# Left my hometown of Huntly, # headin' out in the cold... From the sunny north to the wild south, New Zealand 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. # Umami, umami. It's the new buzzword in cooking. 'Savoury, savoury' just doesn't have the same ring. We'll meet a family from the Wild West who are wild about Worcester sauce. And then we experience the wonder of a heritage tomato farm in Clevedon. But first up, we're at Hillcroft Mushrooms in the Hawke's Bay with Bruce and Jane Mackinnon. Never in a million years did these two ever imagine growing organic shitake and oyster mushrooms. Their farm is like entering a whole new world, and as it turns out, their south-facing land is just perfect for growing fungi. Bruce and I started off with a bare piece of land. So you had nothing here? Nothing here. There was nothing here? No. Not a tree? No. Grassy knoll. We planted trees and found that mushrooms grew here beautifully. And that ignited our idea that, 'Hey, why not? Let's try growing mushrooms.' Perfect. Mm. What about these little tiny fullas here? They're pretty gorgeous-looking. Orange poreconch. Orange poreconch. They're a decomposer. That mushroom is gonna break that stump down. And that particular one there... The turkey tail? ...is the only one that we can eat. Yes, and it grows on decomposing logs. Looks like a turkey tail too. Mm. Looks like a gobbler's done the full fan. (BOTH LAUGH) Righty-oh. Beautiful. You can guarantee me that that's not poisonous? I can guarantee it's not poisonous. Righty-oh. (CHUCKLES) We're going to make that into a tea. If you get the right ones, they're so good for you. So, we're making the food for the fungus. We are making shitake mushroom food. How exciting. So, what's that you're putting in there? That's gypsum. Gypsum? Yup. And what's the other stuff you've got in there? Wheat bran. And so this is a big, sort of, giant cake to grow mushrooms. (CHUCKLES) We're sort of emulating nature, aren't we, Bruce? Yes. So, our lovely little shitake mushroom doesn't grow in soil? No, in decomposed, dead wood. This is eucalyptus chip, so it's simulating the wood. Like any good cake, it has to be mixed well. That's right. Just gonna judge to see that that's gonna be the right mixture, eh? Yup. Just got to feel it, have you? Well, you can get meters and stuff. That's not the Kiwi way. No, I've done it a couple of hundred times, so... (CHUCKLES) If I haven't got it right now, it's time to give up, isn't it? It's not easy to work with. It's not like scone mix. (CHUCKLES) Nah. It's a bit lumpy. Have you always been a mushroom farmer? No. No? What did you do before this? I used to do some fishing. Commercial fishing. And how long were you out at sea for? Seven weeks at a time. Hard not seeing your family? It was actually, yup. The thing about fishing is you've gotta bail out before the missus bails out on you. Oh, OK. (LAUGHS) You don't want to be bailing out at all if you're fishing, buddy. No, no, that's right. That means your boat's going down. Yeah, true. Is that much nicer, to be around your family and the boys? Yup, get to watch their rugby and stuff. Do they know how to be mushroom farmers? No, they're not interested. Not interested? (CHUCKLES) No, I don't think so. Who's gonna take on the role of the shitake farmer? I'm not too sure, actually. Have you got some...? I've got you as my sidekick. I know how to do it now. Yeah. I'll have to give up everything and become a shitake farmer just to keep the tradition going down here in the Hawke's Bay. You're gonna take them somewhere else and sterilise all of these? Yup. Three more of those to do. Three more of those. We can do that. Mushrooms do good things to you, eh? Yeah, I reckon. I have one of these every morning. Our beautiful turkey tail tea. Good for your immune system. Immune system? Yeah. OK. It has that beautiful, earthy, mushroom smell. And it's kind of creamy. Are you` You get that creamy` It's quite pleasant, isn't it? Mm. first for me. (CHUCKLES) (CHUCKLES) The rhyme is there. And those are our amazing shitake mushrooms right