Local sweetness
One of the biggest practical challenges when eating locally produced food is sugar. It’s an everyday food ingredient that is not grown in the Waikato. This became an issue when I was preserving this summer’s fruit harvest. All my favourite chutney recipes call for...
Organic kiwis in season
I’m delighted to report that we can now buy locally grown kiwifruit at Hamilton Farmers’ Market. And it gets even better – it’s superb, certified organic green and gold kiwifruit, at a very good price. This is kiwifruit as it's meant to taste. Try it and you'll see...
Autumn kitchen
The kitchen is full of autumnal produce. In the vege box there are plenty of pumpkins. Also beets, bok choi, feijoas, apples, nashi, and persimmons. Great potatoes, but this year’s kumara harvest is just about finished. A few sun-ripened outdoor tomatoes, eggplants...
Easter eggplants
There were eggplants galore at Hamilton Farmers’ Market this morning. David from Suncakes Gardens was selling excellent spray-free aubergines grown in Whatawhata, and there were eggplants on a couple of other stalls as well. Eggplant is the name most often used for...
Champion hot cross buns
This morning my favourite local baker, Meg Daly of Celtic Kitchen, was selling superb hot cross buns at the Hamilton Farmers' Market. The spicy raisin buns were topped off with a glaze of cider and whisky. I managed to get a photo shortly before the last one vanished...
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme
We’re lucky in the Waikato - all kinds of herbs grow year-round in this region. This is a post about some of my favourite fresh herbs and what I do with them. It was inspired by a recent meeting of Hamilton Organic Gardeners. We met in Wendy's home garden, where she...