# headin' out in the cold. From the sunny north to the wild south, NZ is overflowing with breathtaking backdrops, heavenly harvests and a whole lot of fabulous foodies. So jump on board with us as we hang out with the locals, wrangle some wildlife and feast our way around this magnificent country. Come on, Toppy. We got people to meet and food to eat. Yee-hah! # Nga iwi e. # This week, we're going around the world without leaving the country ` to Belgium, with a man who doesn't just ferment; he bio-ferments. Then it's off to Japan with a couple who have brought the ancient art of miso to New Zealand. But first up we meet Lily Guilford and Steve Krzystyniak ` he's Polish ` who are fermentation foodies of the most fabulous variety! They're living the dream on their 11 acre organic farm in Helensville, North of Auckland. From their free range fermented eggs, sourdough bread to sauerkraut, every meal in this house includes food that has been fermented with love and laughter. BOTH: Yee-hoo! How are ya? How are you doing? Beautiful. You fancy coming for a spin around the farm? Yeah, too right. Come on, Jools. Get rid of that hat; put that one on. (LAUGHS) Italian-style, eh? I'm hanging on tight, buddy. Hands along the waist. That's the one. (BIKE RUMBLES) See ya. See ya! So this is the new orchard. It's only been done about seven years ago. Hey, quick, grab that apple. Wow! What a beauty! Hey, duck your head. Whoo-hoo. So Lily, not only are you a fermenter, but you're a freewheeler? Yes. How'd that come about? (LAUGHS) Just by chance, really. Some friends went to India, and they went on motorcycles. And they said, 'Oh wow, it's amazing. You should do it.' And we did, and it was just incredible. And now you go every year? Every year. Sometimes three or four times a year. And you take New Zealanders on big trips around India? We take predominantly New Zealanders, and we organise all the bikes and the accommodation, and all they have to do is ride their bikes safely. (LAUGHS) Whoo-hoo! (LAUGHS) Now, what we wanna do is slice it up fine. Righty-ho. What got you into fermentation? I just love the process. I just love the science behind it, and most importantly, I love the taste. (BOTH LAUGH) And, like, I see on our plate of things that you have fermented ` there's meat there. Yes. So that's lamb. That's amazing. That tastes like Mum's, sort of, cold roast. Mm. Beautiful. So this is stock I made last year from the same apple you just picked,... Yep. ...which we've turned into something quite fun. Like alcohol. Like alcohol, indeed. Adult drinks. Yeah. (LAUGHS) And that's what you call cider. Cider. Oh my God, Oh my god it is magical! It's quite good, isn't it? It's just the freshest drink, too. So today we're doing my favourite Polish dish. Polish! Mmm. Yep. Yep. My dad's Polish. Mashed potatoes, sauerkraut and sausages ` you can't go wrong. No. So easy. Yeah. So we're going to do a few onions, and you can do the mash. Is that called a Maori potato? That's called a Maori potato, yeah. In go these onions in a nice hot pot. Chuck a little bit of garlic in there as well. Whoo. What a feast we're going to have. Must be time for another drink. If you insist. (LAUGHS) (GLASSES CLINK) So the next part, you've gotta bash. Take all your anger out on this cabbage. (CHUCKLES) Oh, poor old cabbage. So I'm just going to get these carrots prepared. Yep. OK, you can stop bashing there. And if you just grate one of those apples into there. I'm eating my sauerkraut raw. (LAUGHS) That is a beautiful Polish sausage, eh? Oh, they're the best. They've got caraway seeds, paprika ` they're pork sausages ` they're divine. They really are. Chuck them in, eh? And we'll get them browned off as well. Yep. Righty-ho. We've got our cabbage and apple in there, and you're doing a carrot. Mix that up. Yep. Mix that up. OK, I'm going to have to go in with my hands there. Mum doesn't like me using my hands in my food. Sorry, Mum! In India, they say that you should eat with your hands, and as soon as you touch the food, your digestion starts. Yeah, I can feel mine starting already. I wanna eat that. I wanna eat all that. (LAUGHS) What about our gherkins? Are they going in our dish? No, absolutely not. Those are just something to keep us alive while we're doing it, eh. Try it. Wow, they're really sweet, aren't they? Mm. They're crispy, eh? They're the best. Is that, like, a baby