Home industry foods and products may often be made with love and tradition but these micro businesses are also key to rural employment and skills development. From honey and sauces to gourmet meats and liqueurs, The Cape Country Meander boasts a thriving local business offering that results in more than souvenirs and tasty accompaniments.
Most of these products do not make it onto the shelves of national supermarket chains, but they can be found at the many farm stalls and village markets along the route.
Who are the people behind these farm-spun products?
MEET THE MAKERS
Lambert Badenhorst, from Kleine Wolvengat in Caledon, is the third generation producer of witblits from this farm. In 2012, he was appointed the National Witblits Champion for the sixth consecutive year for his witblits called ‘Lahefiba’. Making witblits is a slow process, taking several hours to stew. The pot is sealed using a mud mixture that hardens due to the heat and the hot steam liquid that escapes from the spout is what ultimately becomes witblits, after a process of extraction.
Fourie Pretorius is the maker of Eric Todd Sauces, straight out of the Elgin Valley. Fourie is a passionate food lover and farmer, using only the best fruit and chilies from his homegrown crops. With the help of great friends and food connoisseurs, Fourie was inspired to create all Eric Todd products on offer today. Eric Todd sauces contain no artificial preservatives or colourants.
Beaumont Wines in Botrivier has restored its historic watermill with the keen help of Andy Selfe. The Old Mill had been out of service for eighty years. Now a living museum and a work in progress, the Beaumont Watermill houses three different mill machines, driven by a wooden water wheel, powered by a natural stream. Andy produces stone ground flour for sale (in limited quantities).
Isaac Balie, Curator at the Genadendal Museum, also gives visitors a taste of an era gone by with breads baked from stone ground flour made in the village, as well as offering Genadendal Honeybush Tea – a herbal tea made from the honeybush plant, indigenous to the Genadendal area.
Dolcezze Straws in Greyton is a product of Anna Elisabettini’s country kitchen. Anna has perfected her cheese straw recipe using only natural ingredients and cutting and twisting the straws by hand. After many years of production, Dolcezze Straws are now made in a small baking factory in Greyton, using the same recipe and techniques.
Villiersdorp boasts a small producer of a bottled range of handcrafted fruit sauces, relishes and accompaniments called Feast-de-Renaissance. Started by husband-and-wife team, Merv and Lou Howell, Feast-de-Renaissance products are made by hand using old-school cooking methods, and only fresh and locally sourced ingredients. No artificial additives are used.
Concordia Cheese in Riviersonderend is the small home industry of Teddy and Desireé Kingwill. The Kingwill’s use the milk of free-roaming cows on the Concordia Farm to make a variety of flavoured cheeses, including chilli, sweet pepper, stinging nettle, garlic and mustard seed to name but a few.
Earth Fusion in Tesselaarsdal is essentially a flower business that exports essential oils and fynbos to the overseas market; however, for the local market, owners and friends Chris van Rhyn and Alet Morkel produce beautiful dried flower items such as fynbos hearts and placemats, and fynbos body products.
