Ediblegems.com.au

A big thanks to Nat Kringoudis of MelbourneNaturalFertility.com.au. She wrote a great blog (http://melbournenaturalfertility.com.au/2012/02/bean-crazy-good-food-friday-treats-bean-salad/) about Edible Gems borlotti beans and their positive nutritional benefits. We appreciate the coverage.

Edible Gems borlotti beans will be available in Melbourne the week of 20 February. Check out our Where To Buy page for a list of the stores that will stock them when they come available.

Jina

10 February: Days to Harvest 10

With only about 10 days to go until we harvest the first beans, greengrocers and specialty retailers in Sydney and Melbourne are starting to come on board. Lots of you have asked, “Love the idea. Where can I buy the beans?” so we are working hard to get as many greengrocers and specialty retailers to stock the product as possible.

For the most updated list of who will stock, see the Where To Buy section of the website. We will also be posting updates to Facebook, so Like us and keep up with the latest news.

Also, if you are out and about and have found Edible Gems at a market or stockist not on our list, can you post a Facebook note to let others know? We would sure appreciate it.

For now, here is a list of our Melbourne and Sydney stockists from the week of 20 Feb.

Sydney:

Freshworld Fruit Markets

Burwood

Burwood Plaza

Burwood NSW 2134

(02) 9634 2811

Castle Hill

Shop no 222, Castle Hill Towers

Northern Rd

Castle Hill NSW 2154

(02) 9634 2811 ‎

Maroubra

Shop 28, Pacific Square Shopping Centre
Anzac Parade
Maroubra NSW 2035

(02) 8347 0367

Penrith

43/122 Station Street

Penrith NSW 2750

(02) 4721 5139

Trim’s Fresh

Leichhardt

Shop 32 Leichhardt Marketplace

Corner Marion and Flood Street

Leichhardt NSW 2040

(02) 9609 7179

Wetherill Park

Shop 8 Stocklands Mall

Polding Street

Wetherill Park NSW 2251

(02) 9609 7179

Winston Hills

Shop MM1

180-190 Caroline Chisholm Drive

Winston Hills NSW 2153

(02) 02 9624 8584

Bankstown

Shop FF3/4 Centro Shopping Centre

Lady Cutler Ave

Bankstown NSW 2200

(02) 9709 5033

Antico International Pty Ltd

Warehouse G

Sydney Markets NSW 2129

(02) 9764 3833

http://antico.com.au/

T & F All States Pty Ltd

7-9 George Young Street

Regents Park NSW 2143

(02) 9550 4655

http://www.tandfallstates.com.au/

Parisi’s Food Hall Pty Ltd

21 Dover Road

Rose Bay NSW 2029

(02) 9371 2411

Northmead Growers Market

Shop 2B Campbell St

Northmead NSW 2152

(02) 9683 1314

Melbourne:

9 February: Days to Harvest – 11

Michael and I ‘launched’ our Edible Gems to our trade customers last week in Sydney and Brisbane. We also did a small media launch in Sydney as well. One of the things I really wanted to show people was the difference between cooked fresh borlotti beans vs soaking/cooking dried borlotti beans vs cooking canned borlotti beans. If you’ve never had or cooked with a fresh borlotti bean before, it is hard to imagine the difference between the three.

At both the trade and media launches, everyone was AMAZED by the difference between the three types. The taste, the look, the texture…  I know I am biased towards fresh, but seriously, there is no comparison.

Our fresh borlotti beans stay whole with skins intact during cooking. They also turn a beige, almost pale mauve colour as they cook. This is natural. Now take the dried. I soaked them over night and was pretty unhappy with what was in the pot. Skins were cracked, beans were broken – not a pretty site and hard to cook successfully. During simmering, the dried beans produced an odourous foam that almost took over the pan – fresh beans do not do that. Once cooked, the texture of the dried bean was almost mush. The re-hydration process breaks the skin, which significantly impacts how firm they cook up.

The canned borlotti was a completely different story. First, the cans had to be drained of their soupy, salty mixture, then rinsed. The first thing that struck me was the colour; almost a caramel colour. That is not a natural borlotti colour, which makes me wonder where that colour came from! Also, the texture was almost mush out of the can, so I didn’t even try cooking with them.

I thought the results of the cook off were so significant, that I filmed a short YouTube video with the results – see the Recipe section of the website, YouTube videos. Ignore the fact my video isn’t ‘professional’ please. It is me, cooking up these various forms of beans in my kitchen and telling you straight just what I think about the them. No hair stylist, no makeup – just me.

