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Calendar 2020

We adapt to the Corona-crisis – Together we win!

We would really like to make everything happen that we have planned for this year. Although perhaps we will have to change our plans & opening hours with short notice. If you are unsure, please give us a call or sms at +46702642109. We also make frequent updates via Facebook & Instagram @tasteofafricahedesunda. During this crisis – we welcome everyone that are healthy! We also ask all our visitors to please keep socialble distance of about 1.5 -2 meters at our premises. Warm welcome to us over the summer!

Short Summary of the Season

Taste of Africa Farm Stall & Café opens for Easter on 10 – 13 April at 10-16 all the days. Then our Farm Stall & Café will stay open all Saturdays & Sundays during spring, summer & autumn until October 4. In Baobab Café, we serve our own African coffee & bushtea, fruit juices, and our African home baked cakes & bread outdoors under a tin roof, or on the lawn. During the chilly days of spring & autumn, we have warming fires. Our bread is baked over fire in African cast iron pots.

* Baobab Kitchen opens on 15 May. You can book Baobab Kitchen throughout the year. Read more about Baobab Kitchen at this website under Cook with us! or Baobab Kitchen. We will gladly translate our menu for English speaking guests. Download the Meal suggestions & prices (.pdf) {http://www.taste-africa.com/kitchen.php} and please ask us for a summary in English. THANKS to all that supported us in 2019! We shared many beautiful moments with you <3!

Between August 16 and October 4, we can only take bookings in Baobab Kitchen for Fridays (daytime/evening) or Saturdays (evening) only.

Summer hours in our Farm Stall & Café are Wednesday – Sunday, at 10-16 from 1 July until 9 August. Kick off your shoes! Walk barefoot in the green grass!

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Calendar 2021

We know little about the future. So with reservation for unforeseen circumstances that may affect our opening hours on a short notice, we therefore present this year's plans rather roughly. A warm welcome!

Winter Café

We long to see you again, and we long for spring and summer! So much that we are planning a Winter Café during the weeks 8 to 12. But only on days when it's lovely in the sun, and our log fires burning. We will not place any newspaper ads. Instead, we will post details on opening days & hours in the same week in Facebook and Instagram, @tasteofafricahedesunda, 0291-61025, 070-2642109

We carefully follow FHM's temporary rules and regulations applied to businesses serving food, and to shops. Maximum 3 visitors are therefore allowed into the shop. The minimum social distance is 2 metres (shop) and 1 metre in between tables at the Café. In the Café, we will serve your orders at the table as usual. Maximum 4 persons are allowed to be seated at the same table. During Baobab Kitchen cookings, your social distance will be 2 meters, while working in small groups (2-4 in each), taking turns cooking over the fire. You will be seated at many smaller tables (2-4 per table). More info on Baobab Kitchen will follow a little closer to spring! We care about you! Åsa & Nolan

27-28 February & March week 8 to week 12
Winter Café & shop open from 11 to 16 Saturday & Sunday, perhaps some more days during the school holiday in week 9. We can only decide that same week if and when we will be open – it all depends on the weather and snow conditions! Thanks for understanding! Please check our posts on Facebook and Instagram, @tasteofafricahedesunda, 0291-61025, 070-2642109.

May & June 2-4 July week 19 to week 26
Taste of Africa Farm Stall & Café will be open Friday, Saturday & Sunday, from 11 to 16.
* Baobab Kitchen. We accept bookings from May 14 on Fridays & Saturdays between 18 and 22, and Monday – Thursday between 13 and 22 (bookings are 4 hours).
* We are closed on Midsummer's Eve (25/6) and certain days during the following week (28-30/6 & 1/7).

July and 1 august, week 27 to week 30
* Taste of Africa Farm Stall & Café will be open Friday, Saturday & Sunday, from 11 to 16.
* Baobab Kitchen will be open for bookings for Wednesdays and Saturdays between 18 and 22 Mondays & Tuesdays are closed.

August week 31 and week 32
* Taste of Africa Farmstall & Café will be open Wednesday to Sunday from 11 to 16. Mondays & Tuesdays are closed.
* Baobab Kitchen will be open for bookings Wednesdays and Saturdays between 18 and 22.
* Afrodance Cooking – a magical evening of food and african dance on Friday the 13th of August from 18 to 22. More information on how we will host it Corona-safely, will be updated nearer the date.

