We sat down with four of these producers; Andrew Wyszynski from Maya Sunny Honey, Roger Scales of Woodbridge Smokehouse, Josh Bahen of chocolatier Bahen & Co. and Richard Seymour of Mount Zero Olives, for insider details on what exactly it is that they do and why their products are so special.

What do you produce?

Roger Scales (Woodbridge Smokehouse, Woodbridge TAS): We’re experts in smoking ocean trout and salmon using wood chips from our apple orchard to help to give us the distinctive flavor of our products. We have two smoking processes; hot smoked and cold smoked. These processes are used for our ocean trout and Atlantic salmon and when other species of finfish are available.

Josh Bahen (Bahen & Co., Margaret River WA): We’re producers of stone ground chocolate based on the simple but time-honoured philosophy of working from bean to bar. We use heirloom strains of cacao to make chocolate, the way it used to be made.

Richard Seymour (Mount Zero Olives, Grampians VIC): Our olives and olive oils are at the heart of our operation, but over the past 15 years we’ve diversified to also include pulses and grains as well as Pink Lake salt. At Mount Zero we grow four main varieties of olives that are used for table fruit and extra virgin olive oil. Working with local Wimmera farmers, we also produce three varieties of lentil, Kabuli chickpeas as well as farro. Our other venture producing Pink Lake Salt results in six different varieties alone.

Andrew (Maya Sunny Honey, Mudgee NSW): We specialise in 100 percent raw honey and honeycomb. We’re big believers that honey should be consumed in its most pure form, from the beehive straight into the jar.

How important is your location to the overall result of your product?

Andrew (Maya Sunny Honey): The location and placement of our hives is very important. We constantly move our hives depending on where the best flowers are blossoming (around 2km radius). We place our hives on bushland that hasn’t been touched by humans to try and capture the essence of each flower naturally.

Roger Scales (Woodbridge Smokehouse): For us, it’s vital. We are located nearly 43 degrees south on a 25 acre elevated, organic apple orchard overlooking Bruny Island (300m from the D’Entrecasteaux Channel). We have access to the purest air as well as four natural springs, all of which work to help the end process, from the fish farming, the apple orchard and the smoking.

Richard Seymour (Mount Zero Olives): The variety of our trees as well as the terroir from where they are grown dictates everything when it comes to our olive oils. Our region, the Wimmera and Grampians, is some of the best pulse growing country in the world. Wimmera self-mulching clays are perfect for soaking up winter rains and slowly releasing water back to the lentil crop during spring. Wimmera is also home to Pink Lake, a large salt lake fed by a saline aquifer, where we harvest our salts.

Josh Bahen (Bahen & Co.): Making fine flavoured chocolate is the same as wine making. Site, variety and climate are everything and it’s something we take very seriously. We work extensively with our farmers overseas to ensure we all get a good product, no matter where they are in the world. We source beans for different regions depending on what we want our end result to be.

How do you make your product?

Andrew (Maya Sunny Honey): Our patented honeycomb production is a very unique process. Sets of jars are placed upside down on top of a beehive box and the bees travel from the hive and build the honeycomb from scratch. Not only is it hard to get the bees in, it’s even harder to get them all out. We want to minimise the process of production though as much as we can without loosing the rawness of our products.

Roger Scales (Woodbridge Smokehouse): All our methods of production are unique, particularly within Australia. All Woodbridge Smoked products are dry brined, cured for a specific time, hung on a specially designed stainless steel trollies and smoked in brick ovens using three grades and types of wood including chips from our own organic apple orchard. Everything we do is hand sliced, hand pin-boned and hand packed. We even make compost from our waste. Our heads, frames and trim are used as nitrogen inputs while chips from the local council are used as carbon inputs. This in turn is put back into the orchard.

Richard Seymour (Mount Zero Olives): I think we are the only ones in Australia silly enough to harvest salt by hand! For us ethical harvesting and sustainable farming are very important when it comes to our olives. Our groves are some of the oldest in the country and we practice biodynamic farming. Nothing we do goes to waste; even the leaves from our tree are turned into tea. Harvesting is done as quickly as possible, leaving very little time between picking and pressing, which is essential for extra virgin olive oils. Our table olives are also hand picked and brine-cured through fermentation in a mixture of water, salt and vinegar to give it our unique flavour and character.

Josh Bahen (Bahen & Co.): We use both vintage and antique machines that are perfectly suited to fine flavour chocolate making. Temperatures are kept low and the process is a whole lot longer. Patience is required but the proof is in the taste. We source 100 per cent direct from the farmer, which is the most beneficial for sustainability because there’s no middleman. The farmer gets the full return for the harvest and the model is great for long term farming methods and relationships.

Are you affected by the seasons? Does the magic always happen?

Andrew (Maya Sunny Honey): In the last few years we’ve had more rainfall that has resulted in trees and flowers producing more nectar and therefore honey and honeycomb. As long as we have blossoms we’ll have happy bees. A happy bee means plenty of honey.

Roger Scales (Woodbridge Smokehouse): Due to Tasmania’s unique position being in the roaring forties with cold ocean water hitting the west coast and merging with freezing fresh mountain water at Macquarie harbour where ocean trout and salmon are farmed, we have a sustainable year-round supply. So, we can’t complain.

Josh Bahen (Bahen & Co.): Normally things run pretty well in regards to season. Slight flavour differences occur from year to year just as they do with vintage differences in wine. We’re quite similar in that respect.

Richard Seymour (Mount Zero Olives): Harvest season here in Victoria is usually between May and June but in recent years drought has been a major dampener on the magic at Mount Zero. Through the adversity of drought though and in some cases fire, it was what strengthened our business by diversifying into new areas we never thought we would have like lentils, pulses and salt harvesting.

Best wine match to have with your product?

Andrew (Maya Sunny Honey): Honeycomb and cheese is a true match made in heaven and when it comes to a glass of wine, I never go pass recommending a rich red. The variety? We’ll leave that up to personal taste but Mudgee has some of the best in the country.

Roger Scales (Woodbridge Smokehouse): Woodbridge salmon can really stand on its own feet. It’s confident enough to do that. If it wants a companion, I just like to ‘show’ a lemon to it. When it comes to wine, a bottle of sparkling is stunning with Woodbridge products. I’m a Merlot tragic currently though; I’ve been drinking a Primo Estate Merlesco Merlot – affordable, smooth and an unlikely but welcome match.

Josh Bahen (Bahen & Co.): Wine or whisky both work wonderfully well with dark chocolate, especially the single origins but when it comes to choosing a wine, Pinot wins hands down. Nothing comes close to how well it works. For Australian wines, I’d go for anything in the Great Southern and  Margaret River regions.

Richard Seymour (Mount Zero Olives): Right now, in this season it would simply be a slice of a ripe home grown tomato, with a grind of our Kalamata salt and drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. Food at its best, is great quality ingredients matched perfectly but as simply as possible. One of the closest vineyards to Mount Zero and definitely my favourite is Bests Winery. Bests are a fourth generation winery, which makes extraordinary Riesling and a Shiraz to rival any in the country.

With that in mind, we’re already thinking about how much we’ll have to eat and drink to earn those extra frequent flyer points.