By Niel Vaughan
What do you get when you combine a love for jazz with economic training and then fuse it with a deep-rooted need to foster positive change for future generations? Quincey Jones Jelly.
Three years ago, Tim Harley was sitting in his office at the Australian Reserve Bank feeling uneasy with the state of the world. He didn’t see the sense in funding coal mines and gas fields whilst the world reels from environmental trauma. To put it mildly, Tim vocally expressed his disillusion to his colleagues. It was time to go.
He left without any idea of how he was going to put all his skills in statistics and economics to good use but knew he wanted to be part of a bigger food ethics story.
As Tim searched for his new ‘thing’, he went to regional fairs worrying about food waste and about ways to celebrate the glorious produce of Australia. That is when he came across something hardy and unassuming, like the desert: quinces. He researched early settler history and found that every block had a lemon, apple and quince tree. Inspired by these historical Anglo-Australian recipes, he sourced produce that would not make it to the supermarket aisle to begin his alchemical food journey.
Today, Tim’s collection includes a 120-year-old green tomato recipe, the recipe that Sir Edmund Hillary carried jars of Dark and Chunky also, known as Oxford marmalade, to Everest. He also has a range of over 30 seasonal flavours of jams and preserves.
What do they taste like? Quincey Jones Jelly was crowned King of Jam at the Echuca Show 2018 and knocked out Silver at the Australian Food Awards 2019 for Tim’s onion jam, not to mention first prize at the Royal Melbourne Show 2019.
When I asked Tim where the name came from, he answered: “I love music, I love Quincy Jones and after all we are the world. We are the children. We are the ones who make a better day.”
