Meet Emma and Franck from Crunch Preserves
LOCAL, HAND CRAFTED, NATURAL
What do you do after you've experienced the excitement of living in France and travelling the world? You settle down in a quiet country town in remote Western Australia for a simpler life of course! That's what Emma and Franck chose to do after their time working and sailing together on super yachts.
Franck, a trained chef from France, and Emma a passionate foodie and lover of healthy living from the UK decided to settle in Dunsborough, in WA's beautiful South West.
To share their passion for fresh, local produce and healthy, natural ingredients, they created Crunch Preserves—a range of naturally delicious, preservative free condiments to be savoured and shared around a warm table with friends, family and loved ones.
Emma chatted with Louise about how the provenance of their ingredients is paramount and what's next for their family business.
How did you decide which products would feature in the Crunch range?
We started by making the kinds of foods we love to eat. Then we tried to cover all taste buds, from more traditional flavours to modern —with a mix of heat to suit everyone, from non-spicy to nice and hot. We try to imagine how people will use the products and who we are targeting as far as taste and age group.
What are you most passionate about when it comes to working with produce here in WA?
For us it's the clean air that the produce is grown in. We are very lucky to be able to source our ingredients locally where the environment is clean and well looked after. The quality of the produce just speaks for itself.
What is the most challenging aspect of creating your products?
We are always looking for high quality ingredients, so sourcing enough of the fruit or vegetable we need, whilst it's in season, is a challenge. It’s also very difficult to judge quantities of how much we will need to get us through to the next season.
Do you have a favourite product from your range, and if so, how do you prepare or serve it?
We both have a soft spot for the chilli achar - such a versatile product, it can be brought out time and time again! It is great to add heat to any meat dish and can also be mixed with some good mayo for a spicy dip.
One of our favourite recipes is a sesame chicken stir fry with the chilli achar added to the sauce (see link below for Emma’s recipe).
When you are not eating at home, where do you like to eat?
We are so spoilt here in the Southwest with an abundance of amazing places to eat – and more opening all the time. We love Blue Manna, Lady Lola and Swings and Roundabouts.
Have you noticed any changes in the food industry in WA over the past decade?
People have become more interested in where their food comes from—they have more awareness of how its produced and know more about who their local producers are.
Its great to see this changing - its so valuable for us to connect with the people and the place our food comes from.
Are there any changes in the pipeline for Crunch Preserves?
We love what we do and hope to keep on doing it! We keep an eye out for new ingredients and changes in food trends and love to share new products when we've perfected the recipe. There's a few new products just about to launch, so stay tuned!
