Page 18 - Food and Drink Business Magazine May 2019

Macadamia industry celebrates nutty innovations
Australian Macadamia Society’s annual Innovation Challenge celebrates new and innovative ways to use the nut as well as its passionate industry. Kim Berry reports.
BYRON Bay in the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales recently hosted students and professional chefs from Japan, China and Australia for the annual macadamia industry Innovation Challenge awards.
The lush rainforest hinterland of the region is the second largest natural habitat for the macadamia tree in Australia.
Australian Macadamia Society market development manager Lynne Ziehlke says the Innovation Challenge is a great opportunity “for global experts and students in the industry to come together in one place and appreciate the unique versatility of macadamias”.
With more than 200 entries from Australia and overseas, the 10 finalists met in Byron Bay on 4 April to cook their creations for a panel of food industry judges.
An Indian-inspired nut brittle, ‘sesadamia’ butter and soba nut cookie bar were three of the winners.
Australian student Kirti Mittal developed her Britty Macaddy Chikki from her love of Indian peanut brittle made with jaggery.
Mittal wanted a healthier option than other brittles made with sugar or corn syrup. She combined toasted macadamias with pumpkin and chia seeds, quinoa, and spices.
Using jaggery – concentrated sugar cane juice – provides a unique flavour as well as being a source of protein, and vitamins and minerals like iron and copper, Mittal says.
Pridhuvi Thavaraj took out the individual professional category with her remarkable Purple Sesadamia Butter.
Thavaraj says by adding collagen powder and antioxidants to her butter can be used in a range of ways,
including as a face mask. It contains macadamia, purple sweet potato, black
sesame seeds, honey, molasses and collagen.
It can be mass produced in a food processing facility with minimal packaging, according to Thavaraj.
The team category award went to Hiromi Mimura, Momoka Osawa, Koya Ohashim, Kazuma Konno and Haruna Taniyama from Japan.
Natsumi Otani from Japan was selected as the standout Industry Choice Winner for her Crispy Crunch Macadamia Karinto.
Natsumi used the concept of karinto, a traditional Japanese snack to create a gluten-free version appealing to western and Asian palates.
Prizes included a trip to Paris for Food Ingredients Europe 2019 conference in December, cash and mentoring.
18 | Food&Drink business | May 2019 | www.foodanddrinkbusiness.com.au
“ There are more than 700 growers producing roughly 50,000 tonnes a year, with 70 per cent of the crop exported
to more than 40 countries.”
Their creation was Soba and Macadamia Ration Cookie Bars. The team wanted to break the reputation of emergency ration foods as lacking flavour.
Combining soba – also known as buckwheat – and whey protein powder with macadamias creates a bar with Anzac biscuit flavours as well as important nutrients.
“INSPIRING LEVEL
OF CREATIVITY”
The judges were impressed by the high standard of entries this year and commended all finalists on their entries.
Four leading industry experts made up this year’s judging panel: Pam Brook, macadamia grower and co-founder of Brookfarm, Australia’s leading producer