www.foodtechnology.co.nz 33 New Zealanders may like their wine, but a survey looking at which famous Kiwi they would share a wine with has revealed no dominating winner. Film-maker Sir Peter Jackson has topped the list in the Babich 100 Year Anniversary Wine Survey, ahead of former prime minister Helen Clark and the late comedian Billy T James, but former prime minister John Key headed both the least popular list and tied for fifth on the most popular list with former model Rachel Hunter. Babich general manager David Babich says the survey was a fun and interesting way to gauge views on who the 500 respondent New Zealanders would enjoy having a wine with from a list of 20 wellknown Kiwis from the past 10 decades. “From political leaders to celebrities and historical figures, there would be some interesting conversations taking place if the results of the survey were brought to life,” he says. “It was also great to see Kiwis recognising famous New Zealand icons and to see the legacies of some living on.” Kiwis would prefer not to share a wine with singers Dame Kiri Te Kanawa and Lorde, who both appear in the least popular list alongside Helen Clark and Barry Crump. Sporting stars also failed to break into the top five popular list, but activist Kate Sheppard can still pull a crowd, despite being dead since 1934. Most popular Least popular Peter Jackson John Key Helen Clark Helen Clark Billy T. James Dame Kiri Te Kanawa Kate Sheppard Lorde John Key & Rachel Hunter Barry Crump THE LIST OF 20 (IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER) THAT SURVEY RESPONDENTS HAD TO CHOOSE FROM: Helen Clark Kate Sheppard Peter Jackson Lorde Sir Edmund Hillary Billy T. James Rachel Hunter Sir Peter Blake Barry Crump John Key Burt Munro Willie Apiata Mark Todd Valerie Adams Katherine Mansfield Colin Meads Bruce McLaren Dame Kiri Te Kanawa Jean Batten Steven Adams we needed stickability.” That quickly became an understatement. Four cyclones have hit since – the worst saw mature macadamia trees split down the middle, large sections broken and others blown clean out of the ground, with shelter trees in the orchard blocks severely damaged. “Wind gusts of 120km were recorded, and one of these blew our 37-year-old walnut tree out of our garden, roots and all,” Charteris recalls. “These storms blew our new season’s macadamia nuts off the trees before they were ripe and so we lost a lot of crop.” In those days, the Charteris’ had 10ha of 3500 nut trees, thanks to years of grafting and trialling. They travelled to Australia, South Africa and Hawaii looking at plantations, touring smaller processors and looking at value-added products. The Nut Cracker Suite processing factory was built in 2000, processing equipment purchased and adapted, and other plant invented for their own requirements. By 2004, emacadamia products were released to the New Zealand marketplace, and the business was humming. Tour groups visited the factory, the company became Qualmarked, and emacadamia exhibited at both the Auckland and Wellington Food Shows. The Charteris’ changed their focus and developed a wholesale business, now boasting ten other nuts which they slice, paste, roast, salt, dry and meal fresh to order to customers’ requirements. Extensive research and development means up to 85% of the company’s post-cracking plant and machinery is ‘one-off’, developed to manufacture its unique products. The company specialises in manipulating nut textures, slicing in three different thicknesses, vibrating slices into consistent grades, making pure nut pastes and meals, and naturally coating in flavours such as paprika. In fact, the company can offer more than 400 different textures, including two bar mixes. emacadamia now has 400 trees, and can manufacture product in the morning for courier later in the afternoon – ensuring everything that’s made is as fresh as possible. The company offers a range of nut pastes – almond, brazil, cashew, hazelnut, macadamia, pecan, peanut, pistachio and walnut, plus an almond/hazelnut blend – that go through 13 steps before they are ready for eating, and the company is keen to work more with chocolatiers, icecream makers and those needing nuts for sauces and dressings in the future. Never, Charteris says, does the company want to forget about its loyal clients. “We have a guy on a motorbike who roars up our drive on a regular basis to pick up 5kg of nut flour for a medical condition,” she says. “He is as important as our large clients, as is the cakemaker who needs a small amount of nuts cut at a high level of detail. “Our mindset is that we never let people down. We don’t buy nuts that aren’t top quality, and we treat them with respect. I think we’ve proved those who were negative at the start wrong. We just had to be passionate.” www.emacadamia.co.nz SHARE A Glass
FT-Mar17-eMag
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