FUELLED by her passion for health promotion and whole foods, Christine Alexander has taken to making and selling her homemade peanut butter.<\/p>\n
After closing the specialty health food shop along Sturt Street, her and her family had operated for years, Ms Alexander hoped to continue offering the shop\u2019s freshly made natural nut butter.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe closed the shop in late October last year and then it took me a little bit, until around December to get this one up and running,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe used to make peanut butter ourselves in store when we ran the health food store on Sturt Street.<\/p>\n
\u201cI kept the machine and thought I would do something with it so I decided to go out on my own and give it a go.\u201d<\/p>\n
To keep things as local and high quality as possible, Ms Alexander said she only works with trusted Australian businesses and doesn\u2019t add any extra oil, salt or sugar to her product.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe get the peanuts from a little supplier in Brunswick and they are from Queensland,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are already lightly roasted and I don\u2019t add any extra oils or anything, then I just grind them and it activates the natural oils and turns into a paste basically.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s totally 100 per cent peanuts, hence the name Au Naturale.\u201d<\/p>\n
After refining her recipe and only selling to close friends and family for months, Ms Alexander started supplying for and retailing at a variety of businesses around the city.<\/p>\n
Additionally, she said she\u2019s looking forward to setting up shop at her first market at the end of the month.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have started stocking cafes, including Europa and Racers \u2026 it\u2019s hard as well without a shop front, but hopefully the market and connections will help push the business forward,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m hoping to do the market at the end of the month around the lake and my idea is to make peanut butter on the spot for people as well as selling the jars.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m also hoping to offer re-fills in the future, but I don\u2019t want to be overwhelmed too quickly so I\u2019m hoping to build it up slowly.\u201d<\/p>\n
Utilising a tried and true method of pressing whole peanuts, refraining from any additives and using as fresh ingredients as possible, Ms Alexander said her customers appreciate the high-quality product and often come back for more.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo many other peanut butters are super oily, so it\u2019s nice to have something on the less oily side, but mainly I think that the fact that it\u2019s locally made really sets it apart from other brands,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople are loving it, I\u2019ve had so much great feedback so far even saying it\u2019s the best they\u2019ve ever had.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t believe the response because I was a bit nervous to start, so the support has been really good.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
FUELLED by her passion for health promotion and whole foods, Christine Alexander has taken to making and selling her homemade peanut butter. After closing the specialty health food shop along Sturt Street, her and her family had operated for years, Ms Alexander hoped to continue offering the shop\u2019s freshly made natural nut butter. \u201cWe closed […]<\/p>\n