60 | Middlehurst delivers Russell Fredric MEAT & WOOL » Middlehurst Station Lamb cuts from Middlehurst Station, marketed as Middlehurst Delivered, have won six golds at Outstanding NZ Food Producer Awards. “The product has been farmed and grown with animal welfare and the environment at the centre of what we do, they realise that it’s not only a high quality product, it’s been well looked after and well treated and that comes through in the end product.” A vital link in the product chain is Cheviot butchery Harris Meats. “Harris Meats are doing a fantastic job of processing our lambs for us, it’s so amazing to be able to work with them and have them so close by to the nishing farm in Cheviot. It has a real impact on the end product as the lambs only have to travel 5k’s down the road so they’re not having that stress leading up to processing.” Lucy and Sophie’s brother, Henry, who runs the station’s Cheviot nishing farm also has an important part in the business, selecting and supplying the lambs year round. “He manages them so well, he’s always got them there ready for us so that we can process all year round. We think that’s pretty amazing.” The genetics which have been developed by Wille and Susan over many years have also been a big contributor to quality of the meat. Middlehurst Delivered’s website offers a wide variety of merino prime lamb, including racks, rib-eye and rump, shoulders, ribs, mini roasts top roast, shanks, back-straps and silverside leg steak among others. The website has a page with a diagram of a sheep showing the location of the cuts and a generic cooking guide as well as a string of tempting and inspirational recipes. Orders are despatched chilled from the nishing block at Cheviot and couriered overnight in Woolcool cardboard boxes which have recyclable wool liners for insulation. “The cuts have been done in a way that are super-convenient for people, they make the most out of the whole carcass in really nice sizes.” A treasure trove of gold awards recently scooped by Middlehurst Delivered has con- rmed the edgling business as being a cut above for its prime merino lamb. The online business was launched in November 2020 by sisters Lucy and Sophie Macdonald who supply the meat from the family farm, Middlehurst Station, in North Canterbury which is owned by their parents Willie and Susan Macdonald. The succulent cuts submitted by Lucy and Sophie to the Outstanding NZ Food Producer Awards obviously wowed the judges who bestowed six gold awards on Middlehurst Delivered. The cuts supplied were lamb rack, oyster shoulder, short ribs, ribeye and rump (cap on). “We went with a mixture of our favourite cuts and the cuts that we really enjoy cooking and that we thought were really high quality,” Lucy says. The sisters are ecstatic about the recognition and saw the awards as a great opportunity to test their product against other New Zealand outstanding food producers. “Every cut we entered got a gold award which we were absolutely stoked with. There were screams of joy and we were so excited.” “We know that our product is good and we really enjoy eating it, but we were just so excited to have the recognition for it and for other people to agree with us, we just thought that’s really cool.” The quality of Middlehurst’s produce plus a greater number of people researching and ordering online due to the covid pandemic has helped the business to grow quickly, including drawing interest from the hospitality industry. Today’s discerning consumers have a strong sense of wanting to know about the provenance of what they buy, Lucy says. Specialists in Agricultural Aviation, Lifting, Vineyard Spraying, Suspension Fertiliser Application, Charter Omaka Aerodrome Ph 03 578 9684 - 7 days Email info@marlheli.co.nz
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