Tasmania tends to be a leader with new produce: truffles, saffron, wakame, wasabi were all trialled and produced here. Decades ago Tassie, as it is affectionately called, introduced Atlantic salmon to the antipodes. The ingenious locals produce almost everything they need, as well as dreaming up fantastic spinoffs of indigenous foods (pepper berry liqueur, anyone?) as well as some flights of pure genius. Who would have thought of marketing ‘cloud juice', aka rain, for example?
They have a saying in Tasmania - 'small enough to know, and big enough to share' – and that just about sums up the state that sometimes inexplicably gets dropped off Australian logos, yet has given us Tasmanian Atlantic salmon and King Island cheeses.
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Tasmania claims green grass, green wildernesses and a clean green environment that produces pure foods of the highest standard. No idle boast this, because as an island-state, Tasmania is able to defend its primary industries against many pests and diseases. Expect careful and stringent quarantine inspection for plants, animals, fruit and vegetables at all entry points.
Once simply dubbed the Apple-Isle, Tasmania is now known for much more, producing everything from seafood to confectionery, beer to poppy seeds. A garland of pick-your-own orchards and berry farms loop around Hobart, the capital, itself a food-lover's paradise. The food from this island is not just good – it is gourmet-plus. So how about this for a costly little shopping list: abalone, saffron, oysters, Atlantic salmon, yosterberries, game - and those truffles!
As well as the established mainstream beef, dairying and sheep industries, this fertile land supports many exotic animals such as deer, emu, quail, wallaby, possum, yolla (muttonbird) and Cape Barren geese. Crops are equally diverse and include onions and potatoes, peas and other fresh vegetables, grains, hops, buckwheat, wasabi, poppy seeds, honey, amaranth, quinoa, bush foods, flowers, saffron, nuts, and an infant truffle industry.
Orchards of apples (Tasmania is still Australia's largest apple-exporting state, with 1.5 million trees) and other cool-weather fruits, as well as a thriving wine industry, complete the smorgasbord on this amazing island.
Tasmania—What's Next?
Tasmania is such a prolific producer that the rest of the country could excuse it from trying any harder. But there seem to be no bounds to the innovation and energy displayed by this state. Consider these industries poised to take off, virtually as we speak. All are ideally suited to Tasmania's gentle climate and rich soil, but their attraction to overseas markets, particularly, is based on the state's 'clean green' image and record of efficiency in the produce it has established to date.
Buckwheat crops supply the Japanese soba noodle market.
Cape Barren geese are being open-range reared on Flinders Island.
Emu production is developing fast with the largest farm situated on the Tasman Peninsula.
Fallow deer have been introduced to King Island on a trial basis
Kabocha (Japanese squash) is in great demand during winter in the northern hemisphere.
Olives are being trialled for planting.
Wallaby and bush possums are also being harvested for the gourmet meat market.
Walnuts have been planted on the east coast.
What else? Trial crops of amaranth, quinoa, wasabi, ginseng, medicinal herbs and green tea have been established. One of the largest Japanese quail breeding operations in the southern hemisphere is located in Tasmania. If you are using lavender, blackcurrant, boronia, fennel, dill, or parsley oils, they may have come from northern Tasmania as it is the main producer of essential oils in Australia.
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Regions of Tasmania
(click on regions for more information)
QUARANTINE INFORMATION FOR TASMANIA
The Traveller's Guide to Australian Interstate Quarantine is an invaluable booklet to tuck into the glovebox when on a driving holiday. It lists each state with what you can take into it from any other state - its's complex as what you can take into Queensland for example may not be allowed into Tasmania.
www.quarantinedomestic.gov.au or Freecall 1800 084 881 for more details.
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