The award has come at just the right moment for the company after a tough couple of months under poor conditions.
‘‘The conditions have been horrible,’’ Camel Milk Co’s Tee Rowe said.
‘‘We were only 19 days off running out of feed completely,’’ she said.
‘‘Even if we had the money, the feed wasn’t always available. I don’t know how any industry is expected to absorb such an increase in operational costs over 12 months.’’
Rowe and company owners Megan and Chris Williams were thankful for Sydney chef Brent Savage’s nomination, putting the company in the running.
‘‘It was a bit of a surprise but it was a delightful surprise,’’ she said.
‘‘His restaurant has been using our camel milk and fetta in one of their dishes for some time now.
As one of eight winners in Victoria for their dairy products, Rowe truly believes in the quality of the company’s unique produce.
‘‘It really shows the integrity of our product; camel milk is quite new for most Australians but this has helped heighten our profile and make people more aware of us and what we do,’’ she said.
‘‘People can often be scared to try new things but I think we are starting to show people that it can be used as a regular product as well as in novelty or luxury items.’’
Being just one of eight camel milk producers in Australia, Camel Milk Co certainly offers the most variety in its product range.
‘‘We could never solely rely on the fresh milk market, we needed to diversify to gain traction,’’ she said.
‘‘The company hadn’t planned on going into a body product range but after some demand we expanded into that area and it’s been really popular.’’
The latest addition to the shelves has come in the form of chocolate in a collaboration with The Ministry of Chocolate in Melbourne.
The state winners from each category will now progress on to a blind-tasting by a national judging panel, with the winners to be announced in Sydney on 19 August.
