Field Trip: Foxton Fizz Factory

With my home-made ginger beer quietly seething in a cool, dark place, I got to thinking about glass-bottled soft drinks in general. Not particularly common today, they were everywhere when I was growing up. This was the mid-seventies, a time when flares flapped proudly around ankles, and men were hairier than was probably necessary. This was a time when regional soft drink manufacturers were common place all over New Zealand. I can remember being taken on a trip to the Curly Top soft drink factory in Hastings as a littlie. But over time, faced with stiff competition from the larger international brands, these little bottlers began to fold.

Foxton Fizz, first produced in 1918, is one of the few genuine traditional soft drink manufacturers to have survived those times. I remember seeing their product in dairies when I was studying at Massey during the nineties, so imagine my surprise recently when I saw some being sold at the Maranui cafe in Lyall Bay.

Last week, while I was in Palmerston North, it seemed the perfect opportunity to pop over to Foxton in the hope of an impromptu factory tour. I turned up unannounced and was met by busy co-owner, Jeremy Randerson. He very kindly showed me around his operation and talked briefly about its history and his time there.

Jeremy has owned the company with his associates for the last fifteen months. It is essentially a one-man operation but given the seasonal nature of consumption, part-timers are brought in to assist when business is brisk. The soft drinks are distributed throughout the Manawatu, and to some outlets in Taranaki and the Waikato. The product range comprises kola, creaming soda (teh best!), lime, lemonade, raspberry, cocktail, ginger beer, soda water and tonic water. The water used to make the soft drinks used to come from the plant's own bore but now it uses the town's bore supply.

The charm of Foxton Fizz lies in its use of glass bottles, harkening back to the "good old days". These are recyclable - bottles are returned to the factory to be sterilised and reused. The glass is now sourced overseas due to problems obtaining the correct size here. Glass has key features making it eminently superior to plastic: its obvious reusability; less impact on the environment compared to plastic production and disposal; and soft drinks store longer, with little loss of carbonation. In the future, Jeremy wants to implement a returns feature, the payment of a small sum for returning empty bottles for reuse. South Australia, he said, has a returns policy on a wide range of materials making recycling more attractive to the consumer, as well as guaranteeing a return and industry viability to recycling businesses.
I got to wander around the plant, taking photos, while Jeremy attended to business. The factory is a small outfit with a mix of old and new technology. Of particular interest were the many crates, printed with the names of now defunct regional soft drink manufacturers (for a look at the names, see the flickr slideshow below). After a good look around, I said goodbye and walked out with a mixed crate of goodies under my arm (at a good price, too - the mark-up cafes and dairies put on them are eye watering!).
And my personal favourite from the range?

Here's a slideshow of the factory and it's fine products:

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

The Flickr photoset can be seen here. Take a look too, at this vintage Foxton Fizz advertising material courtesy of NZ caravan and holiday site, Retro Camping.

A big thanks to Jeremy for letting me explore his fantastic plant! The Foxton Fizz factory is located at 8 Whyte Street in Foxton, phone (06) 363 8271 - now, go buy some! Better yet, ask your dairy or cafe to get some in stock.

From the Kai Lab: Ginger Beer

Ginger beer: nature's own champagne! This spicy, yet refreshing drink shares the same esteemed position in my book as properly cured bacon, Valrhona chocolate and being groped on a crowded bus. There are a gazillion recipes available, most of which are very similar. This delicious combination of ginger, lemon and sugar is easily made as you'll soon see.

You're going to need:
Bottles - plastic screw-top soft drink bottles will work very well. However, I used a dozen 330ml glass Tui stubby bottles. The size is convenient - you'll easily consume the contents and won't end up with half-consumed bottles of beer.

