STORY BY MAHMOOD FAZAL, PHOTOS BY CHRIS TURNER

Curiosity was the first thing that
struck Carmel Masterson, of Springmount Fine Foods, as she watched chefs on MasterChef experiment with Black Garlic.

“To be honest, like most people, when we first heard of black garlic we assumed it
was a variety of garlic - until I Googled it later that night.”

Black Garlic has been used for flavour and medicinal purposes in a variety of Asian cuisines for centuries. It’s the product of aging regular garlic bulbs over the course of weeks or months, in a strictly regulated temperature and humidity that conjures a dark sticky consistency.

“We worked out that it needed to go into a specialised oven,” quips Carmel. “I was so curious about it, because of the description; the taste and texture. It just niggled on me for I think three or four years.”

The journey began roughly eleven years ago, when Carmel and her partner Brett decided to pack up their signwriting business and head to the country for a tree change. “As far as farming is concerned, we’ve had a lot of learning to do,” explains Carmel.

It was always their dream to live off the land.

“The inspiration came from a love of gardening. Even in Melbourne, we grew all our own vegetables and kept our own chooks. So it was just a matter of upscaling and doing it properly once we had a bit more land to play with.”

In Melbourne, the couple were growing garlic to share with friends and family.

“When we moved up here we decided we wanted to start growing,” says Carmel. “We didn't really have a direction until we saw black garlic on MasterChef. We wanted to pursue something a little bit more niche than just selling fresh garlic. So when we saw black garlic, we jumped on that idea. And it took us a few years to wrap our heads around it.”

The couple began researching online. “We learned everything on YouTube. And Google, we googled everything,” laughs Carmel. “We are self taught on everything, because we don't have any family that have lived on the land or anything like that.”

Carmel recalls the burst of flavour from her first batch. “It's not what you would expect. It's like a good red wine. When you first open your mouth you're shocked at how sweet it is. Then you start getting this balsamic, tangy flavour that’s almost like licorice. And then at the end, you finish on an earthy garlic flavour. It's such a complex flavour that it triggers your brain onto lots of different tangents as you eat it.”

Springmount Fine Foods was launched in 2015 with Black Garlic being their first product.

“We now grow 25,000 heads of garlic. It’s all hand planted, hand harvested and hand cleaned. We’ve had weather problems. We’ve had soil problems. Every year there’s a hurdle. But we just have to learn and try and put things in place for the next year.”

Nowadays, Springmount Fine Foods is Victoria's leading producer of award-winning Australian Black Garlic, garlic sauces and vinaigrettes, cheese platter fruit pastes and a famous line of Strawberry Pearls for Champagne.

Springmount Fine Foods

0466 277 668

www.springmountfinefoods.com.au

29 Smokeytown Rd, Springmount