August week 33 to week 34
* Farmstall and Café is open Saturday & Sunday from 11 to 16.
* Baobab Kitchen will be open for bookings Fridays & Saturdays between 18 and 22.

September week 35 to week 38
* Farmstall and Café is open Saturday & Sunday 11-16.
* Baobab Kitchen will be open for bookings Fridays & Saturdays between 18 and 22.

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African Culture Books

Product: African Culture Books

Wisdom from Africa, Dianne Stewart

In Africa proverbs are important because they reflect both the past and the present, and are as relevant today as they were to traditional society. As with so much of African culture, proverbs have been passed on in the oral tradition. It is rare to find a treasure as this book with proverbs from across Africa. The text is given in the language of origin, an English translation and an explanation to the meaning. The proverbs are divided into subject groups such as human nature, family life, good fortune, time, animals and nature. The book has a hard cover and 160 pages.

Bushman Art of Southern Africa, HC Woodhouse

In amazing vibrant colour photos and detailed descriptions of the rock-art, we are introduced to 40 significant sites situated mostly in South Africa but also in Namibia. This is a good ‘first book’ for someone who wishes to learn more about the fascinating Bushman culture. The book has 48 pages, and 181 colour photos. The text is in English.
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Cooking Books

Product: Cooking Books

The Cape Malay Cookbook, Faldela Williams

The author of this book grew up in District Six, the once lively neighbourhood a few blocks away from the Cape Town harbour; filled with people from different cultures, live music and the smells of spicy food. In a joyful and simple way, we are inspired to cook classic recipes from the Cape Malay kitchen, to bake their traditional breads, and enjoy their fantastic pastries and cakes for every days and festive days. This book is more than a cooking book; it introduces us to the colourful Muslim Cape Malay culture and its unique dishes. All recipes are adjusted to suit our modern living and simplified so that is becomes easy, exciting and tasty.

The book is in English and all measures follow the metric system.

Cass Abrahams Cooks Cape Malay, Cass Abrahams

This book celebrates the Cape Malay kitchen and the colourful people of this culture. Enchanting photographs invites us to their traditional cooking, the way it was shaped by families for more than 300 years, and how it is now served in some the finest restaurants in Cape Town. Every chapter tells stories about the function of the food in the different festive and religious occasions of the Cape Malay culture. We are invited to share a colourful part of South Africa and to learn to cook food that now inspires the whole world. This is food that is easy to love with its warm spiciness and charm.

The book is in English and all measures follow the metric system.

Potjiekos Favourites, Sanne Smit

Potjiekos means ”food cooked in an African cast-iron pot” – a potjie. In South Africa, it also means a feast! Meat in different forms, chicken, shellfish, and vegetarian – you can cook everything in a potjie! You can even bake bread and make delicious desserts. Here we are inspired to cook food that won prizes in different ”potjiekos-competitions” in South Africa. We find out how to do it and what ingredients to use. Beautiful colour photos tempt us to try this relaxing form of cooking – perhaps in a beautiful spot accompanied by good friends!

The book is in English and all measures follow the metric system.

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Sun Dried Fruits

Product: Sun Dried Fruits

All the way from some of South Africa’s most fertile fruit cultivations, it lies in front of you. A little package, filled with pure solar energy. Its’ flavour is rich and profound, sometimes sour, sometimes sweet; sometimes it melts on your tongue. And always, it makes you want more…and it doesn’t taste like anything you’ve tasted before.
This is not just any dried fruit, it is our offer to "Kick-Start" your day. Take it!

Our flavours of sun dried fruits:

It was the San, Bushmen, who first made tea from the finest shoots of wild growing rooibos and honeybush. Our labels are a grateful tribute to the San bushmen who taught us so much without getting much in return.

Sun dried dates with yoghurt (Click here to order)

Dates that taste like sweets! Eat them just as they are…and it’s difficult to stop once you’ve started! Ingredients: Sun dried dates without stones, skimmilk powderwhey powder, vegetable fat, lactose, citric acid, emulsifier lecitin E322 (contains egg & soy), emulsifier E475, flavourant. Netweight: 100 g.

