1 minute read
The Seven Year Itch
Kerry Hiles is a professional entertainer who has dabbled in acting for stage and screen. While you may recognise her voice from radio adverts and documentaries, it is as a singer and bass player that she is most well known.
In Kerry’s case it came in the form of an opportunity to purchase a small yogurt business. This proverbial seven year itch needed to be scratched and Kerry jumped at the chance.
Advertisement
conscious market, Kerry uses non-animal rennet in her cheese, avoids preservatives in the cheese, uses no salt except in the haloumi (traditionally a salty cheese), and generally attempts to make the cheese as naturally good for a person as possible, focussing on vegetarianfriendly products.
Her yogurt is gelatine-free (again, vegetarian-friendly), stabiliser-free and low in sugar. By careful selection of yogurt cultures, the 1kg fat-free yogurt has a creamy, smooth finish. The need for a longer shelf life, required by the restaurants and hotels, necessitates the use of potassium sorbate as a preservative in her fat-free yogurt. The 350ml full-cream drinking yogurt, however, is preservativefree. Initially created to cater for scholars as a healthy lunchbox treat, early market testing revealed that it was the parents, rather than their offspring, who most enjoyed the fresh, not-toosweet drinking yogurt. It has now become a firm favourite among the moms! Fruit pulp, rather than syrup, is used to flavour the yogurt, and this adds to the overall natural taste. Pickme cheese and yogurt is available to private customers and delivered to most areas in East London on a Thursday. If you can't wait that long for your next bite of haloumi or sip of yogurt, get along to various outlets around the city to buy your own. A comprehensive range of Pickme products is stocked at Lime Fusion, 3 Frere Rd, Vincent and Fusion Speciality Foods in Grahamstown. A limited range is available at Lavender Blue, Cinnamon Stick, Spargs and Irana. Alternatively, taste it on the menus at Umnenga Lodge, Haga Haga Hotel, Lavender Blue and Cafe Bella.
