Spending hours peeling, cutting, stoning and mixing is a passion for a group of Otago women who are dedicated to transforming the region’s produce into artisan products their grandmothers could be proud of.
Anna Cameron, of Kitchen Window in Lake Hawea, Josie Robinson aka Mrs Pickles, of Robbies in Gore, Gabrielle Geddes’ Peanut Brittle Retro, of Alexandra, and Danielle Culling, of Dunedin’s Tartan Sari, all received medals in the Outstanding Local Producers Awards announced last week - a first for them all. They are among 218 medal winners from across the country selected from more than 300 entries.
ANNA CAMERON
For Cameron, medalling with the first products - silver for her Central Otago Apple and Date Chutney and bronze for her Central Otago Pear and Fig Chutney and Central Otago Apricot and Chilli Chutney - she ever entered in a competition is pretty exciting.
Judges describe her apple and date chutney as "Chunky texture, great punch of ginger flavour. Lovely glossy consistency. This would be delicious on a platter".
"I’ve been walking a little taller. The judges are highly respected so the validation from them is really something," Cameron said.
It has been a long time coming. Cameron worked in professional kitchens in Christchurch for many years before moving to Wanaka and bringing up three daughters.
"In the ’80s it was easy to start washing dishes and work your way up. I’ve always been drawn to food. I can remember when I was very young going with Dad to the markets and buying dozens of cartons of fruit and vegetables that we’d take home for my mum. She’d spend hot summer days in a tiny kitchen preserving.
"I loved seeing the rows of jars of fruit lined up on those purpose-built shelves."
Fifteen years ago she was asked to cater an event for their local kindergarten, which before she knew it, became a regular catering business. Then requests started to come in for the recipes for her dressings and chutneys so she decided to bottle and sell them at her local farmers’ market.
"I started to move away from catering except for the odd yoga retreat."
Always a keen bottler and preserver at home just like her mother, she thought why not make the most of the region’s fruit and make her favourite preserves to sell and has not looked back. She now has 20 different products and as well as selling through her website and some retailers, sells one litre catering jars to a few cafes and restaurants.
By the time Covid-19 hit, her children had left home and then the catering work for yoga retreats disappeared, giving her time to focus on her products.
It was during this time that she decided to enter the awards.
"It was the prompt."
When she first started catering, the family lived in a cottage in Wanaka so she had a separate commercial kitchen, but when they sold up and built at Lake Hawea, she designed the kitchen, which is run on solar power and gas, specifically for her preserving work.
Cameron also has a garden where she grows her own herbs and greens as well as some of the apples she uses in the popular apple and date chutney.
She likes to play around with different flavours - she loves travelling and experiencing different food and flavours - and textures to find combinations she likes and while she says it is difficult to pick favourites, her spiced plum chutney and boysenberry jam are right up there for her.
"The dressings I first made 12 years ago are still popular."
The business means Cameron is flat out most of year, from the build-up to Christmas and then apricot season through to autumn’s apples, pears, quinces and crab apples.
While now is a quiet time for her, she has two chest freezers full of fruit she could not get into jars to process.
"I just stone and freeze it and work through it over winter."
Cameron has found the pandemic, while tough, has made people think more about their food, where it comes from and what is in it.
"There is a lot more awareness out there now. People are thinking a lot more about supporting small businesses and local business."
She is now at a point of deciding what her next stage will be.
"I’ve taken over the garage as a storeroom and for packing. I can’t get my car in there any more. I’ll see what next year brings - I may have to establish another kitchen."
JOSIE ROBINSON
Eight years later she has won a gold medal for her Artisan Collection Noir Gärlik - Black Garlic Sauce Gluten Free and bronze for her Artisan Honey and Balsamic Pickled Onions.
The judges describe the sauce as "Wow! A great finishing sauce. So many ways it could be used to add depth and flavour".
"I still can’t believe I got gold. I know it’s good enough but it still hasn’t sunk in yet. I can’t believe it’s won a national award," Robinson said.
The sauce was made during the Covid-19 lockdown as Robinson sought to make a black sauce that her gluten-free friends and family could use and enjoy.
"I wanted to remove the barrier so they could eat tasty, good-for-you food. I’m very passionate about everyone eating great food."
While she started out with her Nan’s recipes, she now creates her own and puts modern twists on old favourites using organic and heritage ingredients wherever possible. She has a range of 48 including pickles and chutneys, sauces and pickled onions.
Her pickled onions are her most popular ranges and she has been known to sell more than 100 jars in one day at a show.
Robinson, who grew up in Oamaru and now lives in Gore, is helped in the business by her husband and occasionally her three children.
DANIELLE CULLING
In Culling’s case she is carrying on a family business which started in the markets of London. She used to help her parents at the markets selling pickles, chutneys and curry pastes.