cucumber? No, it's a special type of plant. So it's a gherkin plant, and you've gotta pick them every day. They're a real sneaky vegetable. They turn into bloody cannon balls if you leave them too long. And then you ferment them ` just put them in a bit of brine, a bit of dill, a bit of garlic, and then you've got about three weeks in this sort of temperature. It seems to be like fermenting is pretty damn easy. It's easy to stuff up as well. OK. (LAUGHS) If you don't get the right amount of salt in,... Yep. ...you can really miss. When you're too salty, it might go rotten. OK. We'd better have another drink, buddy. Goodo. (GLASSES CLINK) We'll be Polishly pissed by the end of the dinner. I hope so. Polished off, eh? (LAUGHS) So now we're gonna put the salt in. We need to weigh it. OK. It doesn't seem like a lot of salt, but it's enough to keep those bad bacteria at bay. Righty-oh. So put that in there. OK. And as you're putting it in, just sort of push it down and make sure that no air gets in there. We don't want no homes for no bad bugs. No. So now what we're going to do is get our plastic bag, and then we pour this water in. So the water's going into the plastic bag, not the`? Water's going into the plastic bag. So like a little weight. It's a weight. Using this as a weight. Absolutely. Did you come up with this idea or is this a sauerkraut, sort of, classic? Uh... Ooh, I think it's part of the fermentation gang's... (LAUGHS) It's one of those things us fermenting types do. And then that's it. Look at that. And where does that go now? So this goes in a place where you can keep an eye on it, but it's not in your way. - Not in the bedroom. - (BOTH LAUGH) So these are brown now, so ready for that pepper. So that's almost ready. Yep. In goes sauerkraut now. Sauerkraut. Nice big dollop of sauerkraut. It's a sea of sauerkraut. It's a sea of sauerkraut. That's right. Beautiful, eh. Yeah, really is. You'll see. When this is cooked, it'll be sweet as sugar, with a bit of a peppery tang. So we'll put the lid on that. And the lid on that. Lily, this looks amazing. Everything here is off our farm, and it's either fermented or pickled. Even that thing there? What is that? (CHUCKLES) This yellow thing here is a cheese. Yeah. I didn't have any wax, so I covered it in butter. Butter? Yes. To preserve it a little bit longer; to stop it drying out. And it's two months old. That is incredible. Is it? I haven't tried it yet. I must have a piece. It's beautiful. It's really good, isn't it? It gets that little aftertaste going. Steve will sometimes... for breakfast, he'll have cheese and sourdough bread and sauerkraut. OK, he's a weirdo. (LAUGHS) Where did you meet Lily? Met her at a party, oh, crikey, 25 years ago now? First thing she wanted to do was go off sailing with me. Go sailing? She'd be right, eh? He had an offshore boat which I was very keen on. (LAUGHS) We got the motorbike thing after that, and we're doing the tours now, which is great, cos we're enjoying that. And we couldn't do it` We do it together. It's a team effort, the tours. The thing is with us, we have incredible respect for each other. Yep. We make each other laugh, and we have the same values. Oh, she's the one. Yeah? Yes. Every girl wants to hear that. We're together for life, eh? Is that the Polish way? Cheers. (GLASSES CLINK) For life. (CHUCKLES) For life. (LAUGHS) (RELAXED MUSIC) That is beautiful. Oh my God. Here, let's get our fermented drink, which is apple cider, is it? From your apples? To fermentation and freewheelin'! Whoo-hoo! And friends! And friends. That is amazing, Jools. That's really rotten. (LAUGHTER) 1 (JAUNTY CLASSICAL MUSIC) Today we're raising money for the retired thespians of Matamata with their production of South Pacific. Break a leg. For pre-show nibbles, we've got quail eggs fermented in beetroot juice with anchovy butter. I call them rotten eggs! For a lovely encore, we've got layers of fermented fun. Pip pip, old girl. Bottoms up, all that jazz. Love the theatre! (JAUNTY MUSIC CONTINUES) Egg? Yes, thank you, darling. Lovely. (MUSIC CONTINUES) (RELAXED MUSIC) Here in Moutere, Margo and Michel D'Hondt are happily fermenting, with three sons, eight goats, one million bees and billions and billions of good bacteria. Margo's mad about goats, and Michel's mad about bees. And the whole family is just mad about fermentation. This is your magic ingredient. It looks