Diverse Range of Citrus Right through to Christmas

The citrus season is now well underway throughout the country with a huge range of brightly coloured tangy fruit in steady supply from now until December.

itrus New Zealand Chairman, Wayne Hall said the 2023 crop is set to be a good one.

“While damage was sustained on citrus orchards this year following Cyclone Hale and Gabrielle, our growers have worked hard to ensure the crop is available and tasting great. A big shout-out to the citrus growers in Northland, Waikato, Bay of Plenty, Tairāwhiti and Hawkes Bay.”

The easy-peeling Satsuma mandarin harvest started in April and this lunchbox favourite makes up about 25 percent of the country’s overall citrus production of about 31,000 tonnes.

“An industry character once said – ‘everybody loves an easy-peeler’, and they couldn’t have been more correct, Satsumas are in high demand right through winter as an onthe-go healthy snack,” said Hall.

Limes are another of the first fruits of the citrus season, available since the start of autumn with supplies lasting through to the end of June. The main variety grown here is the Tahitian (Bearss) lime with smaller quantities of Mexican (Key) also produced. Imported varieties will be available outside of the New Zealand citrus season.

Picking of our lemon and early Navel orange crops began in May with good supplies forming the mainstay of winter fruit displays this month. New Zealand grows a relatively unique type of lemon, the Meyer cultivar, which is common both here and in the United States, but rare elsewhere.

“The Meyer is the deeper yellow-coloured, rounder lemon that you’ll find on the shelves. It looks like this because it is a natural cross of a lemon and a mandarin/pomelo hybrid. Amazing flavour and available in the middle of winter,” added Hall.

The firmer and lighter coloured Yen Ben variety are also available, they have a sharper flavour profile to the Meyer.

Citrus New Zealand runs a specific seasonal programme to monitor the quality of our locally grown Navel oranges supplied to Countdown and Foodstuffs. This monitoring measures Navel orange quality against the Citrus NZ BrimA

(Brix/Acid) quality standard. Brix is a measure of natural sweetness and the Brix/Acid ratio is an objective measure that reflects consumer acceptability.

“Consumer acceptability during the 2022 season reached 99 percent which is great for lovers of our fantastic NZ grown Navel oranges and bodes well for another superb season in 2023,” said Hall.

As winter weather eases and spring begins, growers will be picking grapefruit, tangelos and Afourer mandarins.

“The Afourer variety of mandarin arrive in September as Satsuma volumes begin to taper off. They’re a deeper orange colour to Satsumas with a sweeter taste. This seedless variety are supplied right through to December,” said Hall.

The 2023 Grapefruit crop is grown on just a handful of around 20 orchards. The annual harvest of around 370 tonnes will be available from June through to October.

“While grapefruit are tarter than their other citrus cousins, they’re still a popular breakfast choice for a core group of customers,” said Hall.

“Tangelos are another smaller crop to look out for in spring. They’re a mandarin/grapefruit hybrid which will provide your customers with a fresh flavour profile and another great source of Vitamin C.”

Meet the Chef STEPHEN BARRY

Papamoa Beach Village e fell into the role of being a chef at the age of 13 when his parents purchased their first restaurant, the Aorangi Peak restaurant in Rotorua. He started at the bottom, peeling vegetables and washing dishes, eventually climbing the ladder to head chef.

Barry has worked at several top restaurants in the Bay of Plenty region, including having been the owner and head chef at Mount Bistro for the past 14 years. The only reason Barry chose to close the restaurant was that the building had to go under remedial work. Owning this restaurant has been one of the highlights of his career.

Switching gears to a different kind of kitchen, Barry is now a chef at Papamoa Beach Village, a Metlife Care retirement village 11 kilometres away from Tauranga’s city centre. He said that the transition has been delightful, with more time on his hands to spend with family and friends.

“There is a great sense of community spirit in the village. It is like working at a holiday resort, with something different happening daily. From special events and dinners to cooking classes and happy hours,” said Barry.

Having been at the Papamoa Beach Village for just over two years, Barry has discovered it's not just all pureed food and smoothies. The care home has food available for residents 24 hours a day, seven days a week, supplying breakfast and snacks, with a three-week rotational menu of morning and afternoon tea, soup, sandwiches, a light meal, and two choices for a main meal with dessert and supper. The meals are also made for delivery to independent living villas too. A cafe is also open seven days a week, and a couple of happy hours every week in the village’s pavilion dining room.

Being a retirement village, various occasions require catering, such as birthdays, anniversaries and other special events. There are also themed dinners, such as an upcoming mid-winter Gatsby party.

Barry enjoys cooking all types of foods, from sweet to savoury. He took up hunting a couple of years ago and enjoys being able to cook the meat he has sourced himself.

Barry said he considers the customer the most essential person in the kitchen.

“They all have different wants and needs, whether you’re in fast food, fine dining or aged care. As a chef, you are there to ensure the food is cooked correctly, presented well, and your customer is happy and enjoys their experience.”

Throughout his career, Barry has won several accolades for his work. He became a New Zealand Beef + Lamb Platinum Ambassador and the national winner of the Monteith’s Beer and Wild Food Challenge. Barry mentioned that entering various cooking competitions challenges chefs to be creative and gives customers a chance to be adventurous with food.

