Local producers have featured in the gold medals each year of the Outstanding Food Producer Awards (OFPA) which celebrates its 10th anniversary this year.
The highest-scoring gold medal winners are considered for the Category Champion Awards to be announced at the Champions Party in Auckland on May 19.
Internationally renowned chef and OFPA head judge Peter Gordon said the results were a "hugely positive reflection" of the "outstanding" state of New Zealand food production.
"Judging standards are high and our judges are at the top of their game," Mr Gordon said.
"Many of the products I tasted were exceptional, often featuring unique Kiwi innovation and flavours you simply don’t find anywhere else ... One minute I was tasting crayfish, the next a praline chocolate. It was a privilege to see the breadth of talent across every category."
Invercargill-based Miele Apiaries received praise and gold for their Sou’Wester Coastal Blend from hives located along the south coast, mixing various native species including mānuka and harakeke as well as clover "to add some sweetness".
Judges described it as taking them back to their childhood.
"Lovely, rounded sweetness. Hot buttered toast and this honey please!"
Miele Apiaries’ Chris Fraser said the Wildflower honey, which also won gold, was gathered from lifestyle blocks around the outskirts of Invercargill and won silver in 2021.
"This gives a nice blend of pasture and garden nectar sources."
Gore’s Robbies by Mrs Pickles director Josie Robinson has been celebrating her first medal for one of her pickled onion products, The Foveaux Pickled Onion.
"When our 10th birthday rolled around, I felt a deep need to thank the ones I work with. The producers that work just as hard as I do and create top-level produce or product. The Foveaux is for them."
It uses fellow medal winner Miele Apiaries’ honey as well as Southland’s Kiwi Saffron, Auld Distillery Summit’s Reach and, for a final touch, Sichuan peppercorns, "whose flavour I fell in love with smelling it for the first time".
Judges described it as a "clever" addition to the pickled onion market.
"Eating these pickled onions well chilled is a game changer, a totally different eating experience, compared to room temperature," judges say.
Mrs Robinson also won gold for her new Cherry Bourbon Rib Sauce, a product that took nine months to develop and only came together when she had the idea to add balsamic vinegar.
"It’s been an instant success, which I didn’t expect. It sells out quickly, with a batch of 40 selling out within five days.
"This work was the most challenging of anything I’ve previously produced. I am super excited that it worked out and the people have received them with open arms." — Allied Media
