Established in 2001, the Aquaculture Competition has gone from strength to strength. Products from around Australia that are judged include cooked prawns, oysters, barramundi, fresh fish, cured salmon, cured trout, trout caviar and aquaculture-derived terrines, mousses and dips. The Aquaculture Competition is held each February as part of the Summer Fine Food Show.
This year (2017) Arc-en-Ciel Trout Farm & Nundle Smokehouse, won Gold for their Whole Smoked Trout, which went on to win Champion Trout Product and Silver for whole fresh trout for the second year running. That’s great news for NSW with entries from around Australia competing in the Sydney Fine Food Show.
When asked what contributed to the winning products Russell put it down to ideal raising conditions for rainbow trout; years of persistence and craftsmanship in delivering the perfect fish product. “It’s a lot of factors that are all sort of coming together. Pristine conditions we grow our trout in, good fresh water. We own the catchment so there is no-one upstream from us polluting our water. That, combined with lots of hard work in fish husbandry, and our expertise, I suppose – we’ve learned a lot over the years.”
Russell said the trout business also paved the way for a new market in smoked meats. Utilising spare capacity from an upgrade to our smokehouse a few years ago, we launched Nundle Smokehouse in 2016. We applied to the NSW Food Authority to upgrade our licence which enables us to process meats other than fish. Two products were awarded Silver in the Sydney Royal Deli meats competition for Smoked Duckling Breast and Smoked chicken Breast .”
Arc-en-Ciel Trout Farm also took a haul of medals in the 2016 Royal Hobart Fine Food Awards, with 4 Gold for our Smoked Trout Fillets and Blackberry and Vodka cured Gravlax. The Gravlax went on to win Reserve Champion Seafood Product in Hobart in 2016.”
Arc-en-Ciel Trout Farm Nundle Smokehouse 52 Shearer’s Rd HANGING ROCK NSW 2340 Ph: 02 6769 3665 www.rainbowtrout.com.au/