It's "The Māori Foodie" Natasha Whitewood's latest creation and after four months of product development, her Reka "tasty" chocolates with their smoky caramel centres are tu meke.
Nō Rotorua mai (made in Rotorua), Whitewood collaborated with Springfield-based business Dangerous Chocolate to bring her interpretation of Māori cuisine to life.
"If I say I am going to do something I will do it. I had a break in my time, so I literally walked into Dangerous Chocolates on Otonga Rd and said: 'I've got this idea, what do you think?'"
Rotorua chef Natasha Whitewood. Photo / File
By the end of last year the collaborators were "really excited".
Smoking has always been one of Whitewood's favourite traditional cooking techniques and selling food products has been in the back of her mind since competing on television in My Kitchen Rules two years ago.
She also wanted to make a "bilingual product" that helped tell the story of Māori culture, using local businesses.
"For me, what was really important was the authenticity ... It's not just about food but the kaupapa [purpose]."
Reka chocolates - inspired by hāngī cooking methods. Photo / Supplied
The gold chocolate design represents the ashy embers from a hāngī.
Whitewood also hand-wove flax and took it to Advocate Prints to inspire the packaging.
"I harvested some flax and I wove a mat to replicate a kono, a rourou [basket]. Traditionally what we would put our kai [food] in."
Dangerous Chocolate owner and chocolatier Sabine Ford said chocolate "will pick up scents and other smells fairly easily" because it is porous.
