Aug 2019 - Lowveld

Elsa and Graeme Swart
from Olive Valley Farm
Products recall the jam
they were given at boarding
school in Zimbabwe;
those bulk cans of mixed
fruit with an artificial red colour. They
both shudder at the thought.
There is simply no comparison when
tasting Elsa’s three different marmalades:
lime; orange and lemon; as
well as grapefruit, lemon and lime.
She also makes atchar, a chilli sauce
and macadamia rusks from the macs
grown on their farm in the De Kaap
Valley.
Elsa makes the jams and rusks
with her right-hand man, William
Chimanyu, and her husband,
Graeme, assists with marketing.
“When my family lived in Zimbabwe,
they baked and made loads of jams.
My mom did it for a living,” Elsa explains.
They have known William since
they moved to Botswana in 2000, as
he worked for friends and relatives.
He also works as a caretaker for
Graeme’s 86-year-old father, a job he
excels at due to his extreme patience
and kindness. “On top of that, he
saves me from having to cut up the
fruit for the marmalade,” Graeme
jokes.
All the citrus used for the marmalades
is grown in the De Kaap Valley.
“I don’t add preservatives, because it
is home-made and healthier. I also do
small quantities at a time; I think it’s
about the love of using the fruit more
so than making a profit,” Elsa says.
They have been making jam on the
farm for the past two to three years.
She doesn’t sell her chili sauce and
atchar, but her marmalades go for
R30 a bottle.
“The kind of fruit you use is very
important. It can’t be overripe and/
or too green,” Elsa elaborates.
The fruit has to be perfect for the
pectin to work its magic. “Marmalade
is completely underrated. Don’t
just think of it as something for toast,”
she advises her customers.
“You can use it in your cooking as
well - marmalade chicken is delicious!”
Elsa suggests it in pork dishes, as well
as with bread and butter pudding.
Olive Valley Farm Products are mostly
sold at the markets held in
Kaapsehoop, and the team relies on
word of mouth. You can find smaller
jars of the lime preserve stocked at
the shop and restaurant Miz Gooz
Berry, also in Kaapsehoop.
“We find it very difficult to supply
to big chain stores. We were
growing vegetables to sell as well,
but they prefer to get stock from
supply chains,” Graeme explains.
He adds that he finds selling at
markets tough, because you might
have to interact with a client who
thinks your product is too bitter.
“It can be difficult and disheartening
when you’re not pleasing everyone,”
he elaborates. Graeme has now learnt
to accept that people’s tastes differ.
“I’m old school. I like something bitter,
opposed to a strawberry and apricot
jam which is sweet.”
Details
Elsa Swart on 079-453-3389
William Chimanyu with Elsa and Graeme Swart
Helen Maddison on the
other hand prefers the
sweet stuff; she makes
fig preserve, raspberry
jam and lemon curd
for her brand Old Cape.
“I’ve made fig preserve for my family
for more than 50 years,” she recalls.
“When we moved to our farm in
Waterval Onder in 1988, my son told
me that I make the best fig preserve
and I should open a fig factory,”
Helen explains. Unfortunately her
son passed away at the age of 36.
“I decided that in memory of him, I
should finally open that factory.” She
raided her sisters’ trees for cuttings
and planted figs on the farm.
“Our surname is Maddison -
with two ds - doubly mad
we always say. We lived
in the madhouse and
we called the farm
Around The Bend,”
she shares smiling.
Today the property
is known as Zongororo
Guest Farm.
“That is where I
started planting
the figs and later we
moved with the trees.
Luckily the plants are pretty
hardy; some of them died, but
most survived. Now we have a
farmer in the Schoemanskloof Valley
who has 350 trees. We gave him our
plants for next to nothing and we
buy the whole crop from him.”
Helen has been making Old Cape
products for the past four to five
years and enjoys the process, but it
is crucial for her to make a profit. She
and her husband don’t have a huge
pension, or a medical aid.
“I’ve learnt how to make raspberry
jam by visiting my mother-in-law
who lived in England.” She recalls
annual trips in the ‘90s; they visited
farms where you can pick your own
raspberries and strawberries. “I interrogated
all the farmers to find out
who grew the best fruit. I asked them
what they did and how they did it.”
Helen made about 100 bottles of jam,
which her mother-in-law gave away
to friends throughout the year. She
would make 12 bottles for herself,
place them in her
luggage and bring
them back home.
She started looking for fruit here in
South Africa. “A friend of mine had
a nursery and she had raspberries
which were acclimatised to this area,”
she explains. “To grow figs and raspberries
around Mbombela is not a
done thing. But nobody told me that,
so I just did it,” she laughs.
Her secret to a great jam is the quality
of the fruit. “And, don’t overcook
it. I cook my raspberry jam for five
minutes, then you still have that fresh
taste,” she adds. “All the recipe books
say boil it for 20 minutes... but that
means bye-bye flavour!”
The Old Cape fig preserve is stocked
at Steiltes and The Grove SPARs, and
Crossing SPAR sells the fig preserve as
well as the raspberry jam. “We used
to sell at the market in Kaapsehoop. It
costs R50 for the jam or lemon curd,
and R70 for the preserve.” Customers
Helen Maddison
have urged her to export her figs.
They rave about the fact that it simply
is the best they have ever tasted.
“Our customers have told us wonderful
things about our products.
Have you ever tried a toasted cheese
sandwich with fig preserve?” Another
customer does a roasted fillet with
blue cheese or Camembert and adds
the figs on top. It is also lovely with
pork chops.
Helen says many people don’t know
much about lemon curd. “Some mix
it with vanilla ice cream. Someone
else adds it to cream for a pavlova,”
she explains. “Another customer - a
rugby fanatic - says no man, you just
sommer take a spoon and eat it while
watching sport,” she laughs.
One thing is evident... curds, jams and
marmalade belong on a whole lot
more than just your morning toast.
Details
Helen Maddison on 072-212-2605
34 Get It Lowveld August 2019
August 2019 Get It Lowveld 35