It’s what you put in….
As we gear up for the third annual Sanlam Investments FoodWineDesign Fair, we’re on a mission to find the best in artisanal food and bring it together under one roof. We’re all for a good batch of ingredients. Think of how simple dishes like pasta ‘caccia e pepe’, caprese salad or carpaccio can be whipped up in minutes with minimal ingredients, and impress even the harshest of food critics – if made with the best produce.
That’s why we’re all for honest, artisanal products, and we’ve hand-picked, among others, these three exhibitors whose wares will boost your dishes, effortlessly.
Pesto Princess
After 14 years in the market, Pesto Princess has carved a niche as one of the best pestos you can buy in South Africa. They make six varieties of fresh pesto sauce – ‘good stuff packed to the brim in a concentrate, that needs to be kept cold’ – and like many small companies, they’ve got a story that’s as enticing as the product itself. The company was started by Kathleen Quillinan, an opera singer at the time, who began selling fresh sauces made in her home kitchen, as a creative way to fund her singing career. Pesto was quite new to South African palates back then, and customers were thrilled to discover the fresh flavour. Soon Kathleen was so overwhelmed with orders that she laid her singing career to rest, and began a new adventure. Fourteen years later the company still uses her Observatory, Cape Town, kitchen as their factory, or their ‘palace’ as they like to call it. The pestos are all free of preservatives and animal rennet and have the additional bonus of being freezable for up to three months. Simply remove them from the freezer, let soften for 5-10 minutes and safely refreeze when you’re done.
De Rustica Olive Oil
New kid on the block, De Rustica, will be selling their very first harvest of extra virgin olive oil at this year’s fair. The olive farm, which the three owners established in 2005, is situated in the Western Cape in an area called De Rust, close to the town of Oudtshoorn. The region’s good soils, cold winters, mountain water and Cape sunshine make it optimal olive terroir, while the farm’s Italian cultivars are all hand-picked and pressed on the estate. These ideal growing conditions, and the artisanal care taken in the production and blending processes, result in the exceptional quality of ultra premium cold pressed extra virgin olive oil. To date they’ve planted 155 hectares of olive trees on the estate. The trees are at different stages of their life spans and the farm will probably reach its full production capacity in 2020. For now, the flagship olive oil is already making waves in the local market.
Black Mamba Foods
One of our few non-South African exhibitors, Black Mamba will be travelling from Swaziland to showcase their wares. The company, which was founded in 2010, specialises in creating gourmet chilli products made with fresh ingredients and no artificial flavours or preservatives. As the name suggests, these gourmet products pack a serious punch. The company takes sustainable farming seriously, and therefore sources all their chillies from small, local producers, while all their products are lovingly made and handpacked by Swazi women.
Join us at the Sanlam Investments FoodWineDesign Fair from 23-25 November 2012 to sample these and other artisanal foods.