Local Byron legend’s 20 years

Kenrick Riley has been a local fixture at Byron Farmers Market for two decades now and in that time he has gathered a dedicated following.

His colourful stall, which is packed with an amazing range of herbs, spices and leafy greens, as well as some weird and wonderful produce, has proven popular with both families and local chefs. ‘There are 20-year-olds out there who have grown up eating our food, which feels pretty good,’ Kenrick says.

Kenrick puts his popularity down to a few things: his stall’s display, along with the flavour, quality and freshness of his produce.

‘We spend a lot of time dressing up our stall and making the produce look nice,’ he says, ‘we also harvest in the dark – around 3am – so our produce is always picked when it’s fresh and erect, which means it lasts longer, and it’s full of flavour. It’s taken us years to build up the quality of the soil and that has resulted in improved flavour.’

Kenrick and his partner, Maree, have built their market garden at Georgica from scratch, and it now includes produce you won’t find in any supermarket.

One of those is ‘jicama’, an unusual root crop from Central America. ‘Jicama has a multitude of uses. It’s sweet and crunchy so you can use it raw in salads or as a snack, but it can also be cooked and used like a water chestnut. It will stay crunchy and take on the flavour of whatever you cook it with and still be sweet.’

‘And from a health point of view, it has probiotic properties and is also used as a hangover cure as it’s full of sugar and protein. That sells it!’

You can find Kenrick and his amazing array of produce at Byron Farmers Market every Thursday morning.

Byron Farmers Market is held Thursdays 7–11am at Butler St Reserve. Bangalow Farmers Market is Saturdays 7–11am behind the Bangalow pub.