Their products are made to their recipes in small batch production on a SALSA approved unit in Kent, which they closely monitor.
Today they still pick garlic and samphire but outsource as much as they can. But after two years of picking and processing all their own fruit, wild garlic and samphire Ginny and Caro realised in order to survive they needed to delegate. With sales increasing steadily since they launched a lot of small producers would have buckled under the pressure. With a five star rating on Amazon, it’s a tribute to Caro and Ginny’s knowledge and creativity. The book is a timeless classic and this year it’s being rebranded and sold in National Trust Shops. My copy is marked up with post it notes ready for summer. The result is a stunning, educational and useable cookbook. The Hedgerow Cookbook was published in 2013 after a year of hard work, recipe testing and writing. If starting your own business isn’t stressful enough Ginny and Caro also accepted a commission from Pavilion Books in 2012 to write a cookery book. Even though this variety has a very short shelf life and bruises easily Ginny and Caro use them in their award winning elderflower preserve and many of their other bespoke recipes. Traditionally grown alongside eating and cooking apples to pollinate the orchards they were used traditionally in products like jellies. They also discovered that crab apples, utilised by savvy housewives up until the last war, were being left to rot on trees. Caro, who lives in Kent, has worked hard to forge relationships with farmers who allow them to pick wild fruit and garlic on their land. It also gives a sustainable edge to their business. Using foraged ingredients makes their offer unique, medlars, ruby red intense damsons, elderberries and crab apples are not always easy to find. Part of their success has been recognition that growth in the number of preserves makers on the market has made this sector congested. Switching court shoes for sturdy boots came naturally and so began a new venture combining wild ingredients and stirring bubbling maslin pans. By 2010, the buzz of commuting to the city had worn thin and Wild at Heart Foods emerged. Surviving twenty years in the corporate world they clocked up a wealth of useful experience which has been essential to their current success. They maintained their friendship throughout university, marriage and children regularly reminiscing about their foraging adventures.
Ginny Knox and Caro Wilson are old school-friends whose childhood exploits involved country walks and cooking hedgerow finds together. The story behind the brand makes a great dinner party tale too! Since getting to know Wild at Heart my dinner party offerings often feature a pot of their Damson Cheese (A firm sliceable jelly which is sensational with cheese) or perhaps Wild Plum Chutney which stimulates both palate and conversation. You have to put your money where your mouth is and since launching ‘Eat Surrey’ I always give local food gifts. A small artisan producer of fine quality innovative preserves harnessing nature’s wild harvest with a hint of modernity