Australian native herbs proved flavour of the moment, with bush tucker influenced gelato and cheese winning top gongs at the recent Perth Royal Dairy and Chocolate Awards, while a Japanese fruit inspired chocolate took out the Champion Chocolate trophy.    

The awards were held at Claremont Showground on Friday 30 June, and featured the very best from WA and interstate producers in the dairy categories of cheese, milk, butter, cream, yoghurt, ice-cream and gelato, while chocolate products featured in a diverse range of categories. 

Mimmo’s Gourmet Gelato based in Guildford was the big winner on the night, taking out Champion Overall Dairy Product and Champion Gelato with their Bush Tucker gelato. Champion cheese went to Denmark’s Dellendale Creamery for their Torndirrup Native Herb entry, while La Delizia Latticini based in Victoria Park won Most Successful WA Dairy Exhibitor for their Ricotta.

More notable wins in the dairy category include The Cheeky Cow based in Busselton, with their Salted Butter taking out Champion Butter. Northcliffe’s Bannister Downs Dairy won Champion Cream and Champion Pasteurised Whole Milk, while newcomer Perth’s Coldrolls Handcrafted Ice Cream wone for their Vanilla Bean offering. Margaret River Dairy Company won the trophy for Champion Yoghurt for their Salted Caramel Indulgent Yoghurt, and South West located Mai Tardi Gelato won a top gong for their Pistachio and Hazelnut Semifreddo.

Meanwhile, South Australia’s Bracegirdle’s House of Fine Chocolate took out the coveted overall Champion Chocolate Award, with their East-Asian inspired Yuzu Cheesecake offering, which also won Champion Dark Chocolate. 

Local favourite Margaret River Chocolate Company won Champion Ruby Chocolate, Individual Chocolates, Single Variety Dipped or Enrobed, for their Spiced Caramel Slice, and top honours for their Fig, Honey, Star Anise and Vanilla Truffle in the Champion Filled Truffle Shells, Single Variety Moulded Shell.

Perth-based Knights Delights won the trophy for Champion White Chocolate, with their Lemon Curd & Vanilla Ganache, and Champion Boxed Chocolates, while Yallingup’s Gabriel Chocolate took home the Champion Bean to Bar Award along with four Gold Medals.

For a full list of 2023 Dairy & Chocolate Awards results, visit: 2023 Perth Royal Food Awards: Dairy Results and Chocolate Results

For the photo gallery of winners, visit: Perth Royal Food Awards

Hosted by the Royal Agricultural Society of WA (RASWA), these prestigious awards give primary producers the chance to showcase some of their outstanding products, gain valuable feedback from expert judges and benchmark against peers and commercial competitors.

The Dairy Awards judging panel comprised industry experts led by Chief Judge Ros Garstone, while the chocolate competition was overseen by Chief Judge Simon Aston.

Chief Judge for Dairy Ros Garstone commented that the produce this year was of an excellent standard, making it sometimes difficult for our judges to choose between.  Ms Garstone said it was encouraging to see new producers entering the competition and providing medal-winning products.

Chief Judge for Chocolate Simon Aston said was exciting to see chocolatiers thinking outside of the traditional flavours and experimenting with different influences, such as native herbs, which were winners this year.

RASWA CEO Robyn Sermon said as an organisation, RASWA was passionate about supporting producers and communities, which it has been doing for 194 years.

“Along with local well-known success stories, it is very exciting to see the upcoming chocolate makers and dairy producers from across the State and get a glimpse of the next generation of award winners and innovators in their fields,” she said.