A traditional, old-fashioned butchery has joined one of Rotorua's biggest tourist attractions to deliver a sausage with a uniquely Kiwi twist ahead of National Sausage Day on Friday.
Lynmore's Redwood Butchery is set to make about 7000 of the pork and horopito (New Zealand pepper tree) sausages over the summer after Te Puia selected the butchery to make the sausage to be sold over its peak season.
Redwood Butchery owner Kevin Reardon said it was the simplicity of their sausages, which are made of just meat, spices and water, that makes them so popular.
Horopito has a long history of use in Maori food and its hot spicy flavour is increasingly being used in modern cuisine as an alternative to pepper or chilli.
Te Puia executive chef Shane Beattie said the sausages would be served on flat bread with cabbage and puha (watercress) sauerkraut and a selection of chutneys, including tomato and karengo (seaweed) and smoked horopito aioli.