Chilli sauces going for gold
Interest growing,
Homegrown is the word for Steve and Anne Corkran of Emoyeni Products in Tokomaru. They have been growing all ingredients for their sauces, jams and chutneys on their farm for the past decade. They also do microgreens and salad greens and have recently begun to trial growing turmeric.
They sell some of their products to small specialty shops, restaurants, as well as bigger sauce producers, but mostly at local markets.
When it comes to chillies there seems to be no end to choice. Local growers and fans swap ideas and seeds and Emoyeni tries new ones each year. The resulting chutneys and sauces are unique to Horowhenua.
“My husband loves chillies, but I didn’t like them that much. I had to learn to like them. Steve couldn’t find the chilli sauce he wanted so suggested we made it ourselves. And it just ballooned from that,” said Anne.
Chilli aficionados are everywhere, but the number of people who grow them for a living remains small. But it is a growing market, Anne said. Both growers and consumers are catching the bug.
“There is something about small batches made by local growers as opposed to something coming out of a large factory. Of course there is a price difference too. Specialty-made products are more expensive.”
While the emerging chilli market in New Zealand is competitive already, the growers are also supportive of each other, Anne said.
“There is an enormous range of chillies, from very mild to mindblowing hot. There are many flavours and degrees of heat, some are savoury, some more fruity. Some people really want to feel the burn.”
Her chillies are combined with homegrown fruit and herbs to form unique concoctions, several of which have won awards at the Mr Chilli Awards in Australia in recent years.
“The Mr Chilli Awards are open to commercial producers of chilli products in Australia and New Zealand. In 2021 over 100 commercial firms entered the awards - I’m not sure of the numbers for this year but there has been a huge increase in the number of entries in each category.
“This year our Fitzroy Fireball Apricot Sauce came first in the hot fruit sauce category. So proud because the competition is judged by blind tasting and is very competitive.
“We first entered the Mr Chilli Awards in 2018 on the advice of one of our customers. Every year since then we have had at least one product placed in the top three in their respective categories.”
Steve and Anne grow fruit and nut trees as well as herbs and make their own flavoured salts and chilli powders. Apart from the salt there is nothing in their products they haven’t grown themselves. While a few products follow old family recipes, there is no secret sauce here either.
They make sauces with a lemon base or one with plum or apple. There is one plain plum sauce in their range of 12 sauces, four chutneys as well as a chilli chocolate plum jam. Then there are two flavoured salts and six kinds of chilli powders.
Anne said she enjoys the interaction with customers at the markets, where they can also try out new products, though there is never a shortage of taste testers. “That personal touch is nice and customers keep coming back to restock.”
She said that personal touch and the focus on the story behind the products, which is iconic to the Horowhenua Taste Trail, is a perfect fit for them and Emoyeni will be taking part this year, though exactly how is yet to be worked out.
Emoyeni products do not yet venture far away from northern Horowhenua, though an increased social media following generates not only ideas and questions, it also brings requests for suppliers closer to home. You can order via their website.
In Horowhenua their products are available at Benniks Egg Shop in O¯ hau, at several markets and there are plans to be present at local events such as the Ka¯piti Food Fair, Horowhenua AP&I Show and Horowhenua Taste Trail.
Anne said she takes the liberty to be creative, even artistic when it comes to her sauces, meaning she experiments with flavours a lot.
“I make half a dozen of 250ml bottles of any test batch and call in the tasters, to see what they think.”
For more information go to: www. emoyeni.co.nz/