One of the things I love, is being a tourist in my own hometown. I think sometimes we forget how good we have it here!

Day two of Words To Go was a familiarisation day, which saw us out and about.

First breakfast – with Poh at the Adelaide Central Market!

We all fell in love with Poh Ling Yeow on MasterChef Australia. Her natural friendliness, her ease of creativity and her effervescent smile and laugh! Since then she’s gone on to do so much. Recently she’s opened a stall at the Adelaide Central Market – Jam Face, following her success at the Adelaide Farmers Market at the Wayville Showgrounds.

This is my second visit to Jam Face but the third time I’ve met Poh, and she’s just as friendly every time.

Poh, her husband Jonho and her staff greeted us and we all squeezed into Jam Face to enjoy breakfast. Each place was set out beautifully with home made pot set yoghurt with crunchy granola and fresh cold pressed juice.

I would have been happy with that for breakfast, but then came out a big plate of silky scrambled eggs with fresh salad, hot toast and a pot of beans with chorizo, with a little spice to warm us up!

And then we enjoyed plate of egg, bacon, tomato and baby spinach sandwiches with cherry tomatoes on top! The bread was warm with a Parmesan and thyme crust. Cut into smaller segments for us to share.

And if that wasn’t enough – “dessert” says Poh!

We were treated to pancakes with blueberry compote and crème fraiche and a plate of pastries!

And while we were there Matt Orlando from Amass turned up for a coffee and chat with Poh.

She tells us Jam Face is not about ‘healthy’ food, but ‘wholesome’ food. And you know everything is handmade with love.

After breakfast our group was split up for a walking tour of the Adelaide Central Market.

First stop the Mushroom Man’s Mushroom Shop.

Marco ran through the different mushrooms they have and how popular truffles are. And he sent us on our way with a bag of truffle popcorn to sample!

Wandering the aisles, our next stop was ‘Something Wild’ where Jo encouraged us to try samfire, ice plant and sea blight…

… along with smoked crocodile, kangaroo mettwurst and smoked kangaroo.

Moving right along… Stephan from Central Organic has been providing true organic produce for more than 30 years at the market.

Theirs was the first market stall to be certified by the Organic Growers and Retailers Association of Australia – with lots of paperwork to go with it he tells us!

 We then meet Justin from Proudly Kangaroo Island.

He tells us that they buy direct from the producers and bring the produce over from the Island every two weeks via the ferry.

They carry about 450 different lines from KI, with 12 producers selling their goods for the first time, off the Island. He reflects on how distributors and wholesalers are falling over and how farmers markets are going bezerk because people want to know the history of food and its authenticity.

Dan from the Figgery on Kangaroo Island is there, only because his ferry was cancelled due to rough weather. He tells us about his Sticky Fig syrup and how he enjoys it with Golden North Vanilla Ice cream!

And out final stop on our tour of the market is The Smelly cheese Shop where we are greeted by Valerie.

She tells us about all these cheeses they have from Australia, Europe and the United States of America. We try a couple of cheeses including Epoisses by Berthaut. Made in the Burgundy region of France, it has a pungent smell, with a creamy middle and a rind washed in brandy. Mmmmm!

And the Montforte. A semi-hard cheese made by Section 28 Artisan Cheeses in Woodside. Valerie asks us to guess how much milk goes into making a 35 kilo wheel of cheese. We all guess but we’re pretty far of the mark – 450 litres!

After our walking tour of the market, it’s time for lunch at Lucia’s Fine Foods. They set up a beautiful table for us right outside their shop.

Lunch included platters of baguettes…

Cured meats with pate and olives… An amazing cheese platter…

Focaccia…

We were stuffed!

And then we got on a bus and headed to Le Cordon Bleu, at Regency TAFE for a chocolate appreciation class.

We were taken on a tour and shown the facilities. The artisan cheese making academy…

The brewery, where students brew up their own batch of beer. The pumpkin beer was pretty popular apparently!

Then it was on to the chocolate appreciation…

Pastry Chef Jenni, takes us through the history of chocolate and how it’s made from the cocoa bean and the components of milk, dark and white chocolate.

She then tempers some chocolate, explaining the process and the temperature changes.

Then we sample some truffles made especially for us!

And that concludes Words to Go!

 

** I was an invited guest.  I would like to thank Tasting Australia, the South Australian Tourism Commission, Michele D’Aloia and Amanda McInerney for hosting us for Words to Go. It was a fabulous experience and I enjoyed every minute of it. It was especially nice showing off our city to interstate and overseas bloggers!