Producer Teneille Newton - Noosa Black Garlic

What inspired you to work with Garlic?

My husband and I have been foodies our whole lives, his mum is a chef and I’ve always been obsessed with food! As a naturopath I’ve also always been really interested in all the benefits that food imparts as well. Back in 2021 my husband had some health challenges that were pretty serious, which made us re-evaluate our corporate careers. We’d been making black garlic at home for a really long time - that was the trigger for us to just go, well… how about we see what we can do with this as a business. In November 2021 we launched Noosa Black Garlic.

What did the start of your journey look like?

Once we decided to give it a go, in the space of a weekend I designed the branding, made the labels, created the website, and all the socials. From there we started selling online and at some of our local markets as well. Since then it’s just snowballed into a bit of a beast! It’s been a very rapid growth period for us, which has been really exciting.

What is black garlic?

This is the question we get asked the most, it can be made out of any type of garlic, we use organic elephant garlic for ours. We put it through a very specific aging process which takes us 2-4 weeks, using low heat and high humidity. It’s a slow process of caramelisation, the garlic becomes sweet and it takes on almost a truffle like flavour, which is why we call it the truffle of the garlic world.

Where do you source your Garlic?

We partner with local farmers in the Sunshine Coast hinterland to grow organic Elephant Garlic for us, and we started off with 4kg back in Nov 2021, this year we’re getting 4 tonnes. Its great to work with all the locals, supporting their families and business too.

What is your biggest learning so far?

Not everything goes to plan, so you’ve got to be ready for the unexpected! Because we are in the growth and scale phase right now, and the fact we can’t do everything ourselves - building a team that we really love is going to be really important to us moving forward.

Can you share a fun fact about garlic that most people wouldn’t know?

Absolutely! When you’ve overindulged in garlic, you wake up the next day and have that dreaded garlic breath - the beauty of black garlic is that there is no garlic breath, because the aging process we put it through breaks down all that sulphur.

Are there any products you’d recommend coming in to Winter considering the health benefits of Garlic?

A really good combo is either our Black Garlic Cloves which are pure black garlic (nothing else added), or Black Garlic Honey. We use beautiful local paperbark honey, its from a beekeeper about 10-15 minutes away from here and we combine that with our black garlic cloves to get the benefits of both. The added health benefit is that it’s a lot easier on the gut.

Are there any travel experiences that have had a notable influencer on your career?

Growing up in Adelaide, one of my fondest memories was going to the Adelaide central markets with my dad every weekend, and experiencing all the food stalls. Aside from that, Tony and I have travelled extensively throughout Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand and done cooking classes with the locals and really learnt a lot about the local cuisines there. That’s one of the places that we discovered black garlic and it’s just those interesting flavour profiles and the street food that I think has really helped shape our interest in different ingredients.

What’s been your involvement with the Noosa Eat & Drink Festival in the past or will this be your first time?

I’ve attended Noosa Eat & Drink Festival many many times, I loved the festival, we were obviously really sad when it went away for a few years. This will be our first time attending as a business. We’re super excited about having a festival like this in our back yard and highlighting all the other beautiful producers and the restaurants and chefs that we all know and love up here. We’re really looking forward to showcasing Noosa Black Garlic to everybody in the region and all the visitors as well.

What’s your favourite place to dine/drink in Noosa?

How do you pick a favourite, there’s so many! A few of my top picks at the moment include Lucio’s Marina, their spanner crab tagliolini is incredible, also Lanai which is amazing, and Noosa Beach House. Most recently we also sat on the beach at Sails and enjoyed their Morton Bay Bug, which was incredible.

Can you recommend some hidden gems or favourite spots in Noosa for those visiting?

At the moment one of my favourite things to do, is starting the day with riding my Vespa up the coast to Noosa National Park, and doing the walk to Hell’s Gate and having a swim at Little Cove on the way home. Aside from that, paddleboarding up the Noosa River to the Everglades or Lake Weyba are stand outs for me.

Have you got any collaborations coming up?

We’ll be partnering with more local restaurants this year, we were featured on the menu previously at Lucio’s Marina, and Lanai is using our Noosa Black Garlic as part of their ‘Loco Moco’ Wagyu Beef Cheek dish..

Where can people find you outside of the Festival?

Outside of the Festival, you can find us twice a week at the Eumundi Markets on the Sunshine Coast, we have a stall in the Gourmet Loop there every Wednesday and Saturday. You can also find us in Brisbane in New Farm at the Jan Powers Farmers Market. We also do Peregian Markets on the 1st and 3rd Sunday of the month, and outside of that we have our online shop (linked here). We also have stockists all the way from Townsville down to Melbourne, and we’re also doing more food and wine festivals this year than ever before – so you’ll see us popping up in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Moreton Bay and Maryborough, the list goes on.

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