Inside Tim Wimborne's pasta shop in Braidwood in the New South Wales Southern Tablelands, perfectly curved pasta shells are slowly extruded through Italian-made brass dies before being cut off and falling into a mesh tray.
Once full, the tray is transferred to a drying rack where it will spend about 80 hours at room temperature.
It's a methodical process which the chef says preserves the pasta's nutritional value and means it holds sauce better.
"Because we use traditional techniques, it's slow compared to industrially produced pasta," Mr Wimborne says.
"We try to do something different by using old-fashioned, artisan techniques.
"All our equipment is Italian but we're trying to put our local stamp on it."
Bounce-back idea becomes success story
Three years ago, Mr Wimborne turned to pasta-making after losing the infrastructure and crop from his native mountain pepperberry orchard — the first commercial orchard of its kind in New South Wales — in the 2019 bushfires.
Now he is struggling to keep up with demand for the boutique product.
"It's been a good journey for us and towards the end of the year it's the busiest time for us," he says.
"We have 30 retailers in Canberra, the Southern Highlands and the south coast and it's growing organically."
Local flavour
As well as his slow method of production, Mr Wimborne's main point of difference is flavouring his pasta with locally grown ingredients.
Originally it was infused with native pepperberry, a fruity and spicy bush food that turns the pasta light grey.
"From there, we use a lot of garlic because Braidwood is known as a garlic area now," he says.
"We have roasted garlic and rocket and now we're doing a non-wheat version using red-lentil flour."
He also diversified the business by making dried flatbread.
Farm replanted to be fire-resistant
Three years after the 2019 bushfires, the mental and geographical scars remain.
Mr Wimborne says he and his wife Meraiah Foley are rebuilding the farm, but in a way that would protect the property should bushfire return.
"It took us a while to get back on the horse [after the bushfires] — it was devastating because we lost everything, including fences and irrigation," he says.
"We redeveloped the orchard, but it takes five years to get the plants up to a point where they'll grow berries."
"We've planted a fire insulator of non-flammable species around the orchard and we're working with other landholders who want to grow pepperberries on their farm."
The theory is if bushfires strike again, crops – and supply of the spicy berries — will be spread around the region.
"We bought our farm 21 years ago and we have a critical mass of food producers here," Mr Wimborne says.
"It's becoming a foodie town and there are people growing organic produce and people manufacturing different types of food.
"These sorts of businesses are now viable in a town like this."
