Who: Owner and founder Robyn Mitchell, Mitch’s Preserves
Where: Killarney, Moyne Shire, Gunditjmara Country
Robyn, you make traditional preserves?
My maternal grandmother, Nana Donaldson, was from Warrnambool and was both a remarkable gardener and a cook. From her, I inherited some beautiful recipes for preserves like crab-apple jelly. And my husband Stephen’s grandmother from Casterton handed down her recipes. We started making tomato sauce for friends and family, and from there a business grew.
Are all your recipes family heirlooms?
It’s a mix. We develop our own recipes, such as the one for our onion jam, for which we won a gold medal at the 2024 Australian Food Awards.
Where do you get your produce?
We are lucky in this part of the world to have not only extraordinary soil but also skilled farmers and gardeners. For our cauliflower pickle, for example, we get our veg from Volcano Produce, market gardeners growing on mineral-rich volcanic soil. From February to April, we drive around the area collecting fruit from people’s gardens and farms, some of whom we barter fruit for jam. We use seconds fruit from an orchardist in Portland, and then there are friends with a massive mint patch, who bring in fresh mint every month, which we turn into mint jelly. I say “we” – sometimes Stephen has time to help, and our daughter Molly, my chief chopper, comes in a few days each week.
Where do we get it?
We sell mostly around Western Victoria with stockists like Darriwill Farm in Warrnambool and Noble Foods in Leopold. We also attend the Fresh Market around Pertrobe Lake in Warrnambool and the fortnightly Port Fairy Community Market, as well as the Torquay and Ballarat farmers’ markets. See more stockists on our website, mitchspreserves.com.au.