Look – I know sometimes canned or dried is all you can get. At least, until now. If you are a bean lover and you love our fresh borlotti beans, then stock up between 20 Feb and May and simply put the packs straight into your freezer. They freeze beautifully and can be cooked from frozen. Once you’ve tried the fresh borlotti, seriously, you will never go back.

Jina

We had a very nasty dust storm today, but the beans have stood up well to the wind and dust.  Got home from work late tonight, have been in the pack house all day packing giant white peaches, decided to make bruschetta for tea, used my first pack of edible gems from the freezer and harvested my first ox heart tomatoes from the vegie garden, with some fresh parsley, fresh basil, home grown garlic and hot chillies. We had a quick delicious meal, then off to bed, so that we can get up and do it all again tomorrow.

Jina

2 February 2012: Days to Harvest 13

Well, the rubber hit the road this week as we officially ‘launched’ our Edible Gems fresh borlotti beans in both Brisbane and Sydney. The response from the retailers was really good – and there is a lot to look forward to there. Most are ready and willing to stock the product – we just need stock in packs – which is looking likely for about 15 Feb.

We also sent out 100 press kits this week to major consumer media in Australia. The early coverage is proving positive – and even a tweet today from Gourmet Traveller, who loved the beans creamy taste. Also, we had Steve Manfredi (www.manfredi.com.au) who also tweeted about the beans. What a lovely man!

We are back up to our stone fruit orchard tonight with two more weeks of packing to go. Then Michael and I hope to be on the road talking to people about our beautiful beans.

Womans Day Media Clip - Feb 6 2012

Thank you Woman’s Day and The Food Coach (www.thefoodcoach.com.au) for the recent mentions.

Woman’s Day included a lovely snippet on the beans in their Feb 6 2012 issue, page 60. And The Food Coach also included some information on her informative website. We are thrilled and so excited that you both are willing to share the story of our beans.

I’ve attached a picture of the story from Woman’s Day.

Thank you!

Sample Beans Packed in the New Edible Gems Carton

31 January 2012: Days to Harvest – 14

Our beautiful Edible Gems cartons have arrived. Aren’t they beautiful! When they are sitting on a pallet, they simply stop you in your tracks. They look so fresh and so lovely, I can’t wait to fill them with our beans.

We had a minor setback on the harvesting and we are now about 14 days to harvest. Just like our stone fruit, which ran three weeks early this year, our beans are running a little late. Won’t be long – we promise!

25 Jan 2012: Days to Harvest – 6

Our state of the art packline has just arrived from Italy and not a day too soon. While the rest of Australia will be celebrating Australia Day tomorrow, Michael and the boys will be installing the new packline for the beans.

While the product fresh borlotti beans is not new, what is new is how we are going to pack and present them. Normally, people buy beans in the pod, then get them home and shell them. We wanted to make this easier for today’s busy shoppers, so between Big Red and this new packline, the shelling, washing and sorting will be done for you.

Big Red will shell the beans in the field (leaving the shells behind as mulch), the beans will go into a bin, into the temp controlled packhouse for a wash and a cool down, then onto the packline (parts of it you can see in this photo), where the product will be machine graded and machine sorted before being machine packed into 300g punnets. These will be flushed with nitrogen to keep them fresh, then the freshly shelled beans will be sealed into punnets. The goal – not touched by a human hand from paddock until you open the pack in your kitchen. This ensures freshness…and safety.

Jina

22 Jan 2012: Days to Harvest – 9

As a vegetarian, beans are a really important part of my diet. With the basket of fresh borlotti beans I picked the other day, I thought I would make a rustic borlotti bean pie (that was laden with vegetables).

It turned out so beautiful and it was delicious too. I kind of just put ingredients together, but if you are interested in the recipe, let me know and I will try and turn it into a recipe for you.

Simply email me: jina@ediblegems.com.au.

Jina

20 Jan 2012: Days to Harvest – 11

With less than two weeks to go now, we welcomed “Big Red” to the family today! Big Red is Michael’s new bean harvester – the smart machine that knows how to separate the beans from the pod – all without the touch of a human hand. Isn’t she beautiful – in a machinery kind of way!

Harvest is getting close now – we fly to Sydney on Monday to sign-off on the packaging sleeve. The week of 30 January, we are “launching” the product with our key customers in Brisbane (31 Jan), Melbourne, and Sydney (2 Feb) which means soon the Edible Gems Freshly Shelled Borlotti Beans will be available in a store near you.

I can’t wait for you to try them…and give us your feedback.

Jina

Meet Big Red - The New Addition To Our Family