African Infused Gourmet Foods is a new business based in Stanford making pestos and chutneys that contain African botanicals.

When pondering where the next global food trend might come from, I automatically expected it to arrive from overseas. (For example, we’ve recently had pulled pork from the southern United States, kimchi from Korea, ramen from Japan, quinoa from Peru, and pad thai from, well, Thailand.) Then one day I thought: don’t we have anything local that could compete with the best in the world? This started me on a journey and the answer is turning out to be much more exciting than I had dared imagine. And as a result I named my brand African Infused Gourmet Foods.

My aim has become to help celebrate the sophisticated indigenous flavours Africa has to offer the world.

So far I have developed a range of four preserves:

Orange & baobab Chutney – baobab’s lemony tartness combined with lemon zest and juice produces notes of bushveld and marmalade. Superb with chicken, ostrich, vegetarian sosaties or a strong cheese.
Strawberry & African chilli Chutney – tiny African bird’s eye chillis are hot and spicy, adding a kick to the strawberries. Think sweet chilli jam meets sour strawberry coulis. Excellent with cheese, curries, roasts, on a sandwich or as a dipping sauce.
Ginger, apple & fynbos honey Chutney – local Elgin apples are infused with the faint smokiness of the fynbos honey, the zing from homemade preserved ginger and a bouquet of spices. Brilliant with roast crackling, roast veg, baked potatoes or as a glaze.
African braai Relish – with its rooibos, honeybush, buchu and suntanned tomatoes, this relish elevates the traditional braai or shisha nyama to a whole new level. Also delectable on a vegan burger or in a vegetarian lasagna.

African Infused Gourmet Foods are available at the Hermanus Country Market (near the high school) every Saturday morning and at Klein River Cheese or from Di Möhr at (028) 341 0742.