magic. (BOTH LAUGH) It's just millions of bacteria... OK. ...that I have extract from goat milk, cow milk using these little ceramics. And this innoculate with efficient microorganisms, high in antioxidants. That's in that? They bake it in there? That's in there. Wow. Then some people say that some bacteria surviving there; others say that in fact it's through resonant waves that it works. OK, so this is` A little bit like homeopathy. So it's like a homeopathic thing, where you don't know how it works but it works. Mm. (LAUGHS) Exactly. Well, first ingredient is New Zealand-grown garlic. Nice. The ginger, the turmeric that we just harvest this morning. Look at the colour of that! Beautiful. And you know in a pesto you could use any type of seed, but I choose to use New Zealand pumpkin seed. It has a very high content in zinc. OK. OK. Now we need to introduce the lactic acid bacteria. This is going to start the fermentation process? Exactly. It will need to ferment for another six weeks. We're going to be hungry by then. (LAUGHS) (LAUGHS) (JAUNTY MUSIC) We're making feta today. Feta? Oh yes, that's my favourite. Yes. This is our goats' milk, and the culture we're going to use today is a bio-fermented basil pesto. How did you and Michel get into fermenting? We actually found out that we could ferment compost, and then Michel just ran with it, and he's fermented pretty much anything you can think of. And let me introduce you to experiment number about 252. (CHUCKLES) He said, 'Let's ferment some turmeric. And let's add it to salt.' And you're gonna put that in our cheese? Yep. Will it give it a little bit of colour? Yes, as well, which is not a bad thing. It's going to be exciting. The last ingredient is rennet. That's what's going to separate the milk into curds and whey. OK. Righty-oh. So we can leave that now ` about an hour. An hour should do it. And that's good because we've got some other jobs to do. Got some goat maintenance. That sounds interesting. (CHUCKLES) That's the finished product that we just have to dilute in olive oil. Beautiful. And this meat ` what is this meat? This is one of our beautiful little goats. Now, Margot is the chief goat-keeper, isn't she? Yeah, looking after the goats, and she looked very well after this one. And does she look after you? She does. (BOTH LAUGH) So what do you do with these goats? Well, we milk them, but essentially, they're for meat. If you get attached to an animal, how do you get round the whole thing of eating them? Well, yeah, I mean, I haven't killed them myself, but I've had friends do it for me, and there's no stress in their death, and that's the best thing that I can offer them. So this beautiful young lady here is a milk goat, and she's` Absolutely. She's going to be making milk for a long time. She's not going on the table. She had triplets. So that's her babies there? She had triplets right there? That's her triplets. Yep. Three girls. What a absolutely beautiful mother you are. (UPBEAT MUSIC) Where did you meet her? Mm, Brussels. In Brussels? Few years back. Sounds romantic. It was. She was a director in a theatre ` street theatre. A street theatre. Ah. And she picked me. He consented to play a part. And I thought, 'Oh, he's a good, strong, good-looking man.' You know? 'He'll do the part.' And I asked him. And he was really keen. (BOTH LAUGH) I think she's one of the most beautiful beings I've ever seen. Well, that's a good answer. That is the correct answer. (LAUGHS) So how long is it going to take for that to drain? I'll give it 24 hours. And what's going to happen to that whey? Aha. Now, the whey ` that's what Michele uses in his bio-fermentation. So that is almost the most important part of the by-product of your cheese? We have been known to just make cheese for the whey, yep. OK. What else we gotta do? Basically, it goes in the dish, we put the veggie round it, smear with a little bit of oil, a little drizzle of wine honey. That's good. And ready to go on the barbecue. While that's cooking, can we go and check out the bees? (RELAXED MUSIC) Hi, buddy. How are you doing? What have you got there? This is a drone. A drone? It mates with the queen. And is he all right there on your hand? Is he dangerous? No. He can't sting. He can't sting? Well, that's the kind of bee I like. Looks like your dad's got something out of the hive. What have you got there, buddy? This is the pollen. Yep. Is