Making premium pasta from locally grown durum wheat all came about through frustration at the inferior quality of pasta imported into New Zealand.
“Approximately 90% of our wheat grains come from Australia and it is not top quality,” says Monty Petrie. We export our best food overseas and import cheaper, lower-quality alternatives back.
Monty and Sons is a Business focused on making high quality minimally processed whole foods that are good for your family. It is owned and run by husband and wife Monty and Jess Petrie.
So much of what we eat today has been commoditized and made for scale, speed and efficiency. So much so that now 90% of the flour consumed in this country is from Australia which is low quality and reliant on heavy usage of ag chem. 100% of our dried pasta is imported.
Monty worked on these huge Australian cropping farms to pay for his university during his summers. On one farm we would draw 18 megaliters per day (18,000,000L) for flood irrigation. It would then be channelled straight back into the Darling River.
The first day we got there we all dived into a water canal and got covered in rashes head to toe.
The farm manager said “what are you doing? That water is basically pure ag chem you’ll probably die when you’re 40 if you swim in that”. Other farms have desiccated large swaths of crops with glyphosate before harvest. A lot of this grain would be destined for our stomachs. I am not saying that all farms in Australia are like that but from what I saw over 1.5 years of 4 states with multiple farms there wasn’t a huge care for human health or the environment and that has really stuck with me.
Farmers here in New Zealand are really top notch and I think we need to celebrate that more and support it. We are making dried pasta with beautiful Durum Wheat grown by the Wairarapa Grains Collective. Their farms are based in Kahutara, Gladstone, East Taratahi and Te Ore Ore. They grow the Durum Wheat using the no till process which protects the soil integrity and helps to reduce carbon into the atmosphere.
We are making dried pasta with beautiful Durum Wheat grown by the Wairarapa Grains Collective. Their farms are based in Kahutara, Gladstone, East Taratahi and Te Ore Ore.
Durum is a grain that has a very specific starch and gluten make up that makes it crucial for high quality pasta. This wheat is a variety that can be traced back over 10,000 years. We bronze extrude our pasta and slow dry for 12-18 hours with all temps keeping below 40C to keep the pasta nutrient intact. The pasta we have created is light, closer to homemade fresh pasta than normal store-bought dried pasta. It cooks in 6-9 minutes depending on the shape and due to the friction from the bronze it is covered in tiny ribs that means sauce will stick to it like a magnet… no more pools of sauce left on your plate.
We produce Short Rigatoni, Gigli which we renamed Trumpets, Radiatori and Fusilli. Currently we are selling Family Bags to subscription boxes, refillerys and cafes around the country and come January we will be launching 500g bags into Farro Fresh, Moore Wilsons and other select stores and retailers nationwide along with our online store where we will have individual bags for purchase as well as a build your own subscription box.
We hope to feed many families healthy and honest food over the coming years and are excited to get cracking on our little family business.
Website montyandsons.co.nz
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