MEET YOUR {OUTSTANDING} MAKER - KIWI QUINOA
A love for quinoa sparked by a trip through South America over a decade ago, has led a couple to pioneer the industry in New Zealand from their family farm near Taihape. We first caught up with Jacqui and Dan Cottrell following their Kiwi White Quinoa Gold Medal win in the 2019 Outstanding NZ Food Producer Awards. Three years later they’re continuing to lead the country in the love of quinoa; recruiting growers across Aotearoa and introducing Kiwis to a new variety, Red Wholegrain Quinoa.
Jacqui Cottrell has a smile in her voice as she recounts how she and husband Dan went from ‘being Mum and Dad producers to creating an industry with growers across both islands’.
Following their first commercial crop in 2016 they began selling in New Zealand in September 2017, with their brand Kiwi Quinoa starting to build a market for the fresh, clean flavour of locally grown quinoa. Thinking back over the past seven years Jacqui says; “we don’t stop to reflect enough. We have set goals and what we have achieved is crazy. We never thought we would create a new industry.”
Farmer Dan and agronomist Jacqui began their quinoa journey in 2012 on their OE as they were travelling though South America when they recognised parts of Peru’s landscape looked like the north island’s Central Plateau where Dan’s family have farmed for four generations. According to Jacqui this sight and the recognition of the geographic similarities provided the genesis for growing quinoa in Rangitikei.
Fast forward to 2020 when the pair achieved national supermarket distribution for Kiwi Quinoa, which prompted them to take a leap of faith, finding growers with similar values who were prepared to use their ‘recipe’ for growing chemical free quinoa. Today, Kiwi Quinoa are in partnership with six growers, one in Bulls and five in Canterbury, ensuring they have enough grain to supply supermarkets across New Zealand as well as bulk sales ingredients for food producers.
Jacqui says developing Kiwi Quinoa has provided plenty of challenge – the biggest of which is knowing how much to plant. Like any annual crop the pair forecast sales and plant to meet that demand, with fingers crossed that mother nature plays ball and the season provides optimal growing conditions. The 2021 didn’t deliver as they might have liked and volume was down. However, they have managed to accommodate all their sales and looking forward to planting next month in October, for about 100 days in the ground to enable harvest in late January or early February.
Looking back over the past six years, Jacqui says the Kiwi Quinoa brand has matured. Since starting in 2017 they have recently redesigned their packaging and updated their website, enabling online sales for quinoa lovers across New Zealand.
Wholegrain red quinoa is Kiwi Quinoa’s latest innovation. Jacqui is a true convert saying its red colour makes it look vibrant in every dish and its texture is a winner too. “Red quinoa has an amazing subtle crunch and gives a little pop when you bite it – it’s become my go-to favourite”. For the Cottrell family that means using Kiwi Quinoa Red Wholegrain Quinoa as the base for curries or simply as a side dish cooked and served with dill, butter and salt. Playing to quinoa’s strength as a replacement for gluten, Jacqui uses red quinoa in Minestrone instead of pasta too.
Both red and white quinoa grown by Kiwi Quinoa is considered ‘sweet’, not because its sweet but because it doesn’t contain bitter saponins, which is a bonus for food lovers. Jacqui says locally grown quinoa tastes better than imported varieties; “it doesn’t have the bitter aftertaste that other quinoas often have. We’re big on taste and food being delicious.”
Kiwi White Quinoa and Kiwi Red Quinoa are available on their website as well as at selected New World stores, Farro, Sabato, Moore Wilson's and Fresh Choice as well as the country’s finest independent grocery and health stores . A full list of stockists is on their website https://www.kiwiquinoa.com