Welcome to the
Waikato
Food Basket
This is a blog that celebrates the delicious abundance of the Waikato region.
Eat your Greens
I’ve always loved green salads. My definition of an abundant life includes a garden with an apple tree, a lemon tree – and salad greens and herbs. My absolute essential greens are flat-leaf parsley, curly endive and land cress.
Elder generation
This winter I’ve been dreaming of elderflower champagne. It’s fun, and fizzy, and it reminds me of summer. It’s one of my favourite things.
Elderflowers and elderberries are great for making interesting and delicious beverages that sit at the intersection between drinks and European herbalism.
Elder generation
This winter I’ve been dreaming of elderflower champagne. It’s fun, and fizzy, and it reminds me of summer. Elderflower champagne is sometimes described as “bottled sunlight”. It’s sort of flowery, and sort of aromatic, and something else again. It’s one of my...
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Writing about eating
Plum gummies
I’ve been making superb plum jellies and gummies with my seasonal abundance of backyard plums.
There are plums galore at the farmers’ markets at this time of year.
Magic milk cultures
My two favourite milk cultures are kefir and Caspian Sea yoghurt. I’ve been making both regularly for about ten years. They are easy to make and almost foolproof.
Cabbages: the raw and the cooked
I’ve been appreciating cabbages recently – raw, cooked and sauerkraut. Richard Cato has been selling superb savoy cabbages at the local farmers’ markets. And also at the market, there’s Marea Smith’s delicious GoodBugs sauerkraut.