Bottle steriliser - obtained from your local home brew store; 250 grams cost me $6 (you're only going to use a few teaspoons of it with this batch)

Large jar and some fabric to cover it (muslin or similar - DO NOT use a jar lid or anything solid - the bug you're going to make needs to breathe)

Funnel

Large pot

To make the ginger beer bug:
1.5 teaspoons of dried yeast (I got mine from the home brew store, although you can buy the same kind from your supermarket)

2 teaspoons of ground ginger

2 teaspoons of sugar

600 ml of water (try and use spring or bore water - your town supply will have chlorine in it and while the amount is minute, it may impede the development of the bug)

To make the beer:
3.5 litres of water (see above for water)

500 grams of sugar

The juice of 2 lemons

Let's make the bug: place the yeast, ginger, sugar and water together in the jar and mix. Cover with your fabric and place somewhere warm. After twenty four hours, feed the bug a teaspoon of ground ginger and a teaspoon of sugar. Do this everyday for ten days. You should see it slowly bubbling away, the gas being carbon dioxide, a product of the yeast feeding on the sugar. Note the layer of sediment below.



On the tenth day, prepare your bottles. Clean and soak in the sterilising solution. It wouldn't hurt to put your other tools, like the funnel, into the solution too. When done, thoroughly rinse with cold water.

To make the beer, place one litre of water and the sugar into a big pot; heat gently, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Remove from the heat, add the rest of the water and the lemon juice.

This next step is a little tricky: pour off the liquid in the jar, while trying not to disturb the sediment. Strain this liquid through some cloth into the pot. Resist the urge to assist the liquid by squeezing the cloth - you want the liquid reaonably clean.

Give the liquid in the pot a quick stir. Pour the mixture into the bottles

Once poured, cap your bottles. Incidentally, I found my bottle capper for $20 on Trademe, and it came with a big bag of caps. Don't press down too hard or the bottle neck will break (I lost one on my second attempt).

Once your bottles are all securely capped, store them somewhere cool and dark (retirement home managers tend to get a bit narky if you take them there, so try somewhere else). Keep them there for a couple of weeks and for goodness sake, don't shake them.

Wondering what to do with the bug? Divide it, place the other half into another jar and continue to feed them both as before - you'll soon have twice the beer you started with! Better still, give one of them away.

Once the two weeks is up, pull the bottles out (as many as you need) and chill thoroughly - this stops the activity of the yeast in its tracks. Before you open your bottle, tip it upside down so as to allow the layer of sediment that's formed to be evenly dispersed throughout the bottle (if you're a bit squeamish about this sort of thing (*snort*), you could decant the bottle or simply filter it through a napkin as you pour it into your glass). Now open and and enjoy! It should be pointed out that it'll be quite fizzy when it's opened and will pour out of the top unbidden - it's not called nature's champagne for nothing.

So what does it taste like? Is it like a bought one? Stay tuned as my first batch (v1.0) will be sampled this coming Sunday...

Look at these rioting students rampaging through the streets of Dunedin - if only they'd had some refreshing ginger beer instead...

Fancy a little experimentation? Add honey at the beer preparation stage, preferably something mild so it won't compete with the flavour of the ginger. Also, adding a teaspoon of liquid honey with your daily dosing of sugar and ginger makes the beer taste incredibly smooth (hat tip: Kerry). With my next batch, I might try using root ginger, to see if there's a significant difference in taste.

Addendum: found a great ginger beer at my local farmers market - "Honey Buzzz - Honey 'n' Ginger Beer" one of the great products produced by Hawkes Bay microbrewer, K.E.A. Brewing ltd (Williams St, Hastings).
Also, if you're using glass bottles, make sure they don't have a thread. The bottle capper has difficulty getting a good grip because the thread is in the way. My bottles did and that was the reason why I had breakage, not to mention some difficulty making an effective seal.

Purple Carrots

The Southland Times has a story about the rise in popularity of the purple carrot (link via Stuff). Carrots once came in a wide variety of colours, but changed over time to orange thanks to the influence of patriotic Dutch growers in the sixteenth century. Did you know there's a variety named after Jimi Hendrix called "Purple Haze"?! This article explains its origins and goes into detail about carrots and their intriguing history. Who'd of thought "carrots" and "intriguing" could share space in the same sentence...

Photo and article courtesy of Acorns - You and the World of Plants, a fantastic vegetable site with well written, indepth articles (not all about carrots, mind).

Oh, Delia!

