We discovered Harkola Foods a couple of years ago, when we first started buying flour in bulk, and have been regular customers ever since. This wonderful food wholesaler is based in the western Sydney suburb of Auburn and we’ll visit several times a year to stock up on supplies.
They offer an enormous range of nuts, flours, dried fruits, spices and Middle Eastern specialities. You can also buy packaging materials, baking supplies, rice and oils there, all at amazing prices.
To give you an idea of their range, here are some of our purchases from today:
- Parchment paper – as the standard width is too narrow for our 90cm oven, we purchased a 120m roll of 40cm wide paper for $30. The narrower size is also available, as are foil and clingfilm in huge rolls.
- The gorgeous mint tea glasses above were a tiny 82c each!
- We picked up two bags of Manildra bakers flour for friends. These were $11.50 per 12kg sack and, because Harkola sell a pallet load of this flour every week, the stock is always fresh.
- Dried yeast, which I stock up on about once a year, is available vacuumed packed at $3.50 per 500g.
- They have a huge range of nuts available – we bought almond meal at $12/kg and whole roasted macadamias for $20/kg. There was also a wide variety of dried and glace fruits on display.
- Legumes galore – red lentils and white beans were $2.80/kg and popcorn was just $1.80/kg.
- Spices are plentiful, and I bought some ground cumin ($10.25/kg) and ground coriander ($7/kg). Again, the rapid turnover of these items ensures their freshness.
In addition to the staples, we picked up some more unusual food items.
These Lebanese sweets are made from pistaccio nuts, apricot paste, nougat and date paste. This entire box of individually wrapped treats was on sale at $6.50.
There is, of course, lots of couscous on offer, including the medium sized Israeli couscous as well as this larger variety from Lebanon, known as Moghrabieh. These small balls of semolina swell up to the size of miniature peas when cooked!
A new find for me – fig marmalade from Lebanon. This has a deliciously interesting flavour, as the jam includes both sesame and anise, as well as the usual sugar and acid. Imagine sweet figs with a hint of tahini. I suspect this was the secret ingredient in an Egyptian chicken and harissa dish we tried recently.
Given how expensive fresh figs are here, it’s hard to believe this 800g jar stuffed with delicious fig paste was just $4.99!
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Harkola Food Worldwide
3 – 7 Highgate Street
Auburn NSW 2144
02 9737 5888
http://www.harkola.com
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 