Saucy Business

Noel Crawford of Aromatics. Photo / Supplied

Noel Crawford loves nothing more than standing over his kitchen stove, brewing new savoury concoctions. Trying, tasting, testing. Eight years ago, when he began creating sauces, Crawford's sons named him "the Saucerer". Now, his van bears the slogan, "May the sauce be with you". Sure, there's a bit of dark magic involved, but for the most part, Crawford's creations are the result of his desire to get the flavours right.

Crawford, who has been in the Hawkes Bay food scene for two decades, is now at the front line of the region's booming sauce industry. In the past eight years, his artisan business, Aromatics, has taken off, with a growing range of gourmet condiments and sides. Aromatics began as a hobby project while Crawford was working as a chef.

"A friend of mine suggested that I make some of my sauces and take them along to the farmers' market. My eldest son made some labels and we whacked them on the bottles. I did three sauces. People loved them, so I created a tomato sauce with fresh basil, roasted garlic and beautiful capsicums. They loved that too, and wanted more."

Today, Crawford has dozens of products, and is about to start exporting to Australia. But it's an exhausting job. Running a one-man operation isn't easy, especially in the cramped makeshift factory in Napier which he is currently using as his base. But the offers keep rolling in. When we visited, Crawford had just signed a major agreement with a top food producer to create a key ingredient for one of their popular products.

His eyes light up as he pours large dollops of his sauces, with names like "Bhindi Lu" and "Black Beauty", into tasting pots. He stares intently at your face as you try each sauce; watching for a hint of satisfaction or surprise. Crawford cares immensely about how people view his sauces. He says he hasn't come all this way to make condiments solely for his own entertainment. And he says Kiwis are becoming more informed.

The sauce market is increasingly competitive. Some restaurants have their own lines, while some producers have diversified into the condiments market. Crawford says most of the "big guys" don't make good sauces because there's not a lot of profit in them. Aromatics products don't sell cheaply: they retail for $7.50 per bottle. But the prices haven't gone up in many years, and Crawford says people will pay for quality.

"You don't need to use huge amounts of it. If a sauce is made properly, the flavours go a long way, because the flavours are layered on top of each other. One of my sauces is an Indian sauce called Bhindi Lu. Each spice is added separately. Then the tomatoes and vinegar go in. When you taste it, the flavours unfold progressively, because of the way the spices have been layered. You just won't get that with a supermarket sauce."

Down the road from Aromatics is Orcona Chillies. Owner Anne Prescott used to run a cafe. Yearning for a challenge, she and her partner Kevin bought the business, even though they had no knowledge about how to grow tasty peppers. Through trial and error, they've made it work. In a small kitchen, Anne makes pickles, relishes and a minted pepper jelly which won "Best Jelly" at the Australian Fiery Food Awards.

When we visit, Prescott has prepared an antipasto platter: salami, brie, gherkins, crystallised ginger, and peppers stuffed with creme cheese and sprinkled with paprika. She serves it with a selection of Orcona products. "Sharkbite" is a zesty lemon sauce with a touch of heat. Chilli and Feijoa Relish strikes a balance between spiciness and sweetness. Like Crawford, Prescott wants her products to have a point of difference.

The message from sauce producers: just because it comes in a jar, that doesn't mean it's inferior to any homemade creation. In fact, most of the sauces don't include any preservatives or thickeners, but still have a long shelf life. Most of the ingredients are sourced from local producers, and the processing and packaging is done on-site.

Hawkes Bay's agreeable climate has allowed many growers to experiment with sauces. Simmy Knott migrated to New Zealand from Zimbabwe in 2002. Knott and her sister Angela run Saucy Sisters in Hastings. They grow peppers, aubergines and tomatoes, and aim for ambitious flavour combinations, from aubergine kasundi to pepper and saffron. The flavours reflect their African, English and Italian heritage.

"In Africa, we lived near the Indian quarter, so we grew up with a variety of foods," says Knott. "Other people have lived overseas and tasted different flavours. Many people enjoy homemade sauces because of the nostalgia factor: they taste just like their mum used to make. And they're versatile. You can use a red pepper relish on a cheeseboard, or you can use it as a marinade when you are baking chicken or fish."

Hawkes Bay oil maker Telegraph Hill also provides a range of cooking sauces, including an apricot and olive tagine which can be added to any meat. It contains 13 spices, olives and apricots.

Products like these make it simpler and faster to produce gourmet meals at home, at little extra cost. And from the growing demand for Hawkes Bay sauces, it seems the industry has a hot future ahead of it.

Aromatics: www.aromatics.co.nz

Orcona Chillies: www.chilli.co.nz

Saucy Sisters: www.saucysisters.co.nz

Telegraph Hill: www.telegraphhill.co.nz