Hello! Clearly, I haven't posted in a while. I have a big post in production but because of its outdoorsy-weather dependent nature, and the fact that the weather here has been diabolical, I've simply not been able to finish it. Fortunately, the weather is improving so it should (fingers crossed) be ready by next week.

In the mean time, here's a little clip that's been floating around YouTube for a while. It's Delia Smith, as you've never seen her before...



Waahey, Delia!

From Wikipedia:
"Delia Smith, frequently seen wearing Norwich City Football Club's team colours, has developed something of a cult status amongst football fans in the UK after a drunken half-time outburst in a Premiership game against Manchester City in front of the Sky Sports cameras at Carrow Road. Delia was shouting "Where are you? Where are you? Let's be 'aving you!" over the public address system after the Canaries had thrown away a two-goal lead before half-time. Delia, along with husband Michael Wynn-Jones... has a majority shareholding in Norwich City FC."

Apologies for the lazy post - the next one is going to be a goodie, as long as I can catch those slippery devils (hint hint)...

Fancy something a little more instructive? Gordon Ramsay shows you how to scramble eggs (YouTube link), off the DVD that comes with Gordon Ramsay Makes It Easy.

Muttonbirds - Titi

Have you ever wanted to try a muttonbird but were too chicken (ah, comedy gold!) to give it a whirl? Take a look at this weeks effort in the kai lab.
First, some background. Muttonbirds, known also as the Sooty Shearwater or Titi amongst Maori, are a member of the petrel family. The origin of the name refers to the mutton-like taste of the flesh, and possibly the woolly appearance of its young. It is the chick that is harvested, found in vast numbers living in the multitude of burrows on the small islands near Stewart Island (Rakiura). The season starts on the 1st of April and goes through to the 31st of May. All activity is administered by Rakiura Maori (Ngai Tahu) and their sustainable harvest programme. To that end, the bird population is monitored in conjunction with the University of Otago. The harvest is an age-old event for the islanders, being one of the few large-scale harvests of petrels in the world. Consequently, it is of immense significance, providing as it does income, an opportunity for families and those connected to meet, work and socialise together, as well as being an important facet of cultural life for Maori in the South Island.
The process: once the chicks are collected, they are plucked and then the feet and wings are cut off. They are then dipped in wax to help remove the layer of down on the bird's body. Once hardened, the wax is cracked and removed, taking the down with it. The birds are then packed in salt and placed in buckets for shipping to market on the mainland. The birds are expensive and available for a limited time. I bought mine from the Albert street market in Palmerston North; I've seen them for sale at fish markets, non-chain butcher shops and once at Pak 'n' Save in Hastings.


The bird is the size of a very small duck. It's fatty, a feature necessary for a bird soon to spend long periods of time at sea (except this one, obviously). Cooking them takes a wee bit of time. Your kitchen will also become quite pungent for a while. Personally, I don't mind the smell but some people might, so don't say I didn't warn you... I cooked mine with puha and I also made some gnocchi - more on those soon.

Find your puha, wash and put aside. Take your muttonbird and pluck off any downy feathers that may be left. Place in a pot of water - lots of water. Pop the lid on, bring to the boil and then simmer for an hour. Once the hour's up, drain off the water, and repeat the entire process. By the way, are your windows open? Go open them... Or turn your rangehood up to eleven.

Again, once that hour has been reached, drain off the water. As you can see from the photo, the bird possesses an astounding amount of fat, even after that initial change of water; the second change will take care of that though. This time, when refilling the pot with water, you'll only need enough to cover the bird.
Once the bird has simmered for about 30-40 minutes, whip up some gnocchi, dumplings or doughboys. During this time, hurl your puha into the pot with the muttonbird.
Time to cook the gnocchi. Remove the bird from the pot and keep warm - turn the heat up and drop your gnocchi into the pot to cook. While this is happening, remove the skin off the bird and don't play with the light settings on your camera, even if the results look good (deceptively so) on the camera's LCD screen...
Voila! Muttonbird, puha and misshapen gnocchi! It was very tasty - the meat of the bird is quite dark and does indeed taste like mutton. I've read grumbles about muttonbirds tasting overly greasy, salty and/or fishy - patently untrue. Changing the water minimises those potential problems, thus bringing out the flavour of the food as well as making it a bit healthier. If you make this for your family, you might want to remove the bones for your littlies. One bird would feed two people at a stretch, and given the cost (anywhere from $12 to $18 a bird), this is probably a truly seasonal treat (unless you 'know' people).

