customers,” he says.
“We can all do steamed vegetables, but carrot cake ice-cream and beetroot cordial – now that’s different! The Scenic Rim is Queensland’s most exciting food region, a hub for winter vegetables, beef, pork, olives, finger limes and so much more.
“Our producers are constantly pushing boundaries and exploring creative ways to make their products appeal to more consumers.”
Scenic Rim craft brewer Mike Webster is milking his local farming connections – literally! He’s created a Milk Stout, using the whey of sheep and cows from Towri Sheep Cheese Farm and Tommerup’s Dairy Farm.
“Flavour-wise it’s brilliant. Like a chocolate milkshake but only better,” he says.
Try the Summer Land Camel Farm Milk & Honey Vodka.
Jason Hannay at Flinders Peak Winery has been busy creating a number of local produce vodkas. They come on the back of his popular Carrot Vodka, created last year to help local farmers reduce food waste. This year he’s developed a Camel Milk and Honey Vodka with the nearby Summer Land Camel Farm and a Lily Pily Vodka with Wild Canary Café.
The Camel Milk Vodka utilises the whey, leftover from cheesemaking. Summer Land Camel Farm CEO Jeff Flood says the business is focused on sustainability.
“We thought of 100 different ways to use the whey leftover from cheesemaking and vodka was one of those ideas. I was surprised by how great it turned out.”
Flinders Peak Winery’s Davidson Plum Vodka.
• Finger lime Ice-Cream (Lime Caviar Company finger limes + Ungermann Brothers)
• Beer Ice-Cream (Scenic Rim Brewery beer + Ungermann Brothers)
• Carrot Cake Ice-Cream (Kalfresh Carrots + Ungermann Brothers)
• Tomato Sorbet (Peak Veggie Patch tomatoes + Ungermann Brothers)
• Blue Cheese & Fig Ice-Cream (Pure Artisan Cheese + Ungermann Brothers)
• Camel Milk & Honey Vodka (Summer Land Camel Farm milk + Flinders Peak Winery)
• Beetroot, raspberry and lavender Cordial (Valley Pride Produce & Scenic Rim Lavender made by Julia’s Pantry)
• Milk Stout (Milk whey from Tommerup’s Dairy Farm & Towri Sheep Cheese made by Scenic Rim Brewery)
• Dragon fruit & Fingerlime Weisse Sour (Tamborine Mountain Dragon fruit & Canungra Creek Finger limes made by Beard n Brau Farmhouse Brewery)
• Lillypilly Vodka (Wild Canary bistro + Flinders Peak Winery)
• Smoked Pecans with organic honey (Bromelton House Pecans & Dewar’s Honey made by The Vintage Pickle)
• Carrot Ice-Cream (Moffatt Fresh Produce)
• Gold Kiwifruit Gelato (Tamborine Mountain kiwi fruits made by Lemon Lovers Gelato)