This is me (Cigdem) on the left and Navita on the right. We were at the Ice Cream Expo in Harrogate in November 2011 |
I am Cigdem,
(pronounced 'Cheedam') the proud founder of WhyNut. Originally from Turkey, hence the unusual name
– although quite usual when it translates into English, Crocus!
Then there is
Navita, my colleague whom I infected with a love of pistachios and
convinced to join me. I am sure she will tell her story in her blog entry.
So this will be a double act, we will be sharing the writing of WhyNut blog.
Whoever has a story to tell, she will be the lucky one!We provide fine food lovers and producers with great tasting pistachios and pistachio products - we are venturing into hazelnuts next, but more on that later !
One might say this is all about geography! Turkey is the 3rd largest grower of pistachios in the world and hence its prolific use in the country’s cuisine. However, I was determined such a small glitch was not going to hinder me.
I bought some 'Hotel Chocolat' dark batons, and got on doing my own pistachio chocolates to be
sent to Mr Angus Thirwell himself (CEO and Co-founder of Hotel Chocolat). Not knowing anything remotely about
tempering of chocolate, I melted it away happily in the microwave! To cut the
story short, I was very encouraged by how well the pistachios were received and
started a frenzy of writing letters
and sending samples to artisan chocolatiers...
Along the
way, we started offering pure green 'pistachio paste' which made the best
pistachio ice cream and is also used by patissiers – I am proud to say William Curley uses our peeled green kernels to make his own paste as well his Matcha & Pistachio Truffles !
We are a young company and we love what we do. We will be sharing our experiences, our artisan customers’ stories, offering tips, recipes, industry information to nut lovers, food enthusiasts, artisan producers and anyone who will listen to us. We would also welcome feedback and input. We will have competitions to get you tuck in our new products!
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