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DINE OUT ON berries THIS SUMMER IN THE WAIKATO

Now is the time to head to Waikato and make the most of ber‰ season!

Sometimes the best things in life come in the smallest packages – like a perfectly ripened berry picked straight from the vine. The aroma and flavour of the freshest berries make it easy to gobble an entire punnet in one sitting when they are at their best. And that’s just how berry growers in Waikato like to serve them up from their farm doors – ready to eat.

Waikato is one of the major berry producing regions in New Zealand, and is known for its boysenberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries

and strawberries.

Pick your own

As well as producing outstanding berries for retail, many of the farms are also destinations for a delightful day out, with options to pick your own proving a perennially popular proposition.

Berry season, which runs from October through to late February, sees families and groups of friends descending on the many farms in the Waikato region. They’re seeking out berries of every variety, from blueberries from Blueberry Country and Monavale Blueberries and strawberries from The Strawberry Farm, to a whole bevy of berries from Tauwhare Berry Farm (blackberries, raspberries and strawberries), Ruakara Berry Farm (blackberries, blueberries, boysenberries, raspberries and strawberries) and Whatawhata Berry Farm (blackberries, blueberries, boysenberries, raspberries and strawberries).

And while picking your own bounty of berries is attraction enough, many of the farms also o er cafés, playgrounds, farm shops and, perhaps best of all, real fruit ice creams to enjoy after you’ve filled your buckets.

Is there a more perfect way to spend a spring or summer’s day?

The Strawberry Farm

Gary and Pam McMahon took over The Strawberry Farm in 2003 when their three daughters were in high school and now all three run their own businesses on the farm.

Since 2013, daughter Haley Bicknell has been the owner/operator of on-site eatery Punnet, which o ers alfresco dining and cuisine that’s both homely and refined.

You’ll find strawberries on the menu as well as in the fields, piled up on wa les, in salads, mixed with asparagus and topping the sweet treats in the cabinet.

Haley’s sisters, Emma Gethen and Kate Strachan, own and operate their store Country Providore beside Punnet, o ering a selection of artisan goods and chic homewares – and of course punnets of strawberries and berry ice creams.

“The Strawberry Farm has been a really special part of all our lives. We’ve literally grown up in the business working in the pack house or the shop and having an ice cream every day when we came home from school,” says Haley.

“Now between the three of us [sisters] we’ve got seven kids who all absolutely

love strawberries and growing up on a strawberry farm.”

“Whilst we don’t do pick-your-own every weekend, we o er a really unique package for people to come and dine and have lunch with us,” says Haley. “We’ve doubled the size of the playground and there’s also an amazing scavenger hunt that kids can do, so kids are very well taken care of. You can also peruse the shop, have an ice cream and take home a punnet or two.”

The Strawberry Farm holds a strawberry festival each November, which brings the first flush of strawberries, where people can come to the farm and pick their own berries.

That first flush also produces massive berries – sometimes the size of your hand. “The first flush is always the best and then [they] get progressively smaller over the season,” explains Gary.

After 23 years Gary says he still enjoys the berries and what that does for the family.

“Our whole family is focussed around the berries and that’s where we’ve come from, where we’re going and where we are. It’s been a big part of our lives for the last 23 years.”

Throughout the season they sell more than half their crop through Country Providore – picked fresh and ready to be consumed that day.

Pam also sells their strawberries at the local farmers’ markets and her advice to people is to eat them at room temperature, not straight from the fridge – that way you can enjoy the flavour and sweetness at their best.

Though, if you’re not going to eat them straight away, get them in the fridge says Gary.

“You always get them in the fridge as fast as you can. Never leave them out overnight or they will spoil. If kept in an airtight container they will last for a week

“‘e Strawber‰ Farm has been a really special part of all our lives. We’ve literally grown up in the business working in the pack house or the shop and having an ice cream eve‰ day when we came home from school.”

or 10 days easily which is another little point people don’t realise about strawberries,” he says.

