Homegrown: Swan Valley, WA

There’s much more to Western Australia than wines and mines. As Mei Leong discovers, the stunning Swan Valley, just outside Perth, is abundant in year-round fresh produce and homemade delights.

Source: Denise Teo

Sitting on Perth’s outskirts, the Swan Valley is a world unto itself. The Valley is a place where the seasons rule and food follows closely behind. Just 25 minutes from the CBD and I find myself on West Swan Road winding through vineyards that rise over the landscape. With glimmering ponds and grazing horses, the setting could not be more idyllic.

Through the Valley’s heart snakes the Swan River, the source of the area’s fertile alluvial plain on which settlers planted the first vines in 1829, making the Swan Valley one of Australia’s oldest wine regions. Convict labour and the gold rush of the late 1800s saw Perth boom and the Valley grew with estates of traditional agriculture.

It was the subdivision of land for soldier resettlement schemes in the 1920s and the arrival of Slavic immigrants, mostly from Croatia’s Dalmatian coast, that fuelled the region’s viticulture industry. With expertise in intensive horticulture they tilled the land and diversified into table grapes, dried fruit, melons, citrus and vegetables, selling the fresh and preserved excess at pop-up farm stands dotted throughout the Valley. Families worked together to make a living, and still do, with farm stands proudly bearing family names such as Katich, Nuich and Tolich.

Source: Denise Teo

Trellised vines heavy with ripe hanging fruit means that the table grape season has arrived. Crunchy and super sweet, they are a hotly anticipated summer treat, and the season can last anywhere from January through to March. Those in the know head to farm stands that are owned by the old families of the region, such as second generation brothers Matt and Cedo Katich, who run both The Grape Place and 3000 Grapes vineyards. Grown just for eating, both old-world and seedless grapes are available for a few weeks at a time, with enthusiasts often buying enough to fill their car boot.

“Grapes are something that are grown with the people – they live it, breathe it and read the vines like no-one else could,” explains Matt’s wife, Marlene, herself from the Nuich wine family. When the time is right, the table grapes are hand-harvested, carefully trimmed and sold still warm from the sun.

With a haul of grapes in the car, a quick circuit around the Valley finds Mondo Nougat, specialists in the sweet life. Started by Calabrian migrant Alfonso Romeo, Mondo began as a patisserie in the nearby historic centre of Midland. “People kept asking for nougat, even though we only made it at Christmas,” says Andrea, Alfonso’s son.

Source: Denise Teo

A vintage Fiat decorated with a nougat motif is parked in front of a window that opens onto the factory floor. Beyond is where soft nougat is made from local honey, sugar and fresh egg whites. The longer the mixture is beaten, the harder the nougat becomes. It’s then studded with crunchy almonds and hand-rolled onto rice paper. Bus loads of tourists walk out with bags of nougat, but the best kept secret are Mondo’s Italian cakes. “Dad’s passion is still in the cakes,” laughs Andrea, pointing out the rum babas, tiramisu and cheesecakes in the cabinet.

If you need a strong brew to accompany your nougat, Yahava KoffeeWorks is the place to go. “The thought was that if winemakers could have wine tastings, why couldn’t Yahava have coffee tastings?” says manager Kylie Dean, who is busy roasting sackfuls of green coffee beans to ‘first crack’ – the temperature when the aroma, flavour and colour of the bean is developed. People come in for free plunger tastings and stay to enjoy the view over the vines and the local dam while cradling their coffee. It’s not a bad way to spend an afternoon.

At the top of Swan Valley, rows upon rows of lush citrus trees grow so close to the road you could almost reach out and pluck an orange. The Valley’s hot, dry summers and clay soils are ideal for citrus, which are picked in the depths of winter. From the end of autumn until September, three types of oranges, as well as locally grown macadamias, are sold at the Swanville Citrus farm stand. “People come in on the weekends for tree-ripened oranges,” says Charlene Tomasovich who, with her late husband, bought the three hectare lot in 1982, planted the orchard and raised their kids on it.

Like many farm stands in the area, produce is sold through word of mouth, and one stand that’s always busy is Maggie’s Place – the Valley’s only local fresh produce stall open year round. As the first spring shoots bud, asparagus aficionados rush here for the legendary Edgecombe Brothers asparagus, which like a lot of the produce, is grown mere kilometres away. “The best way I could bring the farm to town was to open this farm stall. I go and collect fruit and veg direct from the region and sell it fresh,” says the bubbly Maggie Edmonds, who opened the tin shack five years ago using the $10,000 bursary that she received as the recipient of the 2008 Rural Women’s Award. The farm stand is a cornucopia of wildflowers and food, with wheelbarrows brimming with pumpkins and any seasonal produce Maggie can get her hands on. “If I don’t sell it by Sunday, it’s given to my neighbour’s sheep,” she says.

The wildflowers appear in spring, along with swarms of European honey bees. Some of these bees call the House of Honey home, where an observation hive of 40,000 bees thrive. The sunlit shop is stocked by owner Rupert Phillip’s 180 working hives and nectar is harvested from as far north as Kununurra’s chia fields down to the Karri forests of the south. Each flower produces a different flavour profile. “All our honey is raw. Heating honey denatures it, taking away its goodness,” explains manager Kim Harman, who stocks the tasting station with in-season honeys. Sweet tooths will also find the variety of honey-laced sweets, such as the German bienenstich (bee sting) cake, irresistible.

Perth natives are lucky to have such a diverse food bowl close by and, for out-of-town visitors, the journey is just a short drive away. Beyond the wine tours, the freshly stocked farm stands, their friendly characters and each new season’s bounty is waiting to be discovered.

 

The hit list

House of Honey & The Sticky Spoon CafeView the range of pure honeys and enjoy homemade scones. 867 Great Northern Highway, Herne Hill, [phone].

Maggie’s Place

Farm-direct fruit and vegetables from local growers. 1715 Gnangara Rd, Henley Brook, 0429 055 099.

The Grape Place

Buy grapes by the kilo, or in bulk. 899 West Swan Rd, Caversham, [phone].

Yahava KoffeeWorksStop by for a free tasting of coffee from beans all around the globe, then purchase your favourites. 4752 West Swan Rd, West Swan, [phone].

Swanville CitrusOpen from May to September, this is your one-stop shop for oranges. 15 Nolan Ave, Upper Swan, [phone].

3000 GrapesTry and buy 11 grape varieties, freshly picked from the vine. 3000 West Swan Rd, Caversham, [phone].

Mondo Nougat
Nougat made from a traditional Southern Italian family recipe. 640 Great Northern Highway, Herne Hill, [phone].

 

 

Photography Denise Teo.

 

As seen in Feast magazine, April 2014, Issue 30.