The eclectic food basket of category winners was topped by a range of vegetable noodles from Marton business the Whole Mix Company, a subsidiary of Spiers Foods, claiming the Massey University Supreme Award at this year’s competition.
Other category winners included the Clevedon Buffalo Company picking up the artisan award for its marinated mozzarella, the only produced by a New Zealand herd, while The Apple Press won the non-alcoholic section for its cold pressed apple juice and Alliance Group took the Frozen Award for its Te Mana Lamb range. Matakana based brewery 8 Wired claimed the alcoholic beverages award with its unusual sour beer Cucumber Hippy.
The Clevedon Buffalo Company is no stranger to awards, having also won top honours at the Outstanding NZ Food Producer awards earlier this year.
The annual Massey awards include food, beverage and ingredient products with special award categories open for primary food producers, food service providers and ingredient supply companies.
The judges who included food critic and chef Ray McVinnie were impressed with the Rangitikei company’s noodles’ versatility and convenience while maintaining a high level of nutrition and food value.
The company’s noodle range includes zucchini, butternut, a medley and kumara. They are offered as a meal replacement to traditional pasta with the option to be used cooked in salads and stir-fries or eaten straight from the packet.
“These pre-packed, spiralised microwavable vegetable noodles, prepared from locally-grown vegetables are delicious, nutritious and fill a much needed gap in the fresh vegetable market.
“Consumers are crying out for fresh products they can cook or prepare quickly and easily,” the judges said.
Alliance Group claimed two awards with its Te Mana Lamb in the Frozen section.
The Te Mana brand spun off from the Omega Lamb Project, a joint farmer-government project identifying premium lamb with higher levels of omega-3 fatty acids delivering a different taste and mouth feel to traditional lamb.
The lamb is a feature in top-line Asian and British restaurants and appears in My Gourmet Bag food bags.
“The lamb has been a major drawcard for a new generation of foodies and entirely new consumer segments and markets that previously weren’t interested in lamb,” Alliance marketing general manager Peter Russell said.
The Omega project found a combination of genetics, management and feeding can alter lamb fat profiles, producing a healthier fat type in the final product.
Pamu Deer Milk from Landcorp was awarded the Novel Food Award, coming after three years of testing and trialling the corporate’s deer milking operation.
The milk’s highly creamy texture has lent itself to multiple applications in restaurant kitchens and drawn endorsement from leading chefs for its extra-creamy mouth feel.
The company also claimed the Grassroots innovation award at this year’s Mystery Creek Fieldays.
At present the product is available only through several restaurants in Auckland and Wellington.
Pamu chief executive Steve Carden said chefs had discovered multiple uses for the product, including creating a deer milk cocktail.
Massey University vice-chancellor Professor Jan Thomas said the quality of entries and increased interest in the awards reflects a remarkable growth in the sector’s innovation and also the confidence of NZ companies to compete in global and domestic markets.
