Watercress

Watercress grows naturally in our streams and ditches but in recent years has been commercially grown. Plentiful from May until December, the dark green leaves of the plant should have a peppery or spicy flavour and are good to add in small amounts to sweeter salad leaves. You may find some commercially grown watercress much milder in flavour.

Real ideas with watercress:

1. Tucked under a rare steak.
2. Mixed through a chicken salad.
3. Sandwiched between soft white bread with smoked salmon or cooked bacon.
4. With orange segments in a salad with a mustardy dressing.
5. Finely chop watercress, stalks and all, and then add to a vinaigrette and spoon over peeled fresh sliced pears.
6. Combined with potato to make watercress and potato soup.

Kiwifruit

Green kiwifruit are a vibrant green-fleshed fruit with a white core, black seeds and tangy taste. Gold kiwifruit have a smooth, hairless bronze skin, golden flesh, white core and black seeds. Gold kiwifruit have a sweet, uniquely tropical taste and are very juicy. Although kiwifruit are harvested in May and June, once picked, they’re transported to pack-houses and cool stores to ensure consistent quality and constant supply so are plentiful eight months of the year.

Tenderising with kiwifruit

Kiwifruit contain an enzyme ‘actinidin’ that penetrates meat to make it more tender – useful for tough cuts. Kiwifruit flesh is either rubbed over the meat, or mashed and added to a marinade and left for an hour before cooking. But take note, if the enzyme is allowed to work for too long, the meat may become ‘mushy’. Kiwifruit is also commonly used to tenderise squid. This enzyme in kiwifruit does not work well with gelatin and will also curdle milk.

Orange-fleshed kumara

Most of our kumara are grown in Northland where the soil type and climate suits the creeping vines. Orange kumara have a rich orange flesh and are sweeter than red and gold kumara. They have a natural long shelf life and are available all year round.

Real ideas with orange kumara

1. Roasted orange kumara partners well with sweeter white meats such as chicken and pork.
2. Add colour to vegetable salads.
3. Make soup with orange kumara that tastes and looks very similar to pumpkin soup. Add 1 cup of coconut cream after