In 2019 Noël and Teena Jelsma heard the producer selling black garlic at the Nelson Market was closing up.
Rather than let the product disappear they bought his oven and his recipe.
That December they moved onto five hectares on Neudorf Road in the Moutere Valley and in January, their first jar of black garlic puree was on their very own market table.
How they got here
Before Neudorf Black Garlic, they spent eight years in Singapore working in sales and marketing and enjoying travel opportunities, including a six month caravan trip around Australia with the children and a motorcycle journey across the United States.
While comfortable promoting the product, the food side of the business was new. In Teena’s words, “Food industry was a new industry for us and the learning curve on regulations was very steep.”
“We still get a buzz out of people buying things we make.”
The first product Noël and Teena sold was a jar of Black Garlic Puree at the Nelson Market in January 2020.
Producing black garlic
Black garlic is ordinary fresh garlic, slow aged under controlled heat and humidity until the cloves turn dark, soft and sweet. It’s the Maillard reaction, the same thing that happens when caramelising onions.
Noël and Teena age New Zealand-grown garlic for six weeks straight, with nothing added at all, not even water. No preservatives or additives either.
“Some people are afraid of black garlic because they expect garlic breath, but there is none of that with black garlic,” says Teena. “The slow aging process removes the volatiles that give bad breath.”
When customers first try Neudorf Black Garlic, Teena hopes they notice its sweetness and how little it tastes like raw garlic.
Their own favourites
Teena puts the puree on every cheeseboard. Day to day she uses their black garlic olive oil for salads and frying, plus their new everyday seasoning.
Noël puts the hot honey on everything. Her words: “like, everything!”
Cooking with black garlic
The other thing Noël and Teena create is recipes. There are more than a hundred on their site now, from black garlic butter and gravy through to slow cooker beef ragu, whipped feta with black honey and gingerbread brownies. You can sort them by which product is in your cupboard or by the kind of dish you are making. Their standing advice is to add it near the end of cooking.
The farm and local artisan community
Tinaku Farm sits in the Moutere Valley on the locally significant Neudorf Road. Its five hectares house the family home, the black garlic kitchen, a hazelnut orchard and six pet alpacas. Visitors can book in for farm tours by appointment to meet the alpacas, walk through the orchard, look inside the black garlic kitchen before sitting down to a tasting. The property has run entirely on solar power since October 2025 and the business is certified Carbon Friendly through Ekos, with emissions worked out and offset each year. Packaging, shipping and waste get the same attention. In their own words: “We believe we are all kaitiaki (guardians) of the environment.”
Noël chairs the Moutere Artisans, a collective of 17 makers in the Moutere Valley that holds joint open days in April and October. Outside of their neighbours, Teena says their own kitchen is also stocked with Little River Cheese, Pic’s peanut butter, YUM porridge and Wildwood’s Feeling Dandy.
Loved your Black Garlic?
Explore the full range at neudorfblack.co.nz