Sophie Milic’s parents, Phil and Jane Dening, established the 1500-tree orchard in 1997 as part of a joint venture partnership with Webster Walnuts. This enabled them to draw on Webster Walnuts’ horticultural expertise and, in the early days, it was an advantage to have Websters doing the harvesting and processing.
When the contract was up, Phil and Jane decided to start their own brand rather than sell their product as a commodity, and thus, Coaldale Walnuts was born.
“Improvements continue to be made to ensure great eating experiences for consumers. Recent investment includes a specialised walnut cracking machine from France and a grading machine with optical scanner for sorting.”
The business has grown through further investment in processing equipment, including a specialised walnut cracking machine from France and a grading machine with optical scanner for colour sorting. Coaldale Walnuts now processes and sells walnuts for another farm in the Coal Valley.
Sophie and her husband Brad joined the business in 2021, bringing new skills and perspectives from corporate careers interstate… but then had the opportunity to learn business and horticultural skills from Phil and Jane.
Tasmania is an ideal place to grow walnuts because the cooler, longer growing season produces walnuts with a beautiful, rich flavour. The Coal Valley’s alluvial soils and irrigation scheme are also key to the orchard’s success.
Coaldale Walnuts sells premium in-shell walnuts and walnut kernels to gourmet grocers and providores throughout Tasmania, and directly to consumers nationally through their online store. “The most rapidly growing part of our business is pickled walnuts. While it’s a niche product, it’s growing in popularity, and we expand production every year,” says Sophie. In 2023, the business produced 2.5 tonnes of pickled walnuts, which were sold throughout Australia in restaurants and fine food stores.
Nothing goes to waste — in-shell nuts that are too small to sell in-shell or to crack are sold as premium parrot food, and any discoloured kernel goes to a local farm as pig feed. Walnut shells go back onto the orchard as mulch, with a small amount also going to a local smokehouse to see how it goes in the smoker. “We love collaborating with local businesses!” says Sophie.
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