Month: March 2019

Feijoa gold medal – AUT School of Hospitality and Tourism awards

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In its 50th year of operations, Barker’s of Geraldine is toasting its success with a pair of awards at the 2019 Outstanding NZ Food Producer Awards.

We are delighted to have been awarded two very special medals in the 2019 Outstanding NZ Food Producer Awards,” Barker’s food processing chairman Michael Barker said on Wednesday.

One of these was a gold medal for its feijoa and pear fruit paste for cheese  in the Earth category, at the Auckland University of Technology’s School of Hospitality and Tourism awards.

Judges assessed taste and flavour of more than 20 food professionals at the event before producers were assessed for their sustainability, brand story and packaging.

 

All gold medal winners are in contention for the Outstanding NZ Food Producer Awards Supreme Champion, Category Champion and Special Awards, to be announced in April.

Full story here

 

Fruit Fly Update – as at 16 March

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Two further male Queensland fruit fly have been found in Northcote this week, bringing the total to 6.
Head of Biosecurity New Zealand Roger Smith said the latest finds will mean an expansion of the controoled area zone in Northcote and associated restrictions on the movement of fruit, vegetables and green waste. The zone now extends south to the bottom of the Northcote Point.
The MPI teams on the ground will be removing fallen fruit from backyards, inspecting compost bins and placing bait on fruit trees to attract and kill adult flies, in particular females.
“There have been no further finds of Queensland fruit fly in Devonport since the only find there on February 14. However, because of the proximity to Northcote, MPI is continuing with movement controls and trapping there for the time being. We will reconsider next Friday whether this needs to continue further.
No further Facialis fruit fly have been found in Ōtara. Biosecurity New Zealand will review movement controls there at the end of next week.
Detailed maps of the controlled areas and a full description of the boundaries, and full information about the rules are available at biosecurity.govt.nz/fruitfly.
Controlled Areas have been issued for all 3 suburbs, to restrict the movement of certain fruit and vegetables out of the Controlled Area to help prevent the spread of any fruit flies if any are present.
In addition an Export Restriction Zone (ERZ) has been put in place in Northcote, and Otara. Any fruitfly host material (includes persimmons) needs to be pest prrofed while transiting these areas, if it is to remain eligible for export to countries which list the particular fruit fly species as a quarantine pest. Unfortunetly from the South, it is not possble to drive around the Otara ERZ.It is noted that 15km ERZ’s are in place for exports to China. ERZ’s will take longer to remove if no more fruit flies are found – persimmon exporters should be planning how to comply with the transport retsrictions for the coming season

Feijoa Ambassadors around the world

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In a recentarticle featuring London based chef Peter Gordon, he pondered what Brexit means for people from around the world who live in Britaian – “Once Brexit happens, do we have to leave the country?’ There are no clear directives going out to people.”

But of course he’s not seriously considering calling it quits in London; he has his restaurants, his doughnut business Crosstown and his home in Hackney. There’s a feijoa tree in the garden. “In seven years, it’s produced four tiny feijoas. Pathetic!”

He’s such a big fan of the Kiwi favourite, little known in Britain, that he often features them on the menu at The Providores. Imported from South America, they’re not quite as pathetic as his homegrown ones, but “nothing like the feijoas we have here – they’re only 75 per cent what they should be”.

Feijoa features in a New Zealand yoghurt Gordon has recently put his name to, a collaboration with The Collective. The feijoa, ginger and vanilla yoghurt is raising funds for The LAM Trust, which raises awareness of a rare lung condition, lymphangioleiomyomatosis, that affects women between the ages of 25 and 45. The trust was set up by Gordon’s good friend Bronwyn Gray, whose daughter suffers from the condition.

Persimmon Beer

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<a href=”http://www.nzpersimmons.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/AndrewTolentino_persimmonbeer-small.jpg”>
<img class=”size-full wp-image-1688 alignleft” src=”http://www.nzpersimmons.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/AndrewTolentino_persimmonbeer-small.jpg” alt=”” width=”348″ height=”348″ /></a>
As the 2019 season is approaching, and we start thinking of ways to use  fresh persimmons, this story of persimon beer caught my eye – more so because of the history behind the American persimmon beer product.
The American persimmon (Diospyros Virginiana) is native to the United States, has been sweetening the country’s palate since before the “discovery” of the New World. Early English settlers recorded that the fruit was eaten on its own, baked into bread, cakes, and puddings. But its most common use might have been as persimmon beer, a sour style that’s currently enjoying a resurgence in Indiana.
Persimmon beer is making a comeback as brewers in southern Indiana attempt to experiment with indigenous fruits and to bring back lost recipes that were a part of the nation’s history. Persimmon beer now is often a sour pale ale, with top notes of persimmon, pear, and peach, and a fresh, dry finish.
click here for the original article – <a href=”https://www.atlasobscura.com/foods/persimmon-beer”>https://www.atlasobscura.com/foods/persimmon-beer</a>