there. What is it, the 'umami'? That's the savoury, meaty flavour that you can get from a mushroom. What have we gotta do with these? We're gonna chop the stems off. Then we are going to mince them. (GASPS) That seems a terrible thing to do. Oh, it seems a crime. Never mind. Here we go. And then we're going to extract the umami flavour by cooking them on a low heat. Put them in with the onions. Yup. Ooh my goodness, it's sticking a bit. Just like porridge, like Mum used to make. Yeah. Don't let it stick. Beautiful. We're gonna leave that now to suck up the umami flavour. Yeah. Then we're gonna add some more stuff to it? Yes. We're really in the lab here. We've got a Petri dish and everything. Whoo-hoo! Look at that. So that's` Can I hold that? Yup. That is mycelium. So that's what turns into shitake mushrooms. I transfer that to sterilised grain. It's starting to grow all through the grain. All this stuff goes in with the wood chips that we did this morning. Yup, yup, yup. Sweet. It's looking at colonising that whole bag. It's really, really having a go here. And then you get to this stage where it's` Where this looks like you should throw it out. No, no. (LAUGHS) So, that's taken over the nutrient base. What we do now is bring it on to its sexual stage where it produces the mushrooms,... OK. ...which are the flowers. So the mushroom's a flower? OK. And, so, how long has it taken for us to get to this place? 55 days. 55 days? So it takes quite a bit of time to grow a mushroom, that's for sure. And then it gets a` You've got to whack it, eh? It's like a fruiting trigger. Basically, what you're saying is, 'Start fruiting.' Is that what I'm doing? Yup. This one will fruit really well. It's been double spanked. I'm smacking a mushroom to make it fruit. You're a naughty mushroom. (CHUCKLES) The things we do. With these large shitake mushrooms, before we roast them, we're gonna baste them with my marinade. Sesame oil, wine, tamari sauce and garlic. We need to put a reasonable amount on. And is this your idea, or was this Bruce's idea? Well, he found the recipe. He found the recipe? He did. What sort of guy is he? He's` Is he a passionate man? Yes. (BOTH LAUGH) Not only passionate about mushrooms? (CHUCKLES) He's passionate about his family. (BOTH LAUGH) No, what I really love about Bruce is his creativity. Yeah. Yeah. I've always admired that about him. When I met him, he used to paint landscapes, and I guess our business is another example of his creativity. It's not a simple process, growing a shitake mushroom. (CHUCKLES) (DELICATE HARP MUSIC) Oh my goodness gracious me! Mushroom world. This is where it all happens. Yeah. It sort of feels like we're underwater. It's like an undersea-world adventure. Gee, they're perfect-looking, aren't they? Look at that one there. Whoa, it's going off, isn't it? Yup. It looks like there should be little fairies sitting on top of them, eh? I didn't think I'd be this excited about a whole bunch of mushrooms, but they're amazing. We're gonna be busy. You've actually gotta use the serrations to get them off. Close as you can to the base? Yup. So, seven weeks at sea, eh? And a pretty girl. I bet you were gunning the boat to get home, were ya? Yup. (CHUCKLES) Does Jane like mushrooms? Yeah, not as much as me, probably. You're passionate about mushrooms, though, aren't you, buddy? I'm always learning new things. And the medicinal side of things ` there's a heap of potential there. Growing mushrooms for medicine? Yeah, well, some varieties. And do you and Jane eat a mushroom every day? I eat shitakes for lunch all the time. I eat all my B-grades. Eat your B-grade? B-grades. They're the ones I can't sell. Like those ones that pop out from the bottom. They're really a beautiful mushroom. Look at the back of that ` perfect. Nothing wrong with it. Prettiest thing in the world. So, to finish off the shitake butter, we add soy sauce. We're gonna add even more umami, which is our beautiful mushroom stock. Yup. Mega umami. The finishing touch is the butter. Yup. We roll it up into a log... Yup. ...and then we pop it in the