“Everyone’s looking for strawberries the night before Christmas but the smart people could be buying them a week before when they are not so expensive.”

A fun day out

Ruakura Berry Farm, also home to restaurant Camarosa, o ers the largest pick-your-own strawberry field in the Waikato. They also grow raspberries, blueberries, blackberries and boysenberries.

Camarosa’s Kamal and Danielle Dhillon have worked hard to create a fun day out for families where they can pick berries with the kids, grab an ice cream, run round

the playground and have a sit-down meal at Camarosa.

“Danielle and I love eating out and we wanted to create a place that was a good stop for families and bring something di erent to the Waikato area. We get a lot of people drive out to us, including from Auckland, and they are amazed when they arrive and say ‘wow, it’s such a great setting and a beautiful place to be’. That is what we envisioned and wanted to do, so we gave it everything we had.”

Aptly, the restaurant takes its name from the variety of strawberries the family has been growing for many years.

Kamal’s parents have been a big support to the couple, who first began working the land in 2015 and have now planted out three hectares on their 10-acre property with berries. They are also known for their fat juicy strawberries, which love growing in the rich peat soil.

“I love planting them, watching them grow and then harvesting them and being able to provide from the land,” says Kamal. “One of the cool things is seeing people come out with their families and picking their own berries and teaching their kids where the fruit comes from, then take it home and eat it. We also do school tours where we’ll take them out into the fields and show them the process of everything from cultivating the soil to getting plants in the ground, harvesting and packaging.”

Ruakura Berry Farm sells 90 per cent of its fruit through its shop and restaurant including fresh and frozen berries.

The chefs at Camarosa also love it and many of the dishes are inspired by the berries they have out in the fields.

Wa les and hot cakes come loaded with berries. Berry gels are used for both sweet and savoury dishes. They also appear in cocktails, mocktails and as drink garnishes.

Frozen berries, mixed with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, make for a fantastic flavour punch.

Kamal and Danielle did also experiment with making ice creams with fresh berries but soon has a realisation.

“You need to use frozen berries otherwise the ice cream topples over. It just doesn’t hold up. So, there’d be a lot of sad faces and dropped ice creams everywhere,” Kamal laughs.

Berry hack

If you want to freeze your own strawberries, Camarosa’s Kamal o ers this handy advice.

First cut o the green bits at the end and then, depending on how you want your berries, either chop into halves or quarters and lay them on a baking tray and freeze them like that (otherwise they will stick together).

Once they are frozen, combine the pieces in a bag or container and put them back in the freezer and when it is time to use them, they’ll be in individual pieces.

Other ideas for freezing berries include adding them to ice cubes.

Blueberry benefits

Another wonderful thing about berries is they’re a healthy sweet treat, blueberries in particular. Blueberries are rightly labelled as a superfood because they’re juicy, sweet, low in calories and incredibly good for you.

Pick your own at New Zealand’s largest blueberry orchard, Blueberry Country, and enjoy an ice cream or co ee at their Ōhaupō farm’s café.

Monavale Blueberries near Cambridge grow more than 30 di erent varieties and are New Zealand’s largest BioGro certified blueberry orchard. The family-owned business has been growing organic blueberries since 1985. Its Café Irresistiblue has stunning views towards Pirongia, Kakepuku and Maungatautari mountains. A great spot to enjoy a slice of blueberry pie or stock up on preserves!

Waikato berry farms to visit

• Monavale Blueberries (monavaleblueberries.co.nz)

• Blueberry Country (blueberry.co.nz)

• Whatawhata Berry Farm (whatawhataberryfarm.com)

• Tauwhare Berry Farm (tauwhareberryfarm.nz)

• Ruakura Berry Farm (ruakuraberry.co.nz)

• The Strawberry Farm (punnet.co.nz) Check out Waikato PYO Berry Map (waikatonz.com/pyo)

Wine Notes

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2022-11-17T08:00:00.0000000Z

2022-11-17T08:00:00.0000000Z

https://good.pressreader.com/article/282711936014182

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