Lewis Road Creamery - for the second year - has produced a spicy flavoured milk to commemorate Matariki, and says the not-for-profit product costs it money to produce.
The product highlights Matariki and is a collaboration with Māori dairy farmers, facts that seem to elude the critics.
The milk, from Pouarua Farms, uses native horopito that’s been wild-harvested from the Horopito region near Ruapehu, combined with ginger root, sweet notes of caramel, spices and earthy black pepper.
Pouarua Farms is jointly owned by Ngāti Maru, Ngāti Paoa, Ngāti Tamaterā, Ngāti Tara Tokanui and Te Patukirikiri. They have supplied PKE-free milk to Lewis Road Creamery for several years.