Essential Flavours does just what it implies – it makes flavours! Using a delightful combination of science and art they can make any flavour you like and provide it to you in liquid or powder form, from classic chocolate, through spices, and any fruit you care to mention. And what’s more, they don’t do flavouring in a small way – Essential Flavours products are distributed right across the Asia-Pacific region.

As well as tickling tastebuds from Stawell to Singapore and beyond, Essential Flavours is planting trees. Since August 2020, they have partnered with Fifteen Trees to commit to purchasing 250 trees every month for community tree planting projects.

This year, we have planted their trees (1,500) at 3 Victorian sites, Mornington Peninsula (2,000), Meredith (710) and Mt Worth (490).

Site A | Mornington Peninsula |  1,500 trees

The Somers Koala Habitat Project (Coolart to Cerberus Biolink) is a fabulous project to support. With over 70% of landholders confirming their intent to participate in this revegetation project it is also backed by Mornington Peninsula Shire, Parks Victoria and the Department of Defence. And now with sponsors such as Fifteen Trees and Essential Flavours, this revegetation project has grown by leaps and bounds.

This project is being coordinated by the fabulous people at Mornington Peninsula Koala Conservation (MPKC).

Here’s a few reasons why this project is so important:

• Recent research from Deakin University suggests that the koala population has been negatively impacted by the highly fragmented nature of habitat on the Mornington Peninsula,
• By providing a wildlife corridor biolink it will allow animals including koalas to move safely, to reach vital food resources and help maintain viable populations,
• Without this, koala populations will inevitably continue to decline, become isolated and may face local extinction.

Some of the trees planted included; Drooping Sheoak, Coastal Banksia, Messmate, Swamp Gum, Coastal Manna Gum, Narrow-leafed Peppermint, Black Wattle, Blackwood, Scented and Swamp Paperbark and Silky Hakea. All koala habitat trees!

Site B | Meredith |  710 trees

Planting in rows with a mix of gums, bottle brush, blackwood, sweet bursaries, paperback and hakea, the trees planted at Meredith, will bring some much needed biodiversity back onto this revegetation site.

I would very much like to take this opportunity to thank Fifteen Trees and their sponsors for their support in this revegetation project of ours. Your aid has enabled more to be done and thus greater steps forward to improving the environment.

Through your help we have created an oasis among open paddocks.

True joy awaits as the plantations grow into a protective environment for stock, a home for birds and native animals and improvements to the landscape. We hope the koalas return along with the echidnas, wrens, honey eaters, eagles and magpies

Bruce McMullen | Member | Meredith Landcare & Land for Wildlife

Site C | Mt Worth | 490 trees

Support from Essential Flavours, has enabled the completion of two additional planting projects at Ellinbank. VIC.  The first was the continuation of previous plantings with the aim of establishing smaller plants particularly Kunzea, Acacia Verniciflua (Varnish Wattle), Gynatrix Pulchella, Cassinia Aculeata and Cassinia Trinerva amongst the previously planted gully along a small tributary of Bear creek.

The aim for this area, is to plant smaller trees amongst the mature eucalypts and silver wattles to increase the biodiversity of the area.  While a number of small bird species such as wee bills, fantails and robins have been sighted in the area the planting group were keen to increase the habitat for these small birds to encourage their breeding. This gully area which has been fenced off for more than 25 years was a challenging area as it is steep, crisscrossed with fallen trees and scoured with wombat burrows.

The second project was the remaining 80 metre section of creek which runs across one of the paddocks between two fenced areas. The first task was to fence off the remaining creek frontage. Seventy Kunzea were then planted inside the fence to screen the area, with a further ten manna gums planted to establish specimen trees in the 2-acre plot to try and encourage the koalas back into the area.

Two massive projects that would not have gone ahead without the support from Essential Flavours.

We love to see family owned Australian companies taking on the world. We love to see them looking after it too. Essential Flavours has been around since 1989 – we hope that it prospers, as its trees surely will, for many decades to come.

If you are also interested in how your business and Fifteen Trees could work together, contact Collen at <[email protected]> and ask for a proposal.

Writer – Colleen Filippa. Colleen is the Founder and Director of Fifteen Trees.