“The food and wine here is as good as you’ll find anywhere in the world,” announced the Mayor of Hastings, Lawrence Yule, as he welcomed New Zealand’s food writers to his region. Three days of tasting and three kilos later, I think I agree! My pantry is now over-flowing with yummy Hawkes Bay food with not an added colour or preservative in sight. On my bench sits Damson Plum jam, paste and liqueur. The paste goes really well with blue cheese and the liqueur is the best product I came across during the three days. It brings back delicious memories of sipping walnut aperitif each night before dinner at the French farmhouse we rented at Mercadiol, a hamlet just south east of St-Julien-de-Lampon, in the Dordogne region. (If you want to see a picture look at Stephanie Alexander’s book “Cooking and Travelling in South-West France. She stayed there too! ) I can’t wait to re-create the memories on a warm, sunny Kiwi evening – if one ever happens!

Standing tall on the kitchen bench is a pack of green olives, some olive dukkah and a jar of Strawberry and Olive Conserve from Telegraph Hill. Who would have thought of putting olives with strawberries and black pepper? Rose Gresson tells us how it came about. “My neighbour grows strawberries and I hated to see the ones that weren’t sold going to waste. So I worked out a way to use them.” Perhaps it’s Rose’s dietitian training that makes her want to sneak fruit even into olives. Whatever it is, it works surprisingly well. At first taste you get a mouthful of strawberries, then a hint of olive and finally a kick of pepper at the back of the throat. It will be great with cheese or chicken.

Three little jars from Orcona Chillis ‘n Peppers finish the pile on the bench: Thai green curry paste, harissa and smoked paprika. Ann and Kevin are an inspiration to non green-fingers like me. Anne described, in oh so familiar terms, how she could barely manage to keep a few herbs alive when they bought the business. Now they have numerous greenhouses growing yellow, orange and red bell peppers as well as Jalapeno, Serrano, Habanero, Cayenne, Thai, Paprika and other South American and Mexican chillis which they transform into spicy relishes and sauces. No dead plants in sight! And if you want to touch a piece of history just place your hand on the metal framework of the greenhouses. It all comes from recycled World War Two airplanes.

At the opposite end of the green-finger spectrum we meet a piano player turned organic herb and vegetable farmer. “I’ve always grown things – even as a child I made my own compost,” says Clyde of Epicurean Supplies, as we wander past rows of French tarragon, rosemary, thyme, oregano, Spanish rose garlic and banana shallots. Some of it looks like clumps of weeds to my untrained eye – the sort I would probably mow over if you let me loose with a tractor and a mower. It brings back memories of the time I did exactly that while mowing the waist height grass between our kiwifruit vines. I came across an especially thick patch of grass which I conscientiously mowed into the ground. It was a couple of thousand dollars worth of shelter belt seedlings ready to be planted out. I’m still amazed that Dad wasn’t more furious with me.

Ian, a local food icon and egg expert, who accompanies us everywhere dressed in an egg yolk yellow suit and glasses, tells us he’s never seen Clyde looking more relaxed. “It’s ever since he’s had the wwoofers,” he explains. Wwoofers stands for Willing Workers On Organic Farms and Clyde really looks after his. They get free board and food for a week in return for three and a half days work. On their free days they can explore the area on the farm cycles and even get a ride in Clyde’s van. It sounds like a great way to experience a country on the cheap. But I like my way better: become a food writer and get undeservedly spoilt by dedicated, talented people who know how to transform local produce into fine food.

More stories from the Hawkes Bay coming soon…