Lively talk on preserves and pickles wows Chase Ladies Group
Chase Ladies Group enjoyed a lively talk by Melanie Latham on handmade preserves and pickles, “Chutney and Cheer.” Full of humour and amusing stories, it was one of the best talks we’ve ever had. With her wit and charm, Melanie could easily take to the stand-up stage!
Melanie was studying criminal law. To make some money she started making and selling the preserves and pickles she had been taught to make by her grandmother. She made them suitable for diabetics because her mother had been diagnosed as a diabetic in 2000. She started by selling at farmers markets. Eventually she decided on a career selling pickles rather than going into criminal law.
She gave us some great advice about onions and gave us some hilarious stories during her talk. She later worked on a radio talk show with Ted Robbins. She was asked to answer questions about something to fill in time. She suggested she would ask people about how they chopped and onion and started talking at nine and was still talking about the same subject at 12. The outcome was that you should not peel an onion starting with the root as this contains all the juices that make you cry. If you peel your apples with an apple peeler, use the same tool to slice your apples. Pears are also a great substitute for apples.
The ladies all thoroughly enjoyed this talk and were laughing all the way through.
For every one of the items sold 50p is donated by Melanie to the Stroke Association because of how much they helped her when she suffered a stroke. Melanie was thanked wholeheartedly for her talk and members went home with a variety of jams and pickles. The garlic pickle and the damson jam both proving very popular.
The next meeting will be on February 12. There will be no speaker but there will be bingo and funny stories. Members would also look forward to an afternoon tea on May 14.
Chase Ladies Group meets every second and fourth Thursday of the month at 2pm.