freezer. And then when the steaks are ready,... Yup. ...we cut off a nice chunk, and it melts on our steak. Oh, look, it's just starting to soften up, that butter. Oh, that steak is perfect. That is just absolutely gorgeous. Absolutely. You want some steak and mushroom too, darling? Unbelievable. You are the king and queen of the mushroom world here. And the shitake is the prince of umami. Yeehah! Whoo-hoo! (CHUCKLES) Beautiful. (RHYTHMIC CHANTING) If you are Maori and 18 or over, the time has come again to make an important choice. Do you want to be enrolled on the General Roll or the Maori Roll? This choice affects who you can vote for to represent you and your area in Parliament. Either way, you'll still be able to vote for any party you like when there's an election. You don't get to choose again for another six years, so let's think about it now. If you're not sure what it's all about, talk it over with your whanau and friends. You'll receive some info in the mail next week. Now is your time to choose. Mau tonu e kowhiri. Hello, darlings. Welcome back to Topp Country. This week, we're raising money for the Southern Hawke's Bay Ladies Guild exchange programme. And for starters, we're having a little wild mushroom parfait in a parmesan cone. I call it 'Mushies in a Crushy.' (CHUCKLES) And to go with that, a lovely Bloody Mary. Garnish ` cute as a button. Add a little dill. Wild West Worcester. Lovely. And to top it off, a little caviar. That'll get the chequebooks out. Yes. (WHIMSICAL MUSIC) Kevin and Katie Le Noel fell in love young, had their family young, had grandchildren young! Everything about them is young! Except for their Wild West Worcester, which is made from a very old recipe. Worcester Sauce takes about 12 months to make and is the king of umami, so we wont be making any today; we'll just be eating it. Yeah! It's a good Kiwi story, isn't it? You started out just making Worcester sauce for friends and family, and it got big, eh? Just kept on having to give it to more and more people all the time. (LAUGHS) It's different from other sauces. Yeah. And it takes a long time to make Worcester sauce. A long time. Months. How would you know? I know. (CHUCKLES) I know about Worcester sauce. It's one of my favourite sauces. How long does it take? A year for me to get it into the bottle. See, I told you so. It takes forever. (ALL LAUGH) Well, we're gonna have to stay here for a whole year, Jools, to taste it. I don't mind. I wouldn't mind staying here. I'd sleep out here by the Bali door and bloody wait for the Worcester sauce to come. And what's that a gateway to? The Worcester sauce factory, is it? (LAUGHS) It might lead there one day. You never know. Kevin built this house. Yup. He built the decks, the garden... He's a big part of your Worcester empire, is he? Absolutely. I just tell him what I need, and he finds a solution for me. Ideas man? He is. He's got lots of good ideas. What are we picking here today? Kamo kamo. Look at that baby. Mmm, on the barbie. Hey, you kids just arrived at the right time! You helping grandma in the garden? You're a bit too young to be a grandma, aren't you? (LAUGHS) I'm obviously not. (LAUGHS) Come on, then. Good on you, kids. We're gonna make a crate for your beautiful sauce. Whose idea was it to make the crate? That was another one of my good ideas. (BOTH LAUGH) You've had a few good ideas in this shed, have you? Yeah, yeah. Got the old beer crate down there. I just was looking at it, and I thought, 'That's the way to make the crate.' Did you make this shed? Yeah. Made the shed, made the house... It's a bit of a man cave too. You've filled it up with quite a lot of things. You've got a few treasures up there. Old bottles and signs and some gum. Yeah. What about that old car over there. What's that? My old Zephyr. Got any plans to get that going? Cos it's the perfect thing for promoting the sauce, isn't it? Yeah. Black car already, for the black sauce. Oh yeah, it is too, yeah. (LAUGHS) We'll have to get some stickers` That's one of my good ideas. (BOTH LAUGH) And whose idea was it to make