Other methods of cooking muttonbirds I've encountered involve grilling after boiling (reasonably common), boiling in milk (!) and an odd french story involving boiling in brandy (done presumably because they were French and can get away with that sort of nonsense).

Fancy something a little more flash? Try titi orzo by brilliant New Zealand chef Anne Thorpe.

Take a look at these two personal accounts of muttonbirding from Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand and the National Library of New Zealand.

Kontiki - Hawke's Bay, May '07

Last May, as Hawke's Bay's Indian summer was drawing to a close, Kerry and his son Caleb took me fishing in Napier - first to the river mouth at Haumoana to catch bait and then to Westshore to launch the kontiki.

A kontiki uses the wind to tow a longline rigged with bait out to sea. The kontiki itself takes many forms - some are small floats or rafts, propelled by kite, sails or an air sac; some (as in Kerry's case) are as simple as a weighted rubbish bag!

At days end, there was quite a respectable haul - seven Kahawai, five Gurnard, Mackerel and Red Cod - plenty of good eating to be had.

Here's a selection of photos from the big day (or click here to be taken to the set at Flickr) - please bear in mind I'm no Annie Leibovitz...


Created with Paul's flickrSLiDR.

Want to learn a little more about kaimoana (seafood)? The New Zealand Seafood Industry Council website has a wealth of information - check these links:

- Shopping for Seafood
- Handling and Preparing Seafood
- Cooking Seafood
- Seasonal Availability (PDF file)

A big, many-tentacled back slap to Kerry and Caleb for putting up with me that day - thanks guys! Ta for the raspberry buns and spare batteries too...

WILDFOOD #2: Wild Weeds - Nut Bars with Karengo Goodness!

Bron's theme for the second WILDFOOD event is 'Wild Weeds'. I was wandering around town, wracking my brain for an idea to submit, when suddenly I saw it before me - a kelp and nut health bar! Kelp = seaweed = wild weed! These beauties were sitting on the shelf of my local health food store, reeking of healthy, knit-your-own-muesli, sock-and-sandal goodness. I stopped and considered them for a while, thought about shoplifting them, remembered I was middle-class and then realised I might just be able to make them myself substituting the kelp with the big dried bag of karengo I have at home...

Karengo is a type of seaweed, a member of the porphyra family found on parts of the New Zealand coastline. Maori harvest it for eating - its health benefits are substantial: high in protein, selenium, iodine and a raft of other minerals and vitamins.

Powering up the laptop, I googled for a recipe and found this. It seemed simplicity itself - I had everything at home so it was off to the Kai Lab for some baking! I changed things a little using:

-1 cup of chopped macadamia nuts
-half a cup of sesame seeds
-half a cup of chopped peanuts
-handful of dried karengo fronds (you're going to end up with about 4 teaspoons worth of karengo powder)
-half a cup of maple syrup

First, into the blender went the karengo - let rip until it turns into a powdery dust (don't use a food processor - it's a little too big and the karengo will just bounce off the spinning blades).
Nuts. Hurl into the food processor with the karengo and blitz until blended. Add your maple syrup, mix thoroughly, remove and press into a greased baking pan. Bake for twenty minutes at 150 degrees celsius (preheat your oven).
Thirty minutes later (!), I sprint into the kitchen, remove the bars and after some judicious trimming of overly-brown bits, voila! A healthy wild weed-ish snack - very sweet and nutty, with just a hint of saltiness from the karengo. Nuts are a good source of protein, have a low GI and may even lower cholesterol. Karengo is unbelievably nutritious but is little known as a food source outside of the Maori community. The season for Karengo harvest in Hawke's Bay isn't too far away and I'll be doing a post on its gathering, as well as a recipe.
Fancy something a little more savoury? Try coriander pesto with karengo, courtesy of Maria Middlestead, NZ nutritionist.
A big thank you to Bron for letting me play:)