deliciousmagazine.co.uk 61
Meet the producer
A
ngharad Underwood stands over a steaming cauldron of her Blissfully
Blackcurrant Sirop, stirring the fragrant purple brew with a giant yellow
paddle. Kitted out in a green cotton apron, she resembles nothing so much
as a perky budgie, intent on her task. She’s here at the Chepstow Conservative
Club kitchen at least three days a week, cooking up batches of the 20-odd recipes
that make up The Preservation Society’s range of syrups, jams and chutneys.
“I do pretty much what you’d do at home,” she says, deftly skimming off a
high-tide line of bubblegum-pink foam. “It’s small-batch, intuitive cooking rather
than set times and temperatures: I react to the fruit because every batch is different.”food hero.
PASSION PROJECT
Born into a Welsh farming family, Angharad learned how to make jams and
chutneys at an early age. “On my mother’s side it was quite competitive: they all
entered the local agricultural shows, so it was something I’d always played with.”
But it wasn’t until 2010, when Angharad was pregnant with her second child and
facing redundancy from her job as a transport manager, that she considered it as a
career. “I was fighting hard for a job I didn’t even like, so I started thinking ‘What
could I achieve if I was doing something I was 100 per cent passionate about?’”
A stint selling her homemade preserves at a small farmers’ market convinced
her there was potential: “It went really well, so I was like: ‘Wow! I can sell my
stuff!’” More market dates followed, and by the end of her maternity leave she
had the makings of a viable business. “I worked so hard – we all did, as a family.
But I knew it was the one opportunity I’d have to do it.”
Since then it’s been a steady upward trajectory, with nine Great Taste Awards →WHAT MAKES BLISSFULLY
BLACKCURRANT SIROP WORTHY OF
A delicious. PRODUCE AWARD?
This luscious purple elixir brings a vibrant
zing to everything from sauces and
dressings to drinks and desserts. It’s this
versatility that won it top place in the
Drinks category of the 2018 delicious.
Produce Awards. Angharad makes each
batch by hand, steeping tangy-tart
blackcurrants in local cider vinegar for
up to a week, then pressing them and
bubbling up the aromatic liquid with a
dash of sugar. The recipe is inspired by
a tincture her Welsh grandmother used
to make “for sore throats and things”,
but the end result is far from medicinal –
it has a fruity intensity and the perfect
balance of sweetness and tang.
WHAT THE JUDGES SAID
Food writer and TV presenter
Prue Leith “I’m thinking of it all over
ice cream.”
Drinks editor Susy Atkins “I can
imagine this as a cooking ingredient.”
Editor Karen Barnes “Outstanding.
Versatile and complex.”
Food writer Xanthe Clay “Fabulous
undernotes.”
Food writer Lucas Hollweg “That
would be delicious in an English kir,
or even with cider.”FIVE THINGS YOU MAY NOT KNOW
ABOUT BLACKCURRANTS1
Weight for weight, raw blackcurrants
have three times more vitamin C than
oranges – 100g provides nearly 300 per
cent of the Recommended Daily Allowance.2
They’re rich in antioxidant polyphenols,
including anthocyanins, which some
studies have linked to heart health.3
More than 90 per cent of the UK’s
annual blackcurrant crop – around
13,000 tonnes – is turned into Ribena.4
The oil from blackcurrant seeds is
prized by the cosmetics industry as
it’s rich in vitamin E.5
Blackcurrant leaves are highly
aromatic and make a good herbal
tea. In Russia they’re used to flavour
pickled vegetables, but they’re also
good in custards, ice cream, sorbet
and cocktails.