Primary Sector Category: 2025 Winner Aoraki - Blackcurrant with Kāmahi Honey - Cold Smoked Salmon
Aoraki redefines cold smoked salmon with bold Kiwi innovation
Aoraki has pushed the boundaries of seafood innovation with its award-winning blackcurrant with kāmahi honey cold smoked salmon.
Aoraki’s winning product - Blackcurrant with Kāmahi Honey.
Developed by Mt Cook Alpine Salmon in Christchurch, the product was born from a clear market opportunity. While cold smoked salmon in New Zealand has traditionally been offered in plain, salt-cured formats, flavoured options have largely been limited to hot smoked products.
Recognising this gap, the Aoraki team set out to create something new and distinctly local, pairing premium salmon with Canterbury blackcurrants and native kāmahi honey. The result is a product that balances innovation with a strong sense of place.
Central to the development was a bespoke curing process, designed to simultaneously infuse blackcurrant flavour while preserving the fish - a significant departure from traditional dry curing methods. This approach required careful scientific precision to achieve the right balance of flavour, texture, shelf life and food safety, without the use of heat treatment or artificial colours.
The team also leveraged advanced technology, using a digitally programmable smoker that allows precise control over temperature, smoke generation and drying conditions, ensuring consistent quality while enabling experimentation
Judges were impressed by both the technical achievement and the final eating experience.
“This product is a result of a bespoke curing process that balanced infusion and safety without heat treatment, expanding the boundaries of the cold smoking science. The product offers a unique flavour and texture, with a subtle tang of blackcurrant, a hint of sweetness from kāmahi honey and an infusion of applewood smoke. We were impressed by the product quality and the research team’s ability to solve the challenges of development and innovation.”
As a category-first in New Zealand and potentially globally the product demonstrates how thoughtful innovation can elevate a traditional food into something entirely new. By combining local ingredients with advanced processing techniques, Aoraki has created a premium offering that showcases both technical excellence and uniquely Kiwi flavour.
Aoraki team at the 2025 New Zealand Food Awards Gala Dinner.
Entry (extracts):
1. Product Name
Blackcurrant with Kamahi Honey - Cold Smoked Salmon
2. Description
Our Blackcurrant Cold Smoked Salmon tastes as sensational as it tempts. The subtle tang of blackcurrant, a hint of sweetness of Kāmahi Honey, gently infused with applewood smoke. The result is cold smoked salmon heaven.
We love a challenge at Aoraki. So, we asked our Smokehouse Masters to come up with a product to take our unique King Salmon, raised in the clean, pure waters of the Southern Alps, to a new level. We teamed up with our friends from ViBERi for their organic blackcurrant grown in South Canterbury, added some delicious Kāmahi honey from our mates at Forage & Gold, and gently smoked our salmon with NZ Applewood. We love it. We know you will too!
Innovation
3. Where did the idea for this product come from?
At Aoraki, we thrive on creativity, local collaboration and a connection to New Zealand flavours. The idea sparked when we discovered ViBERi’s organic blackcurrant juice - vibrant, antioxidant-rich, and grown in our own backyard in South Canterbury. Its deep, dark colour created striking contrast against the coral-pink hue of our premium salmon. Visually, it was an instant win. Nutritionally, it paired two recognised superfoods. But to turn visual intrigue into a flavourful, shelf-stable product, food science had to step in.
The turning point came with the addition of Forage & Gold Kamahi honey, Hawke’s Bay lemon juice, and a touch of vitamin C. These additions helped balance taste, extend shelf life, and ensure safety- while celebrating the best of New Zealand's natural larder.
4. How did you determine product originality and validate market need?
We identified a gap: cold smoked salmon in New Zealand was available only in traditional form- plain, salt-cured, unflavoured. Flavoured variants existed only in the hot smoked space. We saw an opportunity to innovate within the premium cold smoked segment by adding a twist that was both nostalgic and uniquely Kiwi: Canterbury blackcurrants.
