Oz Tukka was established in 2003 by Bente Saugbjerg and Peter Faith.
Bente immigrated to Australia from Denmark in 1996. Bente’s Australian husband Peter was keen to show her the wondrous Australian nature and its unique and spectacular plants. Together they discovered that a few of the plants were quite tasty and they quickly pushed their usual oregano and thyme to the back of the cupboard and started adding great new flavours to their cooking using Lemon Myrtle, Wattle Seed, Bush Tomato, Tasmanian Pepper Berry and Leaf.
Bente and Peter were forever looking for gifts to send home to friends and family in Denmark and after they discovered and fell in love with Australian Bush flavours, they decided that sharing these unique flavours would make a great gift.
That’s how our first product came about; a gift packet with 5 different Australian spices and this was how Oz Tukka was created, in the kitchen at Bente and Peter’s home in Redhead NSW.
After the initial gift packet, other award winning products followed… Macadamia Nut Oil, Spice Grinders and rubs, Gluten-Free muffin mixes with Australian native flavours and savoury and dessert Dukkah.
From September 2016
Linda Dipper and Ray Kochel purchased Oz Tukka from Bente and Peter in September 2016. Both Linda and Ray had been working in the motor industry for over 25 years and were looking for a change. Linda discovered Australian native edible plants through her study of Permaculture then Conservation and Land Management in early 2000.
Linda questioned why she did not know of the abundant array of edible native plants in our midst. Of course, she went looking for some Wattleseed and Lemon Myrtle to experiment with in the kitchen and found the only place within hundreds of kilometers that had native spices…Oz Tukka!
Fast forward 16 years and through a conversation via the music school next door to Oz Tukka, Linda found out Oz Tukka was for sale.
And that was that!
Linda and Ray are continuing the Oz Tukka brand, with the focus of introducing native flavours to the health-conscious and home cooks of Australia!