Friday, May 9, 2008

Cheese and Olive Oil Samplings

After splitting the meal and the bill it was time to check out some of the other attractions in and around Hahndorf. I headed off in search of the quaint East European hand made produce that I had heard were excellent and that quite a variety could be sampled. I tested a couple of cheeses at Udder Delights - what a clever name huh?! Picked up some chevre (soft cheese made from goats milk).


Olive Grove was next on the program, and I went crazy trying every kind of their award winning Kalamata Olives and their Olive Oil. I fell in love with their citron pressed olive oil - it is truly delicious and I have to go back to get a bottle. I took home a bottle of shiraz-plum marinade for meat - which I also sampled as well as a bottle of peppery Adelaide Hills Olive Oil with dukkah - both as gifts. Dukkah is a lovely concept that I stumbled upon that day and have to take home to my mum - she will absolutely adore it. If you are unfamiliar with what Dukkah is and how it is used well, its just an amalgamation of finely chopped nuts. It is used to dip bread in after swirling it around in olive oil. In fact it is so simple to make one could probably finely chop up nuts (I think they use almonds, but hell you could use any kind you like - walnuts, cashews, whatever!)

By the time we made it up to the Barossa Valley and Penfolds it was 4.30 pm with the wine cellars doors closing at 4.45pm. We had to convince the lady behind the bar to give us a couple of testers and we tried a couple of reds and whites, in a sort of grumpy and oblivious state. All in all it was a good day - definitely activity packed!


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