It all started with a hobby… a few, actually!

First, there was beekeeping. We went on a course and bought a beehive, which we nestled in a shady nook in the garden. Time passed and before we knew it we had urban beehives dotted around the Southern Suburbs.  We were amazed at how distinct one honey was from another, so we decided to bottle our honey by suburb. And so, Gardener’s Glory was born: raw garden honey of origin, from hives managed with care.

We then ventured out beyond the city limits in search of like-minded beekeepers and honeys from out-of-the-way places: from fynbos clad mountainsides; to the edge of an organic olive farm; and beside a remote nature reserve. This is how Heartveld Wildflower Honey came into being: raw Cape heritage honeys – hidden treasures treated with the same care as our urban range.

Let’s not forget the coffee! It began with a coffee table coffee book. And a pile of microlot coffees decorated with marvellous names from exotic places, which we desecrated at the altar of a domestic table-top coffee roaster. The smoke puffing from our kitchen window brought to our door would-be fire-fighters, and our first coffee customers. We read books, and took courses, read some more books and practiced-practiced-practiced, until ten years later we were proud to give our coffee a name: Trump & Timbal, inspired by the early days of Baroque coffee culture.

Of course, it didn’t end there – next we got into artisan baking! We found a little grain mill, and started making organic wheat flour. The bakes were delicious, but they didn’t quite sit right, until we started sprouting! In a sieve above the sink, out peaked the little shoots, transforming our organic grains into genuinely wholesome flours and cereals. We immediately noticed the difference, and even made wheat-believers^TM out of some of its grumpiest critics. Besides sprouted flour, the Heartveld Sprouted range now also features a hummus (made with sprouted organic chickpeas) and a ravioli – made in collaboration with the fantastico Italian chef Lapo, of Lapo’s Kitchen. Heartveld Sprouted products are more easily digestible and nutritious, and super tasty!

And so, this is Urban Delicious, our all-things-scrummy urban deli: a basket of speciality foods with heart, brought to the urban market.  You probably haven’t seen the last of our hobbies, so stay in touch – you never know what we’ll be up to next!