sauce? Is it an old recipe? Yeah, yeah, it is. My mum used to make it ` mean black sauce. You reckon I can have a taste? Yup. She just used to make it from the juice of pickled onion. Really sweet, really rich. Better than that other Worcester sauce. (LAUGHS) That's pretty amazing. I actually came up with that label as well. You came up with the label? The design, yeah. Is there anything you can't do, Kevin? Not much, no. (BOTH LAUGH) OK. Just got to get that nice and straight, cos... Ooh, pressure's on. (BOTH LAUGH) Yeah. Yeah. What's your favourite thing to have Worcester sauce on? Oh, steaks. Steaks, for sure. Look at that. Perfect. Like a pro. Pretty good. Pretty good. Meat patty ` can't go wrong with that. And homekill meat, eh? Yup. Off our farm. And you're grating the kumara for me. I'm gonna grate this up and put it in there. And what about you, Riaz? Who taught you to cook? My great-grandmother. Are you a fourth generation? Mm-hm. Well, that's pretty exciting. Where was your family from? Dalmatia. My grandfather was a gumdigger. Yeah. He came out to New Zealand when he was 16. Yeah. He was the gum dealer in town. Wow. And fungus dealer. Gum and fungus. Yeah. (LAUGHS) Sounds like a lovely combination. (ALL LAUGH) He, of course, collected lots of really good gum. I've got his collection here. They've dug it from all around this kind of land. All around where we live, really. Yeah. Made a good life for himself. There's your magic brew, eh? Yup. You don't need much else. Just a feel thing, is it, with the Worcester sauce? Chuck it in. There's no measuring. 'There's no measuring in this household,' she said. (CHUCKLES) Looking good. This is a good idea, having the darts in here. Another one of your good ideas. (CHUCKLES) Yeah. What about Katie? How did you meet her? Her birthday's right on Guy Fawkes. Oh, yup. And there was parties on the beach, and I met her there. 16th birthday. Sweet 16? Yeah, yeah. Never been kissed. (BOTH LAUGH) Did you make sure that she had a kiss on her birthday? Took care of that, yeah. (BOTH LAUGH) Good on you, buddy. I had seen him before that, but` You thought he was a bit of all right then, did you? Yup, I did. (CHUCKLES) Was obviously a good present, cos he's still around. (LAUGHS) Yeah. He's still around. And then it wasn't long later that we had Dominique, actually. I was 17 when I had Dom. 17, wow. It all happened so fast. When Kevin found out that you were pregnant, did he go a bit of a whiter shade of pale, did he? No. He was so happy, and I got mad at him for being happy. (BOTH LAUGH) She was a bit stressed about it. I was happy as. What, and you just calmed her down, did you? Uh, not really. (BOTH LAUGH) She stayed stressed out, yeah. That was one of your good ideas. That was probably your best idea, marrying Katie, wasn't it? Yeah, yep. Well, he was right, wasn't he? Yeah, he was right. He was right, cos you got a beautiful daughter. Yeah. Best thing that ever happened. Dominique, and then Matthew. And Matt still lives at home. He still lives at home. How old is he? 27 this year. You'd better kick him out of the nest. Crikey, mate. (LAUGHS) What do you think? Should he leave the nest? Then you could move in and help cook with Nana. (LAUGHS) (RELAXED ACOUSTIC MUSIC) Toppy, there's beautiful, beautiful Worcester sauce straight out of the bottle, and onion relish, on the bottom, is the by-product of the sauce. So you get a double whammy? Double whammy, yeah. I think this might be your signature dish, matey. That's a Woman's Weekly recipe, that one. (ALL LAUGH) You know that that onion jam has taken a good year to make. (LAUGHS) It's so tasty. Mmm. So, here's to the Wild West Worcester sauce. The best sauce in New Zealand! Hear, hear! (CHEERING) * It's not that curious that Anthony and Angela Tringham have called themselves the Curious Croppers. There's over 30 varieties of heritage tomatoes on their Clevedon farm. The whole family love tomatoes. They grow for some of the flashest restaurants in town, and you'll also find them down at the Clevedon market on Sundays. Hello, Curious Croppers. Hello, twins. I've