After battling my way through Town Hall station to vote, I finally made it down to The Organic Expo and Green Show in Darling Harbour where Liss was already doing reconnaissance work to see what was good. At this show there are stands generously sampling their goodies and there are cooking shows featuring Tobie Puttock and Costa Georgiadis. I was talking to friends about eating organically and the one thing about it is that it can be expensive. Certainly people don't want to eat chemicals and additives but it can be price prohibitive for many. However what we are pleasantly surprised about were the number of great deals on offer this weekend.
We start off at Spiral foods where people are helping themselves to samples of purple carrot juice. Did you know that carrots were originally purple and when it was the Dutch that cultivated orange carrots? Purple carrots are heirloom carrots and the taste is different from orange carrots. The purple carrot juice has overtones of tomato whilst having the aroma of grape. There is also concord grape juice and apple juice to try. Courtney from Masterchef is offering samples of the green pea chips and mung bean chips. The green pea chips are similar to wasabi peas without the wasabai whereas the mung bean chips are nutty.
One of the best buys here though is definitely the organic vinaigrette drizzles. There are three types for sale including a rose and white balsamic, a raspberry and hibiscus and a sesame shiitake. They're all delicious and can be used as a salad dressing or as a basting for meat. They're best before date is in December 2010 but it's hard to pass up their deal, 2 for $5 or 3 for $6! These are usually between $7 and $8 each.
There are also free organic milk powder sachets being given away at the Fonterra stand.
At Organic times there are large 1 kg bags of organic rapadura suagr, organic cocoa powder and whole cane sugar.
We sample the soups and risottos at Agape as well as their organic baked bread. We also try their fantastically gooey chocolate brownies which are absolutely moreish!
Next door is the Olive Green Organics stand which has fantastic gluten free quinoa and rice spaghetti which tastes just like regular spaghetti. Gluten free eaters know how varied gluten free pastas can be in terms of success but these are the closest I've tried to regular. There are also cute little Baby Anellini pasta for kids and Organic tinned trout ($6).
We walk past the Junee Licorice factory stand. I was lucky enough to try some chocolate coated ginger from Kristy from Jetlagmama but today they are sampling licorice. I'm not a licorice lover so I leave that to Liss but they also have organic whisky for sampling.
You can also buy Organic bubs pouches at three for $5 and if you buy three you get a bonus bar of Greens & Blacks chocolate (ahah something for your baby, something for you! ;) ). Win win!
We visit the Lakelands olive oil stand tended to by Kate and Danielle who is an NQN reader! They have a range of their divine agrumato olive oils (where the fruit is crushed along with the olives giving it an amazing flavour). They also have their Extra virgin olive oil single blend of Frantoio and the Special reserve which is a blend that they select using a balance of olives from the season.
I buy some Bio Farm drinkable yogurt in bush honey. It is a New Zealand brand of yogurt and I know that Mr NQN will love it. I know because I poked my tongue into the cup trying to get the last little bits!
The organic brown rice crisps are delicious and great value with each packet at $2.50.
The Absolute Organic stands has gorgeous date & almond and date & coconut bites as well as absolutely delicious fat and juicy California dates. The bites are 2 for $10 and sadly we can't buy the dates but they invite us to eat as many as we can-what a challenge! They may live to regret that offer ;)
I try The Unexpected Guests's freestyle granuesli which is a toasted granola muesli sweetened with honey and fragrant with cinnamon. It's deliciously crunchy and moreish and just the way I like muesli. And why free style? Each batch is made by hand and tastes slightly different so that your taste buds never get bored. See, you've got to think of your tastebuds!
We watch as Costa finishes his show and Tobie Puttock goes up next. The food that Tobie cooks smells gorgeous and has our mouths watering-one thing to note is that there is one small cafeteria that caters for lunch and they look to be curries in plastic compartmentalised plates. So it may be best to eat lunch before or after and snack on the goodies here (although we ate about a meal and a half's worth of samples!). There's also several organic wine stands and lifestyle stands.
Jackpot! ;)
Beauty wise there are Bod products including a delicious rice body scrub that smells fantastic and Burts Bees has an amazing offer. I am addicted to their rhubarb lip shimmer which is a bit of a cult product and they have sets of 3 lip shimmers in a mirrored pouch for $10 (they're usually $15 each) or three lip balm tubes and one metal container of lip balm for $10! I love a bargain!
There are also fragrant rose, geranium and peppermint & tea tree lip balms in pretty tins for $5 at the Figs and Rouge stand. We also have a look at the Eco Store which is a New Zealand brand that has household and laundry products. They're giving away sachets of their laundry powder which I am eager to use as an eczema sufferer.
Our arms weighted down with all sorts of purchases I say to Liss that I wish I had one of those trolleys and I'm sure that Mr NQN will roll his eyes when he gets home when he sees how much I bought...
So tell me Dear Reader, do you buy or eat much organic food?
NQN attended the Organic Expo & Green Show as a guest of the show
Organic Expo & Green Show
Hall 1, Darling Harbour Convention Centre
Held on August 21 and 22, 2010
http://www.organicexpo.com.au
Tickets $16 per adult
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