Now living in Dunedin, Culling, who is a teacher and also makes organic deodorant, felt homesick for the tastes of her childhood so asked her parents for the secret recipes which had come from her grandmother on her mother’s side.
"Recipes are usually passed down orally but my Auntie Doris, Mum’s sister, got her mother to write them down. So it’s thanks to her we are here."
After getting a good response to her efforts she decided to sell them, getting a place at the Otago Farmers Market about a year ago.
"It’s really nice to celebrate family recipes, it’s a real connection to my family and continuing on the family business as well is really special."
Her Spicy Zucchini Pickle has been awarded silver which is special to Culling as it combines the family recipe with a "Kiwi" touch.
"Traditionally it is made with aubergine, but I wanted to keep it local using New Zealand produce so thought I’d try it with zucchini and it came out really nice."
With six different-flavoured pickles, a special coriander and coconut chutney and curry pastes, she is able to make the most of the produce from the stallholders around her at the market in her products.
Her parents are "overjoyed" one of their three daughters is carrying on the family business and the name of the business, Tartan Sari, reflects her parents’ heritage - her father is Scottish and her mother is Goan.
"When I was a teenager I wanted to be a famous singer and when I got to Top of the Pops I thought I’d wear a tartan sari, so I thought it’s a shame to waste the name. It’s a nod to my parents and a celebration of both their cultures."
GABRIELLE GEDDES
It was the search for a vegan and gluten-free product that drove Geddes, a keen foodie, to experiment with making peanut brittle.
She had been working in local food and produce markets around Central Otago and noticed regular inquiries from customers about products for people who were vegan or gluten-free.
"I don’t eat meat so I had an understanding of where they were coming from."
So she started thinking of what could fill that gap and back to the 1970s’ festivals and shows where cones of candyfloss and candysticks were treats. Hence the "retro" label and packaging for the brittle.
"I had an old family recipe and knew in America it is so popular."
With the support of her boss who had a registered kitchen she was able to experiment and come up with a recipe that worked. As well as making smaller packets she also makes 22cm large rounds of the brittle.
Judges awarded the brittle a silver medal saying it "feels assured, well made. Lovely peanut and caramel aroma, roasted and toasty flavour. Good crunch. Beautiful shiny appearance".
These days she has her own kitchen registered so works in that producing brittle and has had great support from retailers from Waitati to Bluff.
"It’s going from strength to strength."
The Outstanding Food Awards’ champions are announced on June 21 in Auckland.
Anna Cameron’s Salad of Avocado, Orange and toasted Almonds
This salad has been a long time favourite of our family and is also served and enjoyed on yoga retreats.
Baby spinach
Orange, cut into segments
Avocado, sliced
Slivered Almonds, toasted
(If you are allergic to nuts, this salad is also lovely with toasted pumpkin seeds).
Mint and Honey dressing
Method
Layer ingredients on a platter and drizzle with Kitchen Window Catering's Mint & Honey Dressing.
Producers ‘uniquely Wanaka’
Regular Outstanding Food Producer Award medalists from Wanaka have also continued their winning streaks.
Wanaka-based Augustines of Central took out three medals, Taste of the Alps two medals, PURE New Zealand Ice Cream three and Branch Creek Honey one.
Augustines director Gus Hayden said he was really pleased with his results this year, again having one of his products in the running for a champions award. Last year it was his Black Doris Plums in Pinot Noir that won, this year his Rhubarb in Rose is in the running.
"I decided to go with rhubarb as it is an overlooked, old-fashioned ingredient. It was a no-brainer to me to pair rose with rhubarb because it further enhanced the red blush of the rhubarb without overpowering the flavour of the fruit."
Like other small producers he is finding quality, homemade goods are in demand as people become more aware of what they are eating.
"These days people like to know where their food comes from and its story which Augustines of Central strives to deliver."
Taste of the Alps owner Tineke-Maree Sutton believed the success of her chutneys and pickles over the years was they were consistent and small-batch made with local sustainable fruit.
She looks for gaps in the market for products using local produce and goes from there. The abundance of plums and zucchinis available in Wanaka are the base of her winning products this year.
"From Mt Gold on our label to local goodness in the jar, it’s uniquely Wanaka."
PURE New Zealand Ice Cream’s sorbets dominated the non-dairy section which director Brian Thomas said was the result of not only great products with intense flavours but also because consumers were becoming more health conscious and were also looking for products that were natural and free from allergens like gluten and nuts, not to mention those who were lactose intolerant and looking for a satisfying frozen treat.
"We think we consistently medal because we’re never tempted to compromise on the quality of our natural ingredients or our handcrafted artisan processes, despite costs rising all around us."
While the range of dairy-free gelato and sorbet options is growing, the company is still developing its traditional ice cream range.