heard you guys love tomatoes. BOTH: Yes, we do. Look at those ` every colour under the sun. And they all taste completely different. This is an oxheart. This tomato, we think, has got the most umami in it. It's that savoury taste, eh? It is. Oh, what a beautiful pattern. Here we go. Lacy, very architectural. Mm. It's juicy. Unbelievable. That is like a big steak. It's got lots of umami. What's that tomato called? The chocktail. Chocktail. Earthy, musty, hints of mushroom. More like a Shiraz, rather than a Merlot. OK. (CHUCKLES) This is the one that we're most proud of. Mmm. Love that. This is a Spanish Red. It's really hard to grow. The first time we grew it, 80% of the plants died. 70% Oh, OK. But we haven't found any other tomato that we like the flavour as much as this one. This is the tomatoes how they should taste. Mmm. That's a beautiful tomato taste. Oh, that's like the tomatoes my dad would eat. That's the tastiest one I've had. Unbelievable. Righty-oh, crew. What's our most important job we have to do today? Feed Smudgy. BOTH: Feed Smudgy? (TWINS LAUGH) Come on, Smudgy. Here you go. Whoo-hoo! Yeah. She's choosing her favourite ones first. Oh, OK. So, you can see she's nibbling through the little ones. If she doesn't get her tomatoes first thing in the morning, she gets quite belligerent. You don't want a grumpy ewe on your farm. You certainly don't. (CHUCKLES) What is it about the tomatoes that makes you just want to grow them? They're so evocative. When people say tomatoes, they think about summer in the garden with their grandparents. Yes. There's a bit of a romance about a tomato. There's absolutely a romance. Now, I love the tomatoes,... Yes. ...but they don't love me. Oh, OK. You've got to make them hate you. You've got to be a mean gardener. You do. This is one of our tricks. Is your evil plan working? We'll do whatever it takes to make them taste good. Can't wait to see what an angry tomato looks like. Now, these are the most beautiful tomatoes I've ever seen, I think. These are Spanish Reds. These ones are a little bit overripe, so they're absolutely perfect for making sauce. All you need to do is take the calyx out; rip open the tomato; just get rid of a little bit of the liquid. Yup. Chuck them in there. What about you, Max? Do you like tomatoes? Oh, yeah, of course I do. We have them all the time. They never get bad. Chuck them into... Into here? Here. Righty-oh. And then we'll turn the machine on. Here we go. (MACHINE WHIRRS) Push them down. OK. Whoa, here it comes, here it comes. Here comes tomato juice. Whoo-hoo! (CHUCKLES) You find in Italy, and especially in countries like Australia, the old Italian families all get together, sort of end of summer ` aunties, uncles, cousins ` and they get the kids going all weekend. They generally have a handheld Mouli. By the end of it, they've got a couple of hundred bottles. They divvy it up. And then they've got passata for the rest of the year. That's a beautiful thing. It's a real family affair, the old tomatoes, isn't it? It sure is. There's nothing but tomatoes, eh, Maxy? Is Anthony a good tomato farmer? He's a very good tomato farmer. OK, look. Here's a perfect example of just the right amount of angriness. So, you can see the top is thin,... Yes. ...and the leaves are` Curling over, yup. So they're curling over... Yup. ...like this. Oh, OK. It's really on the edge, and so the plant thinks, 'Oh, I'm gonna die.' Yes. And so it puts all its efforts into the fruit, OK? Yeah. Whereas if they were happy, the stem would be fat, and the leaves would be like this. Oh, OK. Insects really love the colour yellow. We put one of these yellow sticky traps at the top of every plant. Hey, babies. We're going to save you from the bad insects. Look at that, I'm sweet-talking them. You'd be too gentle on the tomatoes, wouldn't you? Yeah, I probably would be. You wouldn't hate them enough. Well, I could yell at them. SHOUTS: Come on! Come on! That's more like it. Get yourselves together! There's no water for you tonight! No, I think that one really does need a drink of