Published August 15th, 2014
A gardening project helping people with learning disabilities and mental health issues has supplied over 600kg of tomatoes to a Cornish ketchup producer.
People and Gardens supplied The Cornish Ketchup Company with tomatoes for the second year running, doubling their supplies from 300kg in 2013 to 600kg this year.
People and Gardens, based in the Watering Lane Nursery in Pentewan, is a community interest company helping its participants to develop skills and become part of a community through gardening.
Founder of People and Gardens Ken Radford said: “Our guys have been involved from the seed sowing right through to the harvesting and preparing them ready for pick up. We’re also keeping them informed about how the sauce is made and we’re making plans to go and visit the processors.
“We’re really excited and I love the story. Everyone here is going to be involved in the whole process of it which means they’ll have the opportunity for participation, which is what this project is all about.”
The Cornish Ketchup Company was set up in 2013 by Chris Gordon and Kris Fleming with the aim to make a sauce to sit alongside and compliment good food using locally-grown tomatoes.
Chris Gordon said: “People and Gardens is amazing. It’s great to work with them because we want to support and build a foundation with them. Ken is such a brilliant guy and this is reflected down the organisation.
“We are, as far as I know, one of the few companies that actually use real tomatoes in our ketchup. Many commercial manufacturers use an imported paste but you can actually see the seeds in ours. Using real tomato gives it that little bit of extra kick.”
There are four varieties of ketchup currently available: The Original One, The Chilli One, The Smokey One and the Red Pepper One.
For more information about People and Gardens visit www.peopleandgardens.co.uk. For more information about The Cornish Ketchup Company visit www.cornishketchup.co.uk.
