Topp Country

The twins explore the joys and health benefits of fermented foods from new Kiwis who have brought an ancient food process to NZ: Polish Sauerkraut, Japanese miso and French bio fermented turmeric honey. Who knew billions of good bacteria could taste so good.

Lynda and Jools visit a Michelin-star chef and his pastry chef wife, in their central Auckland backyard, and learn there's far more you can cook in a wood fired oven than pizza; fish for flounder on the Firth of Thames with Piako Pete who smokes the best fish around and spend a day with the Vinbrux family in Oamaru who live self sufficiently without electricity.

The Topps' great grand-father brought a variety of rhubarb to NZ inside his walking cane when he migrated to NZ in the 1860s, so it's fitting they visit Fay and Joe Gock, the first to grow rhubarb for the NZ market. The Chinese have long known that Rhubarb's a superfood, so no wonder these two are still going strong in their 80's.

Lynda and Jools meet two sisters who are creating a storm in a teacup, and visit NZ's only tea plantation, where they learn how to pick tea from one of the 20 nationalities who work there before getting the low down on roasting, tasting and making the perfect coffee. Mum Topp enjoys a special high tea for her birthday.

The Riverhead pub is one of NZ's oldest pubs, well known for its gastronomy and its history; Jools learns to fly fish from another breast cancer survivor, Sherrie Feickert, who introduced Casting for Recovery to NZ, while Lynda enjoys catch and release with her partner Pete, world famous for his ties. The Topp Twins go on their very first ever rafting trip, on the mighty Clutha.

This old-fashioned art is making a come-back as we discover by meeting three couples who have turned a consuming hobby into a business : preserving vegetables, salami and lemons. We meet a Paeroa woman who won The World's Original Marmalade Competition.

We meet kiwis who are passionate about making liquers and spirits from the purest of ingredients, mixed with love and laughter. A wee dram, a nip, a drop, a shot, Lynda and Jools discover the pleasures of strawberry cocktails, west coast whiskey and Ruahine port, all with moderation of course.

The twins are on a mission to explore the virtues of this fifth taste that when mixed with the other four salty, sweet, sour, bitter - makes food so delicious. We meet a couple who grow the tastiest heritage tomatoes in Auckland, a Northland family who make Wild West Worcester sauce from a closely guarded family recipe, and a mushroom farm who have a grotto filled with exotic funghi.

Lynda and Jools love nuts and yes the people who grow them are quite nutty, but in a good way ! They visit a walnut farm in Nelson, chestnut roasters, the Village Nutters, in Wanaka and a special couple who have the largest Macademia nut nursery in the country - these people have all cracked it!

The twins meet all sorts of kind folk who give food away to those in need: helping with the annual Waiheke Island kumara harvest, the Community Fruit Harvest who gather unwanted fruit from orchards, road sides and backyards, and preserve over 7,000 bottles of fruit, chutneys and jams. A Nelson school teaches kids to grow and cook their own food.