A taste of autumn

It’s plum season at Iggie’s Kitchen, and her chutney is just the thing for the autumn pantry

- Lauren Allen

Rain isn’t usually welcome news, but for Treales grower Angela Carrdus, it’s not something to complain about.

‘The weather here is terrible, but it’s good in a way because it makes juicy plums.’

Juicy plums are just one of the ingredients that make up the Iggie’s Kitchen chutneys and preserves, and it’s just the season for them. Owner Angela grows the Victoria plums in her own orchard in one of her three back gardens, alongside pears and three varieties of apples.

‘We have three apple trees, one pear tree and a huge plum tree,’ she says. ‘We have normal trees, too. If it was a car lot, parked bumper to bumper, you would probably be able to put 10 Ford Focuses in here. It is fabulous.’

Angela has been making chutneys, jams and fudge as a one-women business since July 17th, 2017 – a date she chose for all its sevens, to give her ‘a bit of luck’. It was her marriage to husband Peter six years ago that she says freed her up from the full-time office job, and her self-employed life began with making and selling fudge at a local car boot sale.

‘The first time I sold fudge, my husband was trying to get rid of some junk at a car boot sale,’ Angela says. ‘I was always into my cooking, baking; my favourite place is the kitchen. I’d just started making fudge at that point and my family (the guinea pigs) were actually really liking it.

‘So I thought, I’ll go with him and take some fudge and put it on a separate table next to him, take my scales and some little bags, and I sold out almost immediately.’