Freeze-drying scores food award
A former All Black captain and his wife are reaping the rewards of owning a business in the Hawke’s Bay fruit bowl.
Kiwigarden founders Joanne Edwards and Taine Randell produce a range of fruit-based snacks using freeze-drying technology.
Kiwigarden products have been finalists in the 2015 and 2016 NZ Food Awards and last week its crunchy coconut raspberry yoghurt drops, which they describe as ‘‘a smoothie with some serious crunch,’’ won the novel ingredient award.
‘‘It’s still early days but the recognition by our industry peers gives us great confidence that we are on the right track,’’ Edwards said.
A former lawyer, she developed the range when she started making her own snacks for the couple’s three children.
‘‘As a mum I understand the constant challenge to find readily available snacks that contain natural ingredients with no added preservatives, artificial colours and flavours.’’
The pair soon identified a gap in the market for healthy, convenience snacks using natural ingredients and started the business three years ago.
‘‘I wanted something that I could feel good about giving to my kids which was of high quality and equally high nutritional benefit.
‘‘I started trialling various clean foods using farmers’ market yoghurt and local fruit and vegetables to create the first range of Kiwigarden snacks.’’
Her family, who owns Kitchen HQ, had been among the pioneers in freeze-drying in New Zealand, developing the technology over 30 years.
This gave the business access to the largest high-tech freeze drying facility in the southern hemisphere, she said.
‘‘I had access to a test freeze dryer and started making my own batches of snacks. My kids loved it, and so did their friends and their parents. We were overwhelmed by the response. Before we knew it, we were launching our first range.’’
The freeze drying technique ensured virtually all the nutrients were locked in found in, she said.
Unlike conventional drying methods that tended to deplete the nutritional goodness in a raw ingredient, freeze-drying was a gentle process that removed only the water, she said.
Competition was stiff in the food market but that was not necessarily a bad thing.
‘‘Producers like us find the drive in what we do by striving to be the best at what we do. New Zealand is such an amazing place to have a food business.’’
Kiwigarden snacks are sold in more than 150 stores throughout the country and online. They are distributed to Australia, China, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
‘‘It gives me so much pleasure being at the supermarket checkout and noticing that the person in front of me has bought our snacks, or have someone come up to me to tell me how their kids won’t eat a whole apple but they do if it’s the Kiwigarden crunchy apple slices. It makes it all worthwhile,’’ Edwards said.
"New Zealand is such an amazing place to have a food business." Joanne Edwards