Tasmania has a reputation as a gourmet’s paradise with its clean surrounding waters, cool climate, fresh air, pure water sources and fertile soil helping to produce a range of produce with a rich and strong taste, texture and flavour.

As an island State, Tasmania is quarantined from many forms of pollution and from a number of pests and diseases that affect plants and animals in other regions.

Our climatic conditions produce products with better tasting and unique flavour profiles due to the slower ripening periods and later seasons, which mean there are higher fruit intensities which produce better taste and colour.

Our “clean and green” environment translates into a safer and cleaner food, produced in an environmentally friendly sustainable production system.

Tasmania is blessed by its isolation and enforces strict quarantine regulations to maintain its disease free environment, of which it is very proud.

Tasmania protects more of its land than any other state in Australia.

Around 40% of the State is set aside in the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area, National Parks and in State and Coastal Reserves - the World heritage Area alone encompasses 800,000 ha.

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The Produce

Tasmanian Wine Trails
Tasmania is famous around the world for producing exceptional cool climate wines and is currently home to 105 vineyards and wineries.

The trails covered by this link are; Coal River Valley, Derwent Valley, East Coast, Huon, Channel and Southern, North West, Southern Midlands, Tamar Valley and North East

Tasmanian Cheese Trail
Follow the cheese trail to experience hard and soft varieties, blues and bries, cheddars and camemberts, with many varieties made from goat and sheep milk.

The Beer and Mead Trail
Check out Tasmania's long and growing list of craft breweries across the state where you can meet a local brewer and sample a range of local brews that you may not find anywhere else.

Tasmanian Cider Trail
Includes details for tasting and purchasing superb Tasmanian ciders - we are the Apple Isle after all.

Tasmanian Whisky Trail
Tasmania's pure water makes it ideal for distilling whisky, vodka and gin, with several award-winning distilleries producing some of the world's greatest spirits.

Gourmet Sweets and Chocolates
Chocolate, fudge, Nougat , chocolate, fudge, nougat - nothing more needs to be said.

Tasmanian Fruits Farm-gate Guide

The Farm Gate Guide has been designed for locals and visitors alike to source some of the freshest fruit produce direct from the grower.

Grab a bag of fresh apples or cherries, a punnet of delicious berries, or box of seasonal stone fruit and snack on them as you travel around and enjoy the wonderful Tasmanian scenery.

If you are considering Casual orchard work during your trip, this site has links to fruit picking, packing, pruning and thinning jobs.

Farmed salmon

Few of the world’s coastal waters are pollution-free, giving Tasmania a competitive edge in aquaculture, with one of the most pristine environments in the world and water temperatures perfect for growing top quality salmon.

Tasmanian-grown Atlantic Salmon is the first choice for many chefs because of its flavour and texture

Leatherwood Honey

In the valleys of western Tasmania the rainforests enjoy rainfall measured in metres per annum.

It is here that the Leatherwood trees flower in late summer and here that bee-keepers collect the all-natural Leatherwood honey.

The musky rich taste of honey from Leatherwood blossoms is distinctly Tasmanian. Leatherwood honey is thick, creamy and amber-yellow in colour – not as sickly sweet to taste as other varieties of honey, but with a unique flavour and aroma.

Black truffles

The first black truffle was uncovered in northern Tasmania in June 1999.

Since then, Tasmania’s truffle enterprises have benefited from the desire of international chefs to serve these highly prized fresh truffles outside the traditional European season of December to February.

French black truffles come from a fungus which grows just below the soil surface on the roots of oak or hazel trees.

Saffron

Nicky and Terry Noonan are the pioneers of saffron growing in Australia but, when they arrived in Tasmania from Sydney, all they knew about the expensive spice was that it was used in making paella.

Now their company, Tas-Saff, has formed a network of saffron-growers, dedicated to producing the highest quality spice, Extra Category 1 Saffron.

Chefs need only 100mg of this quality to flavour and colour a dish, while 500mg of a poorer quality saffron would be needed to achieve the same result.

Wild abalone

Tasmania is the world’s largest supplier of wild abalone, that flourish on Tasmania's wild coastline, in one of the world’s last remaining un spoilt marine environments.

Its succulent, meaty texture and delicate flavour mean Tasmanian Wild Abalone is recognised globally as the best on the market.

Wasabi

Another boutique ingredient produced in Tasmania is the traditional Japanese condiment, wasabi and a number of local growers are scrambling to supply the increasing demand for this spicy-hot product.

It is sold as either fresh stems or dried powder and demand comes from top Australian restaurants, the Japanese embassy in Canberra and also from innovative Tasmanians who add the locally-produced wasabi to give a unique flavour to mustards, pickles and cheeses.

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

There are dozens of boutique producers of extra virgin olive oil in Tasmania. The cool climate leads to lower yields for growers but results in a product that is more nutritious and with a stronger flavour. Tasmanian extra virgin olive oil has a free fatty acid level – indicating minimal oxidation – which is four times better than the standard set by the International Olive Oil Council.

Organic foods

With concerns about the long-term effects of the chemical stew used in the growth and production of many supermarket foods, it is little surprise that organic farming and production is a growth market for clean, green Tasmania.

The State has the largest acreage under organic farming per head of population in Australia, giving locals access to an astonishing variety of organic products, including vegetables, salads, fruit, herbs, milk, cheese, yoghurt, cream, eggs, honey, wine, beef, lamb, chicken, olives, carrots, potatoes, beans and seeds.