Book Review – PRODUCE TO PLATTER Yarra Valley and The Dandenongs

PRODUCE TO PLATTER , the food and wine lovers’ guide 

Yarra Valley & The Dandenongs – Synopsis

Produce to Platter, the food and wine lovers’ guide to the Yarra Valley and The Dandenongs is the co-production of a mother and daughter team: Jonette George and Danielle Wilton, with evocative photography by Charlie Brown.

Drive along the highways and byways of the Yarra Valley to discover a unique cosmos of regional vignerons, wine makers and chefs making use of local produce supplied from farm gates, small shop fronts, artisan craftsmen and boutique enterprises.

Full-coloured photography showcases this famous food and wine region to its stunning best-and stories about the vineyards, restaurants and producers take you behind the scenes to discover the locals’ secrets.

Readers are also provided with sumptuous signature recipes using local produce by the region’s top chefs whilst discovering the connection between the region’s traditional owners, white settlers and today’s inhabitants. As the latest instalment in the Produce to Platter series, Yarra Valley and the Dandenongs, beautifully showcases the unique atmosphere of the region, and provides readers with an insiders look at the locals who produce the best the region has to offer. (Smudge Publishing)

BOOK REVIEW by Tony Ziemek

Oh just get in the car and go!  Even better, get in the hired mini-bus with driver and some fizz for the journey.  If you live in Melbourne that is.  For the rest of us, there are always flights to take us close to the Yarra Valley, where we can start to live some of the delights that are spread out in this charming guide to a great wine region.

I like this book’s combination of useful details on places to visit, informative articles and enticing photographs.  Recipes based on local produce are also a nice touch to further engage the reader with the region.

This is an inviting book that I’m sure will be displayed in wineries and boutique accommodation when we are tasting the best of the region but it is also a useful guide for the back of that mini-bus when you’re three-bottles-in and still on the Eastern Freeway.

But let’s not get too Bacchanalian because I for one need to visit Healesville again, and eat.

The pub has inspiring owners who offer aged steak, local lamb and heirloom this and that. Better still, they own the butcher’s shop next door.  They have deboned free-range chicken, more of those aged steaks and brilliant sausages.  Across the road is Kennedy and Wilson Chocolates, their product ‘high in cocoa mass, cocoa butter and cream’, couverture, caramels, pralines and truffles; raspberry and chilli chocolates.  See Healesville and die. Happy.

That’s the fun thing about this book.  It’s evocative but practical. You can plan your trip around the food and wine that takes your fancy, dip into the recipes, forage for quality ingredients, sip, eat and live.

~ Tony Ziemek is the lead editor of Ed Fresh Editorial Services.

Find out how to get yourself a copy of this book: PRODUCE TO PLATTER , the food and wine lovers’ guide: Yarra Valley & The Dandenongs

* Note this book being provided free of charge for review purposes did not influence the honest opinion provided above.