[CH] Fragrant Garden Chile Festival/ -Report
Luke Speer (lukasz@midcoast.com.au)
Sun, 12 Mar 2000 23:04:00 +1100
10.09pm sunday night. Just got back from the Fragrant Garden Chile
festival at Erina NSW. 7 hours drive back to Coffs Harbour..
Saturday:
Rain dampened the enthusiasm of all but the die-hard Chile fans, so we
got to sit up close and listen to Michael on the History of Chiles,
Jeff the Chef on how to cook, smoke, preserve chiles, Annette the
Natural remedies/ Masseur etc talk on the Healing powers of Chiles.
Tasted Jeff the Chef's Chile Sherry, his smoked Habs, and his Mango
Habanero sauce..
StallsAt the festival were:
The Chile Press Girls.Who tell me "Dave De Witt" is coming to Australia
for the Sydney Chile Festival in Late June Early July, I'll have to get
all my books and get him to Autograph them..
A German couple from Byron Bay who have Organic sauces.Nice people hope
they do well.
Brett Elphinstone the Chilli Man, - Couple of new sauces - Chile Date
Chutney was really nice[mild but nice]. Got a couple of jars of his
sweet Chile Paste for one of the boys up at the Pistol Club.
Bandidos sauces - South African, Nice but just a bit heavy on the
Vinegar for my tastes.
2 Dogs sauces, Fair sauces, my mother bought a couple, but the guy at
the stall seemed to be more interested in his mobile phone than talking
to customers.
The Crown Plaza from Terrigal had the Beverage stand - No free samples
there, $3.50 a glass of wine was a bit steep, so I went over to the Wine
society who were giving out free samples of 12 wines they were offering
as part of a wine club deal, can't remember if I actually signed up for
a dozen.<g>
Sunday
Weather was better, slightly overcast but the rain held off, better
crowd, Tasted Homemade Habanero Beer [one of Michaels workers Steve
makes it]..
Funny most of the people wanted "The Hottest Chile" and only about 20%
were interested in some of the other varieties.
Manzanos all went by Sunday morning..
Michael also had some good looking Scotch Bonnets, Pequins,
Ancho's,Aji's..C.Praetisium ?? [forgot to grab one Michael] - I'll get
one next time I pass by..
Had to sneak away about 3 pm before Michael loaded me down with several
hundred Aji plants that he had spare..<g> Hope you sold them Michael..
Regards to Michael, Jan and the girls, Jeff the Chef and Michaels
workers who had smiles on their faces all weekend, nice to see..
Luke in Oz