Earlier this week I was in Rotorua for the Maori Tourism Conference... Walking on Mokoia Island in the centre of Lake Rotorua and then in native rain forest surrounding luxury lodge Tree Tops I came across giant mushrooms like I've never seen before! I'm hoping to try the Giant Mokoia Mushrooms at Mokoia Restaurant next time I'm in Rotorua!
We joined Charles Royal's Maori Food Trail at Tree Tops - and wow what an incredible tour we had! We scouted the dense and lucious forest for indigenous herbs and plants including Horopito, Kawakawa and Piko Piko. "Horopito has a chili pepper bite and is dried and used as a rub and seasoning, as is Kawakawa, which is used medicinally as a herbal tea and has traditional applications for stomach pains, blood cleansing, tooth ache and as a general tonic. Piko Piko, which is New Zealand’s native fern, is harvested and used for its edible shoots." By the time we returned to the lodge we were drenched and so we had our lesson in preparing Maori cuisine in robes as our clothes dried!
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