I was absolutely blown away to receive a Silver Medal for a product I hadn't even sold one jar of.
I don't think I've ever shared my story about winning Silver at the NZ Food Producer Awards. It really wasn't what I was trying to achieve when I entered the competition.
I first found out about the competition when I was first setting up the business. I was still trying to create a brand, logo's and a website. I was doing some work with Nicky Soloman from Food Innovation Network. I mentioned that I would like to get my Saffron in front of some NZ chef's. My goal was to get some feedback on the quality of the saffron I had grown that season. I had just received my A1 quality Cert; so I thought this would be a good next step.
Nicky told me about the NZ Food Producer Awards. Being new to the food industry, I had never heard of it. I looked it up to find out a bit more around categories and criteria. I noticed pretty quickly that they were all food products, Saffron threads were more of an ingredient. The saffron would have been too strong to taste raw & it wouldn't showcase its ability to color a dish.
I contacted the organizers about options for me to enter my Saffron. I suggested I could potentially infuse it in some honey, this way they could experience all the unique qualities of my Saffron. They were happy with that solution, there was a catch though!
The product had to be labeled and available for purchase to qualify for entry. I quickly contacted a local Beekeeper for any suggestions on what variety of Honey might complement the Saffron. Mike was very supportive of the idea and suggested Tawari Honey; It has a subtle butterscotch flavor & a light color. It's also quite a rare Honey, not many people have heard of or tried before. The Tawari Tree grows in a few select places in New Zealand, Matawai/ Motu being one of those places. So now I had 2 very unique ingredients for my product, Mike even supplied the Honey for me.
Of course this was all done in a rush, as I had only contacted the comp organizers a week or so before entries closed. So I frantically designed a small Swig Tag Label to tie around my jars, so I ordered a handful of them. Bought 2 jars from Briscoes for my entry, as you had to provide 2 for quality and product consistency. Then the day before I had to post my entry, I made my first batch of Saffron Tawari Honey. I took a couple of terrible photo's and a slap up product description went on my website, bringing my product range up to 2 products!
Saffron Tawari Honey
All I wanted to achieve by entering this competition was to get some feedback from culinary professionals on my Saffron. I thought it would be a good place to start in terms of the Saffrons, Taste, Aroma & Colour qualities. Whatever the feedback might be, I would then be able to work on my growing techniques to increase the quality of my Saffron.
I was absolutely blown away to receive a Silver Medal for a product I hadn't even sold one jar of. I had to giggle at the situation, it was just one of those moments you wouldn't have dreamt of.
Initially I thought once I had the feedback from the judges, I would just take the product off the website and continue growing Saffron and working on that. But that wasn't the case, I have happily continued with the product & have been able to introduce the flavor of Saffron to many customers since.
It just goes to show that you never know where your choices might take you, or what amazing opportunities are just around the corner. I try to remind myself of this a little more often these days, to trust my creativity, be confident, follow my gut instincts, be bold & give things a go. There's no room for self doubt in this dog eat dog world.