Sun dried fruit (Click here to order)

Sun dried fruit in juicy pieces. Eat it just like it is, mix into muesli, or use in cooking.
Ingredients: Pieces of apple, pear, plum, peach, apricot, preservative sulphur dioxide. Netweight: 500 g.

Coconut-dates (Click here to order)

These are delicious as a natural sweet!
Ingredients: Sun dried fruit pulp of seeded dates and pears, ground coconut, preservative sulphur dioxide. Netweight: 150 g.

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Bushtea

Taste of Africa bushtea

We have developed our own bushteas together with local farmers in South Africa. Our bushtea is harvested sustainably on farms in the Cedarberg and the Langkloof mountains. These areas are the only places in the world, where the rooibos and honeybush plants grow naturally. The rooibos plant (Asphalatus linearis) and the honeybush plant (Cyclopia intermedia) are uniquely adapted to the area's very hot, dry and windy summers, and the crispy cold and rainy or even snowy winters.

It was the San bushmen that first made tea from the finest shoots of wild growing rooibos and honeybush. We designed our own bushtea labels, inspired by the bushman rock art, as a grateful tribute to the San bushmen who taught us so much without getting much in return.

We have been selling bushtea in Sweden since the start of Taste of Africa in 2004. Not many people knew then what it was! We were clearly one of the pioneers bringing it to Sweden. It's incredible how popular it has become! Bushtea is now shipped around the world, and becoming increasingly popular when the word is spread of all good things that come with bushtea. Beside the popular, rounded and never bitter taste, bushteas like rooibos, green rooibos and honeybush have high levels of antioxidants, no caffeine and very low levels of tannins. It is often spoken about as health bushteas. In 2014 rooibos was given a geographical indication, claiming the name 'rooibos' as unique for bushtea growing in the Cedarberg in South Africa. This is just like Champagne, that only can be produced in the region Champagne in France. For more information on rooibos history, cultivation and health properties, please take a look at the website of the South African Rooibos Council. It's an independent organization, responsibly promoting rooibos by research and communication. The picture below is from a rooibos plantation in the Cedarberg (original from https://sarooibos.co.za/).

Prepare your bushtea using a disposable tea bag or infuser, adding a table spoon of bushtea per cup and freshly boiled water. Please allow it some time (5 – 10 mins) to develop the more intense flavours. These all natural ingredient teas have no added flavourants and because of this, they need more time to develop than artificial teas. Relax and enjoy your cup of bushtea – cause you're worth it ;-)!

Zanzibar – rooibos with cloves, cinnamon, cardamom, ginger and black pepper

This spicy bushtea originates from Zanzibar, where every Café smells seductively of spices. This is our red chai, and is excellent for making a chai latte if you like.

Ingredients: dried leaves of rooibos (Asphalatus linearis), cloves, cinnamon, cardamom, ginger and black pepper. Contains no preservatives, flavourants or colorants. Will maintain its unique flavours and quality if kept in a cool and dry place. Please recycle the paper bag, remove the plastic labels before. Net weight: 100 g. Made in South Africa uniquely for Taste of Africa

Okavango – rooibos with zest from oranges and lemons and dried ginger root

This bushtea has fresh notes of orange and lemon zest, mixed with the rounded flavour of aromatic ginger. It's a wonderful healing tea for sore throats or just any other time.

Ingredients: dried leaves of rooibos (Asphalatus linearis), dried peel of oranges and lemons, dried ginger. Contains no preservatives, flavourants or colorants. Will maintain its unique flavours and quality if kept in a cool and dry place. Please recycle the paper bag, remove the plastic labels before. Net weight: 100 g. Made in South Africa uniquely for Taste of Africa.

Jinja – rooibos with stick cinnamon

This spicy bushtea has the character of a rounded gentle cinnamon tea, making it one of our most popular bushteas. We often use this bushtea when preparing our mulled rooibos at Christmas time (see recipe below).

