A MasterChef champion with a passion for creativity and seasonal produce has opened a gelato store on the Sunshine Coast.
Kate Bracks was the season three winner of MasterChef in 2011 and has churned her love of food into her cool new shop at Bulcock Beach.
Fifty Acres Gelato is scooping up fresh local flavours that Ms Bracks said are inspired by the season and produce she finds at local markets.
With flavours like tiramisu and pineapple, coconut and lime, she said the inspiration for her new venture came from years living on a 50-acre farm in New South Wales.
“What we are doing here is reflecting a passion I had when we lived on 50 acres,” Ms Bracks told Sunshine Coast News.
“I grew a lot of our food and cooked according to what came out of the garden at our little hobby farm.
“I cooked seasonally and I think when we eat seasonally and eat locally it tastes better.
“That’s the premise behind what I’m doing with the gelato.”
Ms Bracks is making all the gelato from scratch using real ingredients, down to the cookies in the milk-and-cookies flavour.
She said the menu was broken into classic and creative flavours and would change depending on what is in season.
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“It’s seasonal flavours so you won’t get a mango gelato in the middle of winter,” she said.
“I’m going to the markets and looking at what fruit is best (and) what smells amazing, and that is what dictates the menu.
“I went to the markets and found these beautiful Glass House pineapples that just smelt amazing, so I’ve got a pineapple, coconut and lime sorbetto made on coconut milk.”
Ms Bracks said the strawberry milk favour had also been a crowd favourite.
“I hull kilos and kilos of fresh strawberries and I mix it with Maleny milk. It just tastes beautiful.”
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Other flavours include yoghurt, berry compote and toasted almonds; peanut butter and brownie; and chunky Biscoff, but her all-time favourite flavour is tiramisu.
“Some people love the classics and there are also lots of us that love something a bit more creative, whether that’s with the flavours or the textures,” she said.
Fifty Acres Gelato also has a flavour category called ‘Are you up for a challenge?’.
“This is something that sits a little bit outside of the box,” Ms Bracks said.
“Currently it’s cereal milk. You know the milk you have at the end of the bowl of cereal and it’s sweet? Well, I’ve turned that into gelato.”
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Ms Bracks said the timing to open the gelato shop was right for her since putting her love of food on hold after her MasterChef win to raise her family.
“The children were quite little and a lot of the commitments following MasterChef took me away for weekends and nights,” she said.
“It got to a point where my family needed to come first, so it put (food) on the backburner.
“I have dreamt about doing my own food business for pretty much my entire adult life.
“When we moved to the Sunshine Coast, I was working with Sunshine Coast Sourdough Co and I just loved being back in the kitchen.
“This is an extension to do my own thing and add that creativity and my own stamp on it.”
Find Fifty Acres Gelato at 3/38 Esplanade, Bulcock Beach, Caloundra. The store is open from Wednesday to Sunday.
