Tui Flower, a food hero to some of New Zealand's most influential chefs, has died aged 91.

Flower grew up in Matamata, and was awarded a scholarship to study cooking in Paris for a year in her youth, where the local love for food and wine had a huge impact on her.

At the end of the 1960s Flower was appointed food editor of New Zealand Woman's Weekly, where she ran the test kitchen for 20 years, creating recipes for New Zealand housewives to cut out and keep.

Michael Bradley, Stuff Tui Flower was the food editor at NZ Women's Weekly for 20 years.

Popular Kiwi chef, Peter Gordon, remembered his mother doing just that, he told Bite magazine.

READ MORE:

* Tui Flower's tips on making a perfect pav

* Champagne, crayfish and terrible coffee: 30 years of Cuisine

"The instructions are simple common sense. This is partly why Tui touched so many women and families, because she encouraged the housewife to cook better - and to leave some of the old ways behind as kitchen technology slowly improved," he wrote.

Flower also mentored some of New Zealand's most well-known food writers and cooks, such as Allyson Gofton.

NZ Guild of Food Writers president Niki Bezzant said Flower influenced an entire generation and was a "font of knowledge" for food writers and home cooks.

"A lot of people would still be using her recipes. I would say many cooks would have her books in their collection."

Small in stature, Flower had a big personality and very high standards, Bezzant said.

Food writer and Homestead chef Sam Mannering said Flower "basically invented" food writing in New Zealand and was revered for her contribution to New Zealand food and culture.

"I guess America had Julia Child, the UK had Fanny Craddock and we have Tui Flower," he said.

Mannering said he was lucky enough to visit her house to make scones, after meeting her just once.

"I remember being at the Sugar Club launch. She's quite unassuming, but the place just changed atmosphere when she arrived."

He said he would not have expected "that reception for the Queen Mother".

She worked for New Zealand Woman's Weekly for almost 20 years, and was a founding chairwoman and a life member of the NZ Guild of Foodwriters.

Flower's first book was Tui Flower's Cookbook, followed by several others, and her autobiography Self Raising Flower was published in 1998.

Cuisine editor Kelli Brett said Flower inspired many of New Zealand's food writers and chefs.

Brett said she was a name well known outside of New Zealand's borders. "She was a national treasure and mentor to so many of our food writers. [She was] a huge part of the New Zealand Food Writers Guild."

Flower lived on a property in Auckland, where her members of her family had lived for more than 100 years.