this what you see on their legs, catching on their legs when you see a bee flying around? Exactly. And it's used to feed the babies ad the queen. Like to try some? (LAUGHS) OK. Under your tongue. And then it melts. It's one of the most complex foods on Earth. Oh my God. Superfood, eh? Superfood. Yeah. I think I'd be happy if I lived on that and was tended to by some handsome drone. (BOTH LAUGH) BOTH SING: # Go back to its natural state. Now, this, Lynda, is the most amazing thing you've ever seen. We stole it from a very angry queen bee. We're going to have it next to you in case she comes back. (BOTH LAUGH) OK, well, actually, we made this beautiful cheese, Jools. So this is some of that pollen. It's fermented, and it's in honey. I'm going to put this on the cheese. JOOLS AND LYNDA: Wow! Look at that! That's amazing. Oh, this is falling off the bone. Well, we've had an absolutely beautiful day with you. The bees have all come. It's such a beautiful place. Everybody wants to be here. The whole family's here. Yeah. To fermentation and the bees. (GLASSES CLINK) # ...natural state. # Whoo-hoo! (GUITAR STRUMS RAPIDLY) (RELAXED MUSIC) Mie and Take Maeda have created a little slice of Japan right here in Central Nelson. They might be a long way from their homeland, but they have turned this home into the miso-making headquarters of New Zealand. This brown paste is deemed to be one of the healthiest foods in the world and the only miso made in this country. Urban Hippy Miso makes a hearty broth and can be eaten for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Hey, you Urban Hippies. Hi. That's you written on a surfboard? Yeah. That's right. That's us ` Urban Hippie. What are you doing down here? We're having breakfast. Having breakfast. Here we go. Thank you. Righty-oh. That's for you, Toppy. Beautiful. And before you eat, you've gotta say something ` the Japanese words 'itadakimasu ' BOTH: Itadakimasu. That's great. That's right. Well done. (LAUGHTER) Itadakimasu. What does that mean? Bon appetit. Oh. Good. And you made this miso soup? Mm. It's not that hard, but you need to be patient. Patient. Oh. Because it's six months fermentation. So it takes six months from the beginning to the end? That's right. That's a long time to wait for breakfast. (LAUGHTER) OK, this is a world first for me. I'm gonna make miso. How do we do it, Take? I will show you. OK. So this is rice I steamed, so it's quite hot. So I need to cool it down a bit. How much rice do you go through in a year? I buy about 3 tons. So how much miso do you make in a year? And I make about 10 tons a year. 10 tons of miso? Yeah. Where do you store all that? I store in my old 100-year-old house. Starting a bit sinking. Starting to sink? (LAUGHS) Yeah. So I put a couple more foundation, and then it's... OK. There's so much miso in that house, they've had to redo the foundations. How amazing is that? This is just so exciting for me, cos I have never ever cooked anything Japanese. We're gonna have a barbecue. Yeah, that's pretty Kiwi. Yeah. That's also quite Japanese, eh? Yes. And we're going to marinate meat and fish. So we've got our pork here. Yep. And what am I going to marinate the pork with? With umami salt. Umami salt? Yep. And did you make this? Yes. It's made form fermented rice, salt and water. Yes. So it's kind of a fermented salt. A fermented salt. Yeah. And there's lots of fermented food in Japanese, eh? Yes, there is. Yeah. Quite amazing. And I just pour this on? Yep. OK. That was an easy one. Yeah, it is. (LAUGHS) So Kiwi can do it, isn't it? Yeah, think so. Kiwis can make Japanese. So you just pour it out of a jar. That's the way to go. (LAUGHS) So this is a culture ` a type of fungus. Fungus? Yeah. It's called Aspergillus oryzae. And how much do we need in there? Only need one tablespoon. One tablespoon? Yeah. What the fungus does is they grow on the rice. That changes the starch of the rice to the natural sugar. That's a pretty busy little fungus. Yeah. OK, there it is all there. The fungus is all ready to start working? Not yet. We need to put it in an incubator ` about 48 hours. This looks absolutely beautiful, this fish. Yep. We're going to marinate with some umami salt and some olive oil. And you caught that with your bare hands, did you? Yes, my` (BOTH LAUGH) Yeah, I caught that on the kayak just five minutes paddle out. Paddle out for five`? That seems quite a lot to me. I'm not very good. I don't like getting the feet wet. (BOTH LAUGH) What's the biggest fish you've ever caught? Maybe 45cm snapper? Oh, 45cm. That's big. Yeah. Yeah, huge. Yeah. (BOTH LAUGH) The biggest thing you've ever caught was Take. (LAUGHS) He's a bit of a catch. Yeah. He was a bit heavy. He was a bit heavy? (BOTH LAUGH) Righty-oh. There we go. So that's been in the incubator for a while now, that bit? Yep. Wow. Look at that. It's like a big cake. Can I try that? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Please. Here we go. I'm going to eat rice and fungus. It's gone all sweet. Beautiful. It's going to be good miso, isn't it? Must be. So I marinate that chicken with the Misomite. Misomite. And sake. You made it too, eh? For you. (LAUGHS) Take made it. Take? Is there anything Take didn't make? (LAUGHS) What do we gotta do with that now? We need to break down in little piece and then mix with salt. How's that looking? Little bit more. I can see the lumps. He's a hard taskmaster, the miso man. This is quite possibly the most gorgeous kitchen I've ever been in. I bet you've had many adventures in this truck, have you? (LAUGHS) Yeah. That truck there is where I met Take. I met her in Wanaka. What was she doing down there? She was hitch-hiking. And he pulled over, did he? Like a good boy. Said, 'I'll pick that Japanese girl up.' (CHUCKLES) Yeah. You thought she was pretty good, so you went back and picked her up. Yep. (LAUGHS) Not much Japanese girls hitch-hiking. No. No. No, not at all. Yeah. Oh, I bet he thought all his Christmases have come at once, have they? (BOTH LAUGH) That's right. And that was it. You never got out of the truck after that, eh? (LAUGHS) So we've got our culture, our rice and our salt in there. What goes in next? Soybeans ` cooked soybeans. Now we need to put it into the grinder. And push it down. (GRINDER WHIRRS) (GASPS) Look at that. That is incredible. Like a big noodle. (CHUCKLES) Yeah, it is, eh? (LAUGHS) Push harder. Push harder? Yeah. OK. This is hard work, buddy. Yeah, use your muscles. Yeah. (CHUCKLES) Have to use your muscles. Yep. Once you've got your meat all marinated, you've got plenty of time to get prepared for the evening meal. And we must be dressed accordingly. Camp Mother would be very impressed with this outfit. (CHUCKLES) And here are the details on how we should put it on. One over my shoulder, one out of the way. Yep. Yes. Oh, you are Japanese. Good. Well, I'm just looking at the pictures, actually. (BOTH LAUGH) I would never have thought it would come out like that. You wanna taste it? It's good. It's salty. It's like a salty hummus. Salty hummus. That's what it's like. It's good. There we go. I'll put my finger in it so you can give it a good, hard knot. No perfect, but that's all right. Well, we're actually looking for that. It's supposed to be flat at the front, so we've` what do we do now? We've gotta turn... Turn it around? Oh OK. We're making the back? Yeah. Oh! You've had me all crooked there for a minute. OK. I'll really have to breathe in for this one. OK. Go. (INHALES LOUDLY) (GRUNTS LOUDLY) (LAUGHS) OK, here we go. Go! Yeah! That's it! Oh! There you go! For a girl who doesn't wear a dress, I feel pretty good in it. It's kind of a butchy dress. There it is. There's our beautiful miso paste. Six months in a bucket. (CHUCKLES) That is beautiful. Tangy, salty, savoury, beautiful. Fresh Miso - unbelievable. Arigato. Arigato. Thank you so much,... Thank you! ...my New Zealand Kiwi friend... (LAUGHS) Thank you. You made me look good. Yeah. I think barbecue is ready. OK. Lead the way. OK. Let's go. Exciting. (RELAXED MUSIC) (LAUGHS) (MUSIC CONTINUES) Whoa! Looks good! Yeah. Wow, look at that. Oh, it's like the most beautiful bacon you've ever tasted in your entire life. That is absolutely sensational. It doesn't get any better than this, does it? (LAUGHS) Not really. To the master and mistress of miso in New Zealand! We say 'kampai!' ALL: Kampai! (LAUGHTER) Take some salt and veggies,... ...put a bag of water on the top. Stick it in the cupboard and wait for it to rot. They're eating it in France, Japan and Poland too. They serve a mighty pickled cabbage Way down in Timaru. Not pickled, Ken! It's fermented ` a highly controlled rot. Now get that down ya, boy, and we'll start the next fermentation process ` From ya mouth down to ya bottom. (CHUCKLES) Pull my finger, Ken.