KEY POINTS:
This week we're cooking up a storm thanks to the Food Show, after racing around picking up the latest products to try at home. Here's five of our favourite new things and some other highlights from the four-day foodie fest.
1. Village Press Olive Oil
This award-winning olive
oil - and the name behind a name, being the company responsible for pressing Paul Holmes' Mana Lodge oil - now comes in a handy bag-in-a-box. The one-litre pack with pourer is just the light-proof thing for the bach or boat. Two and four-litre packs comply with industrial kitchens with no-glass rules.
Village Press also bottles its extra virgin oils from a range of different flavoured olives for the true aficionado.
* Available from specialty food stores and bigger supermarkets.
2. Devonport Chocolates
The latest ranges from this artisan chocolate-maker taste great, and we love the very now packaging in delicate shade of blues, greens and, of course, chocolate. There's a 70 per cent dark, and a less-intense dark with chilli and lime. Chilli we've tried before, but mixed with lime, it has an extra zing. For the white chocolate fan, the new combination with lemon tea is lovely. In elegant little 80g tablets, this chocolate is ideal for giving.
* Available from Devonport Chocolates and specialty stores.
3. Phoenix light sparkling range
Low in sugar, high in taste, these lightly carbonated drinks marketed through cafes come in great new flavours, including Lemongrass, Elderflower and Lime Blossom. Even the names sound refreshing.
4. Kapiti
The ice cream and cheeses from Kapiti already have a firm following and are one of the best bargains at the Food Show, but we recommend you check out Lemon Meringue Pie ice cream, and watch out for the release in a few months of Kahurangi blue cheese. Not to be confused with Kapiti's popular Kikorangi blue, Kahurangi is smoother, a decadent triple cream which immediately won fans at its preview tasting.
5. Alpine Gold's Nectarine Juice
Made from Central Otago fruit, this is a winner. The Cromwell company is just starting to market into Auckland and sells juices and carbonated drinks, plus a Wild Cider made from Granny Smith and Cox's Orange apples. Try Victoria Park New World or www.alpinegold.co.nz
* Delmaine used the show to launch a range of new pastas and Passata, a premium tomato extract. Ravioli Grande comes in asparagus and parmesan, venison and blue cheese and spicy chorizo. Look out for a new rice range, too, for gourmet convenience food available from supermarkets.
* Pomegranate is so last month, goji or wolfberries are the new wonder fruit, being promoted for their anti-oxidant properties. We were amused by rival marketers extolling the benefits of their goji berries, some from China some from Tibet. The taste is weird raisin.
* Canaan cheeses are made the Israeli way, in Avondale, and its specialty cheeses are sumptuous, among them Haloumi, Lanae, Zefatit and a cottage cheese that is beyond creamy. For stockists including some supermarkets, see http://canaancheese.co.nz/
* Check out jam and picklemaker Anathoth's mini-gem range. This puts its tasty fruity jams in handy, smaller pottles.
* Premium smallgoods-maker Hellers has introduced a shaved range of leg ham, silverside and roast chicken. Sliver-thin cuts, guaranteed not reconstituted. New also are tasty Biersticks.
* Vegetarians should have already discovered Bean Supreme soybean sausages on supermarket shelves. Check them out, and try the new cocktail sausages - showing meat-free can still be full of bite. www.beansupreme.co.nz
* St Andrews Limes from Hawkes Bay makes scrummy Lime Curd and a new bottled Margarita Sour Mix that tastes just-squeezed fresh. For the full range see www.limes.co.nz