SHMA engages in Heritage Harvest Weekend
Photography: Courtesy of Sovereign Hill / Chris Puro Gurrola. Click here to view more images.
Audrey Payne, Learn To Make Ricotta With Julia Busuttil Nishimura and Dumplings With Tony Tan at Sovereign Hill This Weekend, Broadsheet, 22 May 2023
The open-air gold rush museum will host a grazeable market, a masterclass in gin-blending, lessons in foraging and more heritage-style activities as part of its Heritage Harvest Weekend.
Sovereign Hill has always been a place to visit and travel back in time. This weekend, May 27 and 28, the interactive museum (dedicated to Victoria’s gold rush history) is taking a different approach to the past, with a focus on heritage food skills including pickling, fermenting, distilling, salting, curing, drying and foraging for its Heritage Harvest Weekend.
The event, which is part of Ballarat’s Heritage Festival, will host a grazeable market featuring stalls from more than 30 local producers, including Backyard Beekeeping, Kaokao Miso, Tim’s Toasties and Saltbush Kitchen. If you’re keen to learn as well as eat, try any number of experiences and masterclasses running throughout the weekend, from gin-blending to a class on gold rush era food with charcuterie from local producers, led by Masterchef alum Tim Bone.
More highlights? A sourdough-making class with Josh Chapman, the head baker at excellent Ballarat bakery 1816 Bakehouse, an edible weed foraging walk (complete with a cuppa at the end made with some of your edible finds), a bush food cooking class with Cat Clarke, and an interactive dumpling demo with acclaimed chef Tony Tan. (If you haven’t yet made it to Tan’s extraordinary cooking school in Trentham, here’s your shortcut.)
Another one not to miss is a ricotta-making demo with beloved cookbook author Julia Busuttil Nishimura, who has also curated the menu for a special long lunch. Naturally the menu will showcase a range of heritage skills, from curing (cured trout) to pickling (roast chicken with pickled grapes) to cheese-making (Busuttil Nishimura’s famed orange and ricotta cake).
The Ostro and Around the Table author will also be there for a Q&A with food writer Gemima Cody. If crafts are more your thing, there are workshops for straw-plaiting, pottery, yarn-spinning and rope-splicing.
Our tip: the Vline train is faster than driving and will take you just over an hour from Melbourne.
The Heritage Harvest Weekend runs on May 27 and 28 at Sovereign Hill. If you book a masterclass or experience entry to Sovereign Hill is included (regular museum admission prices start at $29 for kids five or older and $49 for adults).