Cordials have a soft side
So how about stepping back in time about 200 years and finding inspiration from our ancestors?
Jayne and David Mugridge have done just that and turned their discoveries into a successful family business that is shaking up the soft drinks market.
Inspired by a recipe book once owned by Jayne's grandmother Mabel, the couple make and sell a range of incredibly tasty, high quality fruit cordials.
The classy bottles radiate with colours from raspberries, blueberries and gooseberries – it's true to say that you really can taste the kilos of fruit that go into each handmade batch of cordial.
"We use some of my grandmother's recipes from Edwardian times," says Jayne at her home in the beautiful Yarty Valley, Somerset. And production techniques are only slightly more modern than they would have been then...
"All we have is a 12-year-old Magimix and lots of knives. We put the tops on with steam from the kettle," says David.
The raspberry and lovage recipe is known to date back to 1610 and the orange and lemon to at least 1832.
Today's production of these recipes takes place in an annexe next to the house, which sits on a hill with a view of the rolling Devon hills across the river.
"We collect our elderflowers from the hedges," David said. "We get an extra four weeks of picking here – we start in Ilminster and chase them through the hills. It takes 60 heads for a batch of 20 bottles, and the ladies from the church help us pick them."
Other fruits and flavourings come from local suppliers, with some herbs grown by the Mugridges in their garden.
They began making cordials because of Jayne's multiple sclerosis, in an attempt to eat an additive-free diet.
And looking for a new business venture, they were planning to make meat products for local farm shops and delis. However an inspector told them they'd have to pass stringent standards for meat products such as pâté and it would cost them £30,000 before they could begin to sell their products.
"We gave him some cordial to drink and he said 'forget the food and do the drinks'," says David. "So we got a few bottles together and took them to Millers Farm Shop in Axminster. We supplied 12 bottles of three flavours and a couple of weeks later they had another 12. We supply to more than 140 outlets now and there's still only the two of us and a funnel."
The couple are now trying for grants to enable them to expand, though they are determined to stay in the Yarty Valley or the surrounding area.
"Ultimately we'd like a factory and to have a farm shop at the front stocking lots of produce from local, artisan producers," says Jayne.
After just 14 months, business is already going well. "We are now in five Morrisons shops and they have offered us another 15 when we are ready, but there is a proviso that they won't undercut the farm shops we supply," David said.
Jayne and David don't approach anybody to sell their products but thanks to exposure at farmers' markets and the Real Food Festival in Earls Court earlier this year, Fortnum & Mason has come calling. The festival also led to 170 trade inquiries, so the market is clearly there for a high quality fruit drink.
On top of cooking, steaming, bottling and labelling, Jayne has also taken on the job of organising 32 producers to go to London for the Real Food Festival in 2009, and is already persuading local chefs such as Jason Hornbuckle of Lewtrenchard Manor near Okehampton and Michael Caines of Gidleigh Park, to give recipes for cards that will promote local produce.
"We're not trying to promote just Westcountry food producers, but the whole of the South West – what to see, where to walk, places to go etc.," says Jayne.
Despite their enthusiasm Jayne and David are not native to the Westcountry, having moved from Southampton four years ago so Jayne could care for her parents, who died two weeks apart in 2006.
"They'd been married 68 years and my mum always said I'd make my living from cooking, but sadly she never lived to see it."
As an experienced cook Jayne says the cordials also work really well when used as sauces, marinades and flavourings. And she has another couple of useful suggestions: Ding Dong, their orange and lemon cordial, is excellent with vodka and the lime and lime mint version is just right for the perfect G&T... which means even alcohol drinkers can enjoy them at parties.
To find your nearest stockist visit www.yartyvalleyprovisions.co.uk
