When fledgling Tasmanian spice entrepreneur Melanie Clarke heard the nation's sauce and relish makers were in such a pickle over the "Ezy Sauce catastrophe," she had the solution at her fingertips.
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Panicked home cooks were concerned at reports food manufacturer Kraft Heinz had "deleted" Wild's Ezy Sauce from its range of products in the middle of sauce making season.
"Due to operational challenges, we were no longer able to produce this product to the required quality standards with our supply partners," a company spokesperson said in a statement.
"With that in mind, we had to make the sad decision to discontinue it."
With Ezy Sauce no longer produced, it had caused a brouhaha in kitchens all over Australia.
On the Tasmania's northern coast, sauce-making is part of the social fabric where family recipes get passed down.
There were shocked calls on social media asking for someone else to make the sauce invented by T.A Wild in 1944.
The combination of water, food acid, ground black pepper, clove oil, and chilli appears in many of the recipes for homemade tomato sauces, chutneys, and relishes.
Ms Clarke, who created her Wood Duck Spice business a year ago and makes small batches of spice combinations, said she'd heard about the "demise of Ezy Sauce" from one of her Sunday Ulverstone Wharf Market customers two weeks ago.
"She was panicked and asked if I made it," Ms Clarke said.
She went home and made a spice pack she called "Just As Easy Sauce" to add to sauce and relish recipes.
"Now people are coming to my website frantically buying up Just As Easy Sauce."
Wood Duck Spice came about during the COVID-19 lockdown after Ms Clarke's partner questioned how much time she spent Googling recipes.
"I thought if I start a spice business, that's research rather than wasting time," she said.
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The former jeweller, who once made a pair of earrings for Princess Mary, also teaches part-time in the kitchen garden at a primary school.
Her philosophy is that every meal should be great.
"We eat well at home, and I wanted to make sure other people could by making it easier for everyone," she said.
"Using the tastiest herbs and spices Tasmania and the world have to offer, we toast, roast, grind, blend and mix specialty herb and spice blends, so it's a one-step process to make a nice meal."
Ms Clarke grows many of the ingredients she uses.
"If you've got a family recipe, I'll make a custom blend."
Her house smells divine.
"I just love roasting and blending things and drying spices; you feel like you are some kind of old-fashioned apothecary."
Libby Bingham
The Advocate reporter in Devonport. Contact Libby at 0447176804 or libby.bingham@austcommunitymedia.com.au
The Advocate reporter in Devonport. Contact Libby at 0447176804 or libby.bingham@austcommunitymedia.com.au
