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New Zealand Piri Piri
Piko Piko

Mokoia Restaurant is a definitive fine dining experience featuring creative Pacific Rim cuisine using indigenous herbs and spices to express the essence of contemporary New Zealand culture.

Piko Piko is a fern shoot found growing in a damp shady areas of NZ bush. There are 312 different varieties of fern shoots in New Zealand and can be used as a signature garnish or as vegetable. If picking Piko Piko in the wild, make sure that you have identified the correct type. It is also high in vitamin E.

New Zealand Piri Piri is a source of chili flavor that grows wild and domesticated. Piri Piri contains good amounts of minerals like potassium, manganese, iron and magnesium. Potassium is an important component of cell and body fluids that helps control heart rate and blood pressure.

Horopito is New Zealand's indigenous pepper. Can be taken as tea for sauces or dressing. Horopito has anti-fungal properties.

Kawa Kawa (Macropiper excelsum) is a New Zealand native herb used traditionally for many different ailments. A versatile herb that has been used as a heart tonic, blood pressure, and circulation. It has also been used as a purifier, a digestive aid, an analgesic, anti-spasmodic, as a diuretic - traditionally used to support and strengthen kidney function, as an anti-inflammatory and was also used as an Aphrodisiac.

Horopito

 

Kawa Kawa

Indigenous Herbs & Spices

Harakeke

 

Harakeke is unique to New Zealand and is one of our oldest plant species. Harakeke was an important fibre plant to the Maori. Each Maori pa(village) or marae typically had a harakeke plantation. Different varieties were specially grown for their strength, softness,colour and fibre content. Today, it is used in soaps, shampoos and a range of other cosmetics, whilst Harakeke seeds and oil are used for flavouring and for other culinary purposes.

Akeake

 

Akeake timber is one of the hardest native woods. Its heartwood (from the centre of the trunk) is black with streaks of white and is very dense and heavy. The wood was traditionally used for paddles, weapons, digging sticks and spade blades. The twigs can be used to make a number of dyes – pale green, yellow-green, and bright gold. Although the leaves and seeds were used to make a kind of perfume, the Maori did not seem to use the tree medicinally. This is surprising since in Indonesia, Tahiti, Panama and Peru the same tree is used for reducing fevers.

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