Steve Zimmerman
Zimmy’s Barossa Valley Produce
One of the most keenly fought contests at the Tanunda Show each March is the Dill Cucumber Championship. Forget the sheep dog trials, the dressage on fancy horses, the plump ducks and geese, it’s dill cucumbers and pickled onions that provide the most intensely watched challenge. Fortunately Steve Zimmerman (aka Zimmy), who is convener of both contests, is a master at preparing both, using pickling and preserving secrets handed down through generations since his family arrived in the Barossa in the 1850s. He uses recipes he learnt from his father, who started the business in 1985 in order to share his family’s traditional flavours with the local community. Naturally made, with no additives or preservatives and based on fresh garden produce, Zimmy’s is now the largest local producer of naturally cured dill cucumbers.