Ingredients: dried leaves of rooibos (Asphalatus linearis), stick cinnamon. Contains no preservatives, flavourants or colorants. Will maintain its unique flavours and quality if kept in a cool and dry place. Please recycle the paper bag, remove the plastic labels before. Net weight: 100 g. Made in South Africa uniquely for Taste of Africa

Kalahari Red – natural rooibos

This premium quality bushtea is the base of all our flavoured teas. For you who love natural rooibos this is a wonderful tea – just like that.

Ingredients: dried leaves of rooibos (Asphalatus linearis). Contains no preservatives, flavourants or colorants. Will maintain its unique flavours and quality if kept in a cool and dry place. Please recycle the paper bag, remove the plastic labels before. Net weight: 100 g. Made in South Africa uniquely for Taste of Africa.

Kalahari Green – green natural rooibos

This premium quality bushtea has a shorter fermentation time, which is why it contains more antioxidants than natural rooibos. It is called green rooibos. The flavour is slightly 'fresher' than the standard natural rooibos.

Ingredients: dried leaves of rooibos (Asphalatus linearis). Contains no preservatives, flavourants or colorants. Will maintain its unique flavours and quality if kept in a cool and dry place. Please recycle the paper bag, remove the plastic labels before. Net weight: 100 g. Made in South Africa uniquely for Taste of Africa.

Outeniqua – natural honeybush

This premium quality honeybush comes from areas around Quteniqua mountains. The leaves and flowers are harvested together, bringing some nectar sweetness to the bushtea, hence the name Honeybush. The honeybush flavour is more robust than that of rooibos.

Ingredients: dried leaves of honeybush (Cyclopia intermedia). Contains no preservatives, flavourants or colorants. Will maintain its unique flavours and quality if kept in a cool and dry place. Please recycle the paper bag, remove the plastic labels before. Net weight: 100 g. Made in South Africa uniquely for Taste of Africa

Sometimes the only company you need is a cup of tea and a sweet treat. Perhaps surrounded by the relaxing sounds of birds twittering and a splattering fountain? This is an invitation to Baobab Café in our garden, where you can get all of that, including a taste of any of our bushteas, accompanied by a slice of our moist African cakes. Baobab Café is open during the warm days of spring and in the summer. – Click here to find out when we are open!

Mulled bushtea

Our mulled bushtea brings that extra heat to your chest on a cold winter's day. We invented it ourselves, inspired by the Swedish tradition of drinking mulled wine, a widespread Christmas indulgement. Except our mulled bushtea is not as sweet, it's more like a tea, so you can serve it in larger mugs. We usually make two recipes that are equally popular with young children and grownups. The large quantity allows for sharing :-). Enjoy!
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African coffee

Taste of Africa coffee - Freshly Ground arabica

Freshly ground arabica is a richly aromatic coffee, made from the finest arabica beans from the coffee plant Coffea arabica. It's a unique coffee that is exclusively packaged for Taste of Africa at our Cape Town roasters, framed by the rolling hills of the Cape Winelands on one side, and by Table Mountain and the sea, on the other side. Our coffee roasters are experts in finding exactly the right combination of beans to create our blends. The coffee beans mainly come from farms in African countries such as Rwanda, Uganda and Kenya, adding fruity and citrusy tones. In addition to the African coffee, we use some South American beans to get a nutty and chocolatey body. Since 2007 we have been selling these amazing two blends, Freshly ground arabica medium and Freshly ground arabica dark. When we are in Cape Town, it's such a treat for us to sit down with our coffee blender and try 'this 'year's edition' of our blends before they are packaged and sealed to perfection into airtight bags.

Ingredients: 100 % medium roasted arabica coffee beans, no additives or flavourants. Net weight 250 g. Please recycle this bag as
plastic. This blend comes as a ground coffee for ordinary coffee machines and plungers, as well as bean coffee for your own grinders.

Ingredients: 100% dark roasted arabica coffee beans, no additives or flavourants. Net weight 250 g. Please recycle this bag as plastic. This blend comes as a ground coffee for ordinary coffee machines and plungers, as well as bean coffee for your own grinders.

