Happy hot cross bun day
There are very few sacred foods in my British-Anglican backstory, and one is hot cross buns. In the Waikato we’re lucky to have two makers of superb hot cross buns: Celtic Kitchen and Volare. Dorothy, my proper English grandmother, would have approved of both. Above:...
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A taste for honeygar
My latest favourite home-made beverage is honeygar. It’s simply my home-made apple cider vinegar, combined with Sweetree Kirikiriroa raw honey and diluted in a glass of water. If you’ve never tried it, you’re in for a treat. I think honeygar is the next kombucha....
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Fruits of autumn
Late autumn is the time to make my favourite fruit salad, with crisp juicy nashi from Grant and Heather Kane at the farmers’ market. (This is what strawberry growers do when the berries are finished!) Nashi is a brief seasonal crop – there’s only a couple more weeks...
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Golden grapefruit
I started today with freshly squeezed, wonderfully ripe grapefruit juice courtesy of our vintage grapefruit tree. I love the sweet-sour-bitter flavour. This year, in late February the tree still has a few fruit on it. That’s even after several batches of marmalade. It...
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Water: the Blue Spring
Recently I sampled the beautiful water at the Blue Spring near Putaruru. It tasted like the mountain spring water of my childhood memories. And I learned that water is one of the major export food products of the Waikato region. The Blue Spring, and the Waihou Walkway...
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Scallopini summer
Round about this time of year Clif from Clif’s Gardens sells bags of bright yellow scallopini squashes at the Hamilton Farmers’ Market. I just love the colour. And the cute, crazy, flying saucer shapes. (The Waikato Foodbasket loves weird vegetables!) Apart from their...
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