When it comes to beginners in the current industry, he said that they need to have the passion to last. He noted that many young chefs have a dramatised idea of the industry from what they see on television and in movies, and although a demanding role, he wouldn’t change it for the world. The thrill and adrenaline rush during service and how work colleagues become a second family make it all worthwhile.

Now at 60 years of age, Barry has enjoyed being able to pass down some of his knowledge to his team in the kitchen and younger generations. He joked that the residents of the Papamoa Beach Village often need reassurance that he has no plans to move on. He always replies that he will be there until he has trained someone to look after him when he moves in as a resident himself.

Meet the Chef FIONA LE GROS

Hilda Ross Village ith her mother was a home economics teacher, and having spent a couple of years in France, she fell in love with bakeries. After teaching English for a while, and then working as an assistant manager at a service station in Hamilton, Le Gros decided it was time to pursue her passion. After training and interning at a restaurant, Le Gros was lucky to be kept on for the next ten years. When her employer transitioned from fine dining to a cafe, she adapted with him.

Growing up in Taumaranui, Fiona Le Gros learned to cook from an early age, and is now head chef at Hilda Ross Retirement Village in Hamilton.

Her introduction to the retirement village sector was due to her mother becoming a resident of aged care. Le Gros was convinced she could do a better job than what was being served and thought she would have a go. She found the hours were better and that night shifts were far less frequent than those in the cafe.

Part of being a chef in a retirement village is bringing an element of nostalgia to the dishes she makes.

“I like to go back to things they know or things we used to have when we were kids, especially hot desserts. They really spark memories for our residents,” said Le Gros.

As head chef of the kitchen’s team of ten, they cater for around 150 residents in the care centre daily, and 40 once a month for fine dining. The current team has been working together for a few years now, which Le Gros described as being smooth working and consistent.

The menu will often feature various dishes that have been steamed, slowly cooked, and soft food, but Le Gros reassures that there is no substitute for flavour. There is no gas in the kitchen, which is quite unheard of for the industry, so everything is cooked in the oven, or on the electric hob. The menus Le Gros prepares are all planned and prepared for nutritional balance, allowing experimenting with flavour and technique.

Le Gros stays up to date with trends and modern techniques within the culinary world, and implements them in her cooking. An extensive collection of cookbooks as well, allows her to research flavours and meals that may be of interest to the residents.

One trend that she would like to see mainstreamed into retirement villages around the country is the use of plantbased options. She finds the concept interesting and the flavour to be spot on. Dietary requirements, such as glutenfree, are also becoming increasingly frequent in the aged care sector, which Le Gros said is something to watch.

Le Gros finds that there is a lot more loyalty and length of service in her sector than in other kitchens that she has worked in.

“It takes time, effort and energy to train a person, so it’s really nice to have all the staff trained well. You can get ideas and input from people because they’re not focused on ‘what do I do now?’ but instead on ‘what can I do better?’ and that’s how people develop and progress.”

The opportunities in the retirement village sector for chefs are something that Le Gros finds particularly interesting. She is curious about how operations work, and how she can visit another village to share resources. She believes that various possibilities allow staff to learn and further develop skills.

When working at the cafe, Le Gros had the job of preparing the vegetables before cooking. Now at the Hilda Ross Village, she orders them pre-prepared, which she added is a big time saver that can equate to the cost of labour as well.

There are still areas that Le Gros would like to work on, which she said will come in good time.

“Sometimes it’s good when people are on leave or sick because other people have to step up and do a different role for a day, and you see the smile on their face when they realise they can do a different role and give them opportunities to move around the kitchen.”

Faces of Aged Care MICHELLE BARNARD

Miriam Corban Village arnard made the decision to move to New Zealand after hearing about how it is a great place for families to live during a seminar in Cape Town. Leaving her hometown of Hermanus in South Africa with her two daughters 13 years ago allowed her to have a fresh start, and she is now a proud citizen.

New Village Manager, Michelle Barnard, is excited for a new challenge and to continue to be a part of people's lives throughout their golden years.

Being at the heart of the village and making connections with people are rewarding parts of her job.

“My favourite thing about working for Ryman is the amazing people I work with. It’s a real people-focused job, and I love being able to connect with so many people,” said Barnard.

Barnard first joined Ryman Healthcare 10 years ago, initially as the Activities Coordinator at the Evelyn Page Village. From there, she became the Assistant Manager and then Resident Services Manager.

In recent years, Barnard relocated once the Murray Halberg retirement village opened in the Auckland suburb of Lynfield, before moving to the William Sanders Village.

“Being a Resident Services Manager helped a lot in preparation for running a village. I dealt with all the inner workings, and it’s that experience that led me here.

Part of the connection that she has to the villages is the people she works with. Barnard has formed relationships with both staff and residents of the villages where she has worked at. She finds the laid-back culture to be a term of beauty and calm, and she views being in a people-focused environment as an opportunity to meet new people. With none of her family in New Zealand, Barnard considers working in the heart of a Ryman Village like adopting a new family.

Barnard is now the Manager of the Miriam Corban Village in Henderson, and her focus is to build a village with a great sense of culture and communication. She added that residents like to see that things are getting done within their village, and always appreciate being communicated with. She has considered this to be a chance to shape the future of the village.

“It’s exciting. I’ve met so many wonderful people here and can’t wait to see the village grow.”

The Miriam Corban Village is continuing to grow, with an increase in resident move-ins recently and the opening of a new care centre coming in the near future.