Bettenays

On Tom Cullity Drive in Cowaramup there is a window, and behind it a kitchen where nougat is made. Visitors can stand and watch the work being done, and are offered free samples of the nougat while they are there. It is an open way to sell confectionery: see it made, try a piece, then choose.

The nougat kitchen arrived in 2012, as an extension to a building the Bettenay family already ran on the property. The family's history there goes back to 1989. Eric Bettenay had worked for the CSIRO mapping soils across Western Australia, and Greg Bettenay held an Honours degree in Horticulture. The family trades as Bettenays Margaret River, and this page is about its nougat.

The nougat is made on site and sold mainly as 180 gram bars, across dozens of flavours. Some are the classics any nougat maker would be judged on, such as honey and toasted almond, or French vanilla bean. Others go further afield: lavender and almond, chai latte and vanilla almond, rosewater and pistachio, cranberry and pistachio, salted caramel. For anyone who cannot settle on one, or who is choosing for somebody else, there is a smaller 90 gram mixed box with several flavours in a single pack.

The flavour list changes, so the maker's site is the place to find the current one. Check it before visiting Cowaramup, too.