This year's Ready Meals category winner of the Food magazine awards, Passage Foods, won for its innovative ready-to-eat Pumpkin Curry Side Simmer Sauce.
The inspiration behind the new line came from a collaboration between Passage Foods and market research company, AC Neilson which found that Australian consumers are demonstrating a growing interest in the Indian tradition of sharing multiple meals at the dinner table.
It was this information that prompted Passage Foods to develop its Passage to India sides range – a ready-to-eat/heat and serve side simmer sauce featuring Australian pumpkin and a balance of spices.
The product is the first ready-to-eat Indian pumpkin meal on the Australian market, made from all natural ingredients while also being gluten-free and vegan friendly.
While traditionally Indian curries require spices to be fried in order to achieve the right flavour profile, Passage Foods has managed to replicate authentic flavours by using a retort process.
The company spent months tweaking with the recipe to ensure that the taste and consistency was just right, and are now extremely proud to have the product on supermarket shelves.
The side simmer sauce is packaged in a shelf stable pouch, sold throughout Woolworths, Coles and IGA supermarkets, with a shelf life of up to two years.
Chris Doutre, sales and business development manager for Passage Foods, said that Passage Foods has now become the market leader in Australia's Indian simmer sauce industry and also exports its products to the US, United Arab Emirates, New Zealand, Malaysia and Taiwan.
In addition to the success of the Passage to India line, Passage Foods also offers a host of other simmer sauces from varying cuisines, with a number of new products in the pipeline.
"There are new products coming up all the time," said Doutre.
"We have a number of new projects happening and we don't just only produce strictly Indian, because Passage Foods is all about a journey of cuisine, so we've got Passage to India as well as Passage to Asia, Passage to Morocco, Passage to China and Passage to Indonesia."
Doutre believes that the company's success in recent times is due to its commitment to innovation and product development.
"I think today, to be able to stay on top in the industry, you've got to be innovative. You've got to be able to come up with new ideas all the time."
{^youtubevideo|(width)560|(height)340|(rel)True|(url)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgAQ22lvmws|(fs)True|(loop)False|(autoplay)False^}