water. Well, look who's reneging now on the mean bloody green farmer. Well, that means I've taken it too far to the edge. If you're too hard on them, then they die. So we stick our basil leaf in there. Yup. That goes in there. I'll put the funnel in there. What do you have this with? Our absolute favourite is spaghetti and meatballs. Yeah. A little bit of extra virgin olive oil in. Here we go. And then Max can cap. Production line ` here we go. How many of these have you done, Ange? Pallets. (LAUGHS) These guys pollinate the flowers. They land on the flower. Yes. They disconnect their wings. Yes. And they shake at 220 hertz. HIGH-PITCHED: 'Bzzz.' Like that. That's an 'A', I think. BOTH: # A. # I like it. Not bad, eh? And then the pollen comes out of the flowers and collects on their hairy legs. And they take it back here. They take it back there, and they feed their babies. Oh, OK. Yes. I've never seen a baby bumblebee. Is it cute? They're rather like a big bumblebee, only smaller, OK? (LAUGHS) Cooking up some onions and garlic. We can add the passata now. There's a bottle opener there, if you want to use that. No, we don't need that. (CHUCKLES) The good old-fashioned way. (CHUCKLES) Righty-oh, in she goes. How long is that gonna take to cook down now? Uh, probably about 15 minutes. Then we'll throw the meatballs in. These are what I call my cheat's meatballs. I get pork and fennel sausages; I take the skin off; and I roll them up. I just stuff them with a little bit of buffalo mozzarella. Oh, fancy. This is a beautiful stirrer you've got. When your kids misbehave, with that stick you've got a very long reach. Mind you, that's illegal now, isn't it, apparently. (LAUGHS) These ones are called Little Horrors. As in Little Shop of...? Yeah, you got it. (LAUGHS) Of course. Yes, that's showing our age, isn't it? Yeah, it is. We like to roast them. Roasted Little Horrors are just the best. They're very romantic, aren't they? They are very romantic. And are you romantic? I don't think so. (CHUCKLES) You don't think so? You sound like you're really passionate about things, though. Well, I'd call myself more persistent than romantic. And was Ange like that? Were you persistent or was she persistent? I was very persistent. We were at a party, and I found this woman who I'd never met before, and she was drinking my wine. Oh. Well, I challenged her on it, but she seemed very pretty. (CHUCKLES) She seemed pretty? Yes. And you were persistent? This guy told me off for drinking his wine, and he just looked like a tosser. Well, how long was the moment before you decided he wasn't a tosser? I dunno. He just kept harassing me. He wanted us to meet up, and I was like, 'No, no.' He kept sending me letters at work. Letters? Yeah. If you want to get someone's attention, you write them a letter. Even now, I think you should write letters. You should write letters. So you are romantic. Oh, well, there you go. I think it's my poetry and my songs. You're very romantic. You keep lying to me, buddy. You must have wooed her over, cos here you are. Yes. (LAUGHS) Good on you, matey. I'm proud of ya. Oh, look at that. He's kind. He's just` He's offbeat. He's stupid. Yeah. That's what I like. There's a little bit of craziness, isn't there? Yeah. 20-odd years later, I'm still drinking his wine. Oh, that sauce is amazing. I'll never be able to eat tomatoes ever again` ...without thinking of us? Without thinking of you. Yeah. To the Curious Croppers, who make the best tomatoes in the world. In the world ` that's not bad! (ALL LAUGH) Can I add ` the most romantic tomatoes. Yes! (ALL LAUGH) Cheers. (RUSTIC FIDDLE MUSIC) There are five basic tastes from foods both east and west ` that'd be sweet and sour, bitter, and the fourth is saltiness. The fifth is called umami. It's the savoury sauce upon your pie. It's a Japanese-inspired word for good ol' Kiwi kai. Vegemite and Marmite, mushrooms and cured meat, cheese and ripe tomatoes ` they're all umami treats. So, next time at a barbie ` there'll be sausages of course ` umami up your plate with a little Northland Worcester sauce.