What coffee personality are you? Do you prefer a full-bodied dark roast? Or perhaps, you want a smooth medium with lingering aftertaste? Maybe your choice depends on the time of day! We assure you that both these blends are the luxury choice to spoil yourself with! They are becoming increasingly popular year after year, and quite recently, we added packages of whole bean coffee to our selection. At the Taste of Africa Baobab Café, we always serve large plungers filled with double refill or sometimes even triple refill cups of coffee. Your milk comes in a separate little jug, made to your order either cold or warm. We invite you to enjoy this coffee in the tranquility of our garden. Warm welcome!

Meet our own coffee brand, Taste of Africa Freshly Ground dark or medium arabica! Carefully selected and completely without additives. Exclusively roasted & packed for us! The secret is that it’s the same wonderful coffee as the Rewenzori you’ve enjoyed so many times before, except now in our own 250 g packages.

This richly aromatic coffee is made from the finest arabica beans (from the coffee plant Coffea arabica) grown and harvested at hundreds of small farms in Africa. It has been roasted and packaged to the highest standards. The result is a medium or dark roast full-bodied coffee that leaves a lingering smoothness on your tongue. It is the coffee to spoil yourself with!

Taste of Africa Freshly Ground dark or medium arabica is freshly roasted, in fact it’s still steaming hot, when packaged into airtight bags of 250 g. Squeeze the bag for the one-way seal to release its’ wonderful aroma! It brews excellently in a plunger or in an ordinary coffee maker.

We give something back to Africa

At Taste of Africa Café, coffee is served 'with a hearty feeling'. Because with every packet of coffee that we use in our coffee shop or sell in the shop, we are sponsoring a township pre-school by giving one rand per packet to different fundraising projects at the school. This story began already in 2006, when we first visited the school.
In December 2007, we initiated a project to support a pre-school for previously disadvantaged children in South Africa, in our village Stanford's informal settlement. The school’s name is Funimfundo which is a Xhosa word that means ‘seeking knowledge’. This school has been running successfully since 2004, as an initiative by an organisation called Food 4 Thought which is a registered non-government organisation, https://food4thought.org.za. Food 4 Thought aims to give small children ages 3-6 a safe environment where they get education, nutritious food and play while their parents are working.

This has happened…
Since we first visited the pre-school in 2006, the outside environment really has improved. They have built a new jungle gym, planted trees and laid out small paths. Every day, teachers and children work together in their new vegetable garden, and the children eat their own veggies. In October 2007 we bought building material for an office for the teachers.

There’s a building next to Funimfundo that is now used as a pre-school for very young children ( 0-3 years). These children now have an attractive and safe yard with a fence and toys where they can play.

In March 2011 the school got a new spacious classroom and three new toilets. We helped to buy building material for the ceiling and paint for the floor in the new classroom. Many of the parents helped to paint the walls inside.

We visited the school in February 2014 and bought material for their arts classes, such as powder paint, paintbrushes and drawing paper.

In the last years…

Our stays in South Africa have lately been way too short! Unfortunately, there's not enough time to actively follow the Funimfundo schools' progress while we are there. Instead, we really enjoy following them on Facebook, and give monetary contributions from our coffee sales to the Funimfundo school. The school is now selling home grown vegetables in boxes to raise funds. In fact, some of our Swedish customers have generously donated to the school's activity, and development. This is fantastic and so rewarding! For an update of the Funimfundo school in Stanford, Western Cape, please look at their Facebook account at https://www.facebook.com/food4thoughtstanford. There, you will find a large number of healthy looking, happy children, and follow their adventures in their classrooms and around the school yard. This school has really developed into a successful, encouraging place for many young children in the village.

Over the last two years, since the outbreak of Covid, Stanford residents have been showing tremendous initiatives towards these children, and their families. In an uplifting soup kitchen initiative, hundreds of meals were served daily to families that suffered from unemployment due to the complete lockdown of the society. There are truly many heartwarming stories.

Our hearts are still in the right place, and for each packet of coffee sold we give one rand to a pre-school in a township in South Africa. It’s the same school that we have told you about before…but first a quick glance over the shoulder….