Despite internal excitement, we weren’t sure how the market would respond. So, we first introduced it at the Foodstuffs Expo where the response from the trade was overwhelmingly positive. We then launched a cautious limited-edition release – just 20,000 packs across select stores, expected to last four months. They sold out in under three weeks! The consumer response, driven by word-of-mouth and strong repeat purchase, validated both the originality and market potential.
5. Did your company incorporate new technologies or ingredients in the development of this product and if so, please describe them.
Our state-of-the-art commercial smoker has a digitally programmable interface allows precision control over smoke generation, drying, temperature, woodchip burn, and time- ensuring consistent quality and flexibility for innovation. So, we were able to change and fine tune our smoking process to ensure we had the best result for the product.
We also introduced a new curing process. Unlike traditional dry cures relying solely on salt, this method required the simultaneous infusion of blackcurrant juice while drawing moisture and preserving the fish. Balancing infusion and safety without heat treatment pushed the boundaries of cold smoking science.
6. In your food technologist, scientist, food developer or consultant’s words (using science, technology and engineering explanations), what was the greatest technical challenge that was overcome in developing the product?
This product demanded meticulous refinement to solve multiple challenges:
No heat treatment: all safety and preservation had to be managed cold.
Bitterness: blackcurrant’s natural bitterness had to be reduced without losing its vibrant flavour.
Anthocyanin stability: maintaining the colour and preventing oxidation during smoking.
Shelf life: achieving six weeks chilled life with untreated fruit components.
Sustainability
7. Describe how environmental outcomes have been optimised across the life cycle of the product entered. Demonstrate your process with examples of initiatives.
Our dedicated Environmental Team oversees an extensive sustainability programme across farming and processing. This includes:
Continuous water quality monitoring upstream and downstream of our farms.
Monthly, quarterly, and annual environmental reporting shared with Iwi, Meridian Energy, and stakeholders.
Monitoring energy use across farms and sites, with a 21% carbon reduction achieved over the past three years.
Transition to electric vehicles across corporate and farm operations.
A zero-waste policy in production: all by-products are repurposed into non-human consumption streams.
8. Describe how social outcomes have been optimised for the product entered. Demonstrate your process with examples of initiatives.
Mt Cook Alpine Salmon is the largest employer in the Mackenzie District. We support our team through:
Free access to Tekapo Springs for staff and families.
Discounted product, internal career development, and recognition programmes.
Site-wide Health & Safety team coverage.
Community programmes including:
Salmon smolt releases in collaboration with Fish & Game.
Annual Hydro Canal Clean-up.
Donations to local events and causes.
A “buy local first” ingredient policy, with supplier verification on sustainability and social responsibility.
Excellence
9. Briefly outline your product development process including team expertise involved.
Our structured NPD framework ensures alignment with strategy and consumer insight. Once approved through our “fit” assessment, the product is assigned to a developer with timelines addressing:
Ingredient sourcing and specifications.
Food safety and processing parameters.
Trial production and commercial scaling.
10. Explain how your product is at the forefront of food science and technology, food safety or customer experience
This is a category-first in New Zealand, and potentially globally. Few others have attempted to pair cold smoked salmon with blackcurrant. Fewer still would attempt it without heat treatment or artificial colours.
Achieving flavour balance, shelf life, colour retention, and food safety without heat treatment was a major scientific achievement. Understanding how vitamin C interacts with anthocyanins was critical, as was optimising pH and brix levels.
Primary Sector Category
11. What is the market gap this product has provided a solution for? Please provide customer or market research information.
This product brought much-needed innovation to a stagnant cold smoked salmon category. It added variety, visual appeal, and local provenance, reigniting consumer interest. In-store sampling saw conversion rates exceed 80% - a rare metric in chilled retail.
12. What is the additional value that has been achieved through development of this product?
This product opens doors to premium price points, new markets, and new consumer occasions. Beyond commercial success, it has brought new learning and pride to our production team- engaging staff in innovation and deepening our company’s food science credentials.
