Cedar Creek business Hunter Valley Produce is celebrating after winning a bronze medal at the 2018 Australian Food Awards.
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The award are conducted by the Royal Agricultural Society of Victoria, with garlic the first section judged each year.
Hunter Valley Produce earned the medal for its Cedar Creek Monaro Purple Garlic, and were one of just two NSW producers to receive a medal for garlic.
Owned-operators Jeremy Aoun and Amber Sheedy established Hunter Valley Produce in 2014, growing garlic chemical-free on their property.
This is the second year they have entered the Australian Food Awards.
“As a family business to receive a bronze medal in our third year of operation, we could not be more thrilled with the result,” Mr Aoun said.
The couple says it was a tough year for the garlic industry, on the back of Australia’s warmer-than-average winter.
Garlic prefers cold weather, and the Wollombi Valley’s micro-climate must have done the trick.
Twenty-eight entries were submitted nationwide for the garlic section of the Australian Food Awards, with four gold, eight silver and three bronze medals awarded.
Each section is marked out of 100, with gold medals presented for scores of 90-100, silver for 82 to 89 and bronze for 74 to 81.
The awards offers producers broad opportunities to leverage their success locally and internationally with AFA’s national brand seal of quality.
Entrants have the opportunity to benchmark against set criteria; receive invaluable independent feedback from industry experts; and be rewarded for excellence.
“It’s a good way to understand where we sit in the industry,” Ms Sheedy said.
The medal will be presented at the national awards in September.