Previously in this space we told about a social development project that was called ’Give Africa Trade not Aid’ coming from an initiative of a Ugandan businessman. His philosophy was to give the people in Uganda employment, education, and health care by selling coffee from the Rwenzori mountains and plough back 50% of its returns into the villages that grow the coffee. This sounds like an extraordinarily good and generous idea! Perhaps even too good to be carried out in reality. Today 2014, the Rwenzori Coffee Company exists no longer.

Because Taste of Africa believes in the idea of giving Africa ’Trade not Aid’, we continued to sell the Rwenzori coffee. In December 2007, we initiated a new support project with help from the Rwenzori Coffee Company. This project will support a pre-school school for previously disadvantaged children in South Africa, in our village Stanford's informal settlement. The school’s name is Funimfundo (in Xhosa it means ‘seeking knowledge’) and it has been running successfully since 2004. It is an initiative by an organisation called Food 4 Thought (a registered non-government organisation, www.f4t4kids.co.za ), aiming to give small children ages 3-6 a safe environment where they get education, nutritious food and play while their parents are working.During 4 years, Taste of Africa and the Rwenzori Coffee Company together donated 2 rands to this school for every packet of coffee sold. In December 2011 Rwenzori Coffee Company discontinued their support, unfortunately. But we continue to support the Funimfundo school. We visit them every year and help out by buying building supplies, correspodning to 1 rand per packet of coffee sold.

This has happened…
Since we first visited the pre-school in 2006, the outside environment really has improved. They have built a new jungle gym, planted trees and laid out small paths. Every day, teachers and children work together in their new vegetable garden, and the children eat their own veggies. In October 2007 we bought building material for an office for the teachers.

There’s a building next to Funiumfundo that is now used as a pre-school for very young children ( 0-3 years). These children now have an attractive and safe yard with a fench and toys where they can play.

In March 2011 the school got a new spacious classroom and three new toilets. We helped to buy building material for the ceiling and paint for the floor in the new classroom. Many of the parents helped to paint the walls inside.

We visited the school in February 2014 and bought material for their arts classes, powder paint, brushes and paper.

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Africa spices

Taste of Africa Spices

Take a roadtrip through Africa with our five spice blends – guiding you to genuine African cuisine. It's like travelling in your own kitchen – a safari full of flavour! This was our slogan and business idea back in 2004 – at the very beginning, when we decided to sell spices with guiding recipes. We wanted to show how easy and exciting it can be to cook real tasty African food! Then, Baobab Kitchen was only a dream, which later have become our lifestyle, and a journey into creative cooking together with you all. We've used our spice blends hundreds of times, continuously developing new recipes. Simplifying them, leaving space for your own artistic freedom. So please – see these recipes as suggestions rather than rules. Have fun! Do your thing – make them your own. And we'd love to share in your experiences :-). We make these dishes entirely vegetarian or vegan with a lot of success. When we say; add meat or chicken we mean good quality locally sourced, and preferably organic meat from a farm nearby. To sustain a healthy life and environment, recipes were upgraded to include lots (50%) more fresh veggies, and less (50%) meat or chicken. Try to buy locally grown veggies if you can, and enjoy the seasonal variation (Fun!). So have fun and travel in your own kitchen! Good luck & ENJOY!

Masala Spice

Using Masala Spice you can make one of our most popular Curries. Masala means ’mixture’ in Kiswahili and in this case it’s a wonderful array of aromatic herbs and spices. It's a curry that will pleasantly surprise you every time you cook it.

Ingredients: cayenne, coriander, turmeric, cumin, fennel, fenugreek, ginger, salt, mustard, bay leaves, cinnamon, cloves, garlic, no preservatives, additives & colouring agents added. Store in a cool and dry place. Recycle as plastic, 95 g net.

Namaqua Spice

Namaqualand – a semi-desert area along the Atlantic coast of South Africa. A mountain plateau meets the sea in a burning sandy desert. Here water is very scarce. A carpet of annuals explodes with the first drops of rain. There is an array of different bulbs, slow growing fine-leaved shrubs, and succulent plants. This spice blend is our hottest, and perfect for you who like to add some extra spice in life. Use as a rub with flake salt on your barbequed veggies or meat. Cook the most succulent curry (recipe below), adding your favourite meat or perhaps only lots of veggies, and perhaps even your own dried funnel chanