Home - Tour BHUOT - Taewa Potato Power
Taewa - Potato Power
The indigenous Maori potato Taewa is set to be the hot new gourmet food on menus in New
Zealand and overseas thanks to research trials underway at seven sites around the country.
The project aims to establish Taewa as a viable commercial crop, by improving yields, the
quality of the seed and the potatoes themselves. Technology New Zealand is investing in the
research trials through its Mori Collectives scheme, established last year as a pilot programme
to assess the technical feasibility of commercialising indigenous assets.
Taewa are a flavoursome root vegetable, in colours ranging from purples to reds and yellows,
which are traditionally boiled or steamed. While some Taewa are already available on the
market, they tend to be small and of inconsistent quality.
The Taewa project has four objectives - to research traditional knowledge on growing and
storing the potato, develop best practice protocols for cultivation, establish a virus-free seed
stock and develop post harvest management systems to ensure quality is maintained.
Maori grower collectives in Kaikohe, Patea, Ruatoria, Te Kuiti, Palmerston North and Invercargill
are growing trial crops of Taewa with Massey University and Crop and Food Research
contributing scientific and technical expertise. Most of the crops will be grown organically.
The BHU is involved in cultivar assessment and multiplication work with SMART
(Southern Maori Agricultural Research Sub Group).
Some of the cultivars grown at the BHU include:
- Ngauteuteu
- Karuparera
- Maori
- Moe Moe
Taewas, especially the purple cultivars, contain a high level of antioxidants and therefore have
health promoting and cancer fighting properties.
They are ideally positioned to be processed and marketed as functional foods.
Functional foods are food items that not only provide calories and proteins but contain high
levels of other health promoting ingredients. A good example is Manuka honey with its high
antibacterial properties of the flax and borage seed oils with their high levels of omega 3 and
omega 6 oils.
Based on Foundation for Research, Science and Technology Kairangahau Newletter December
2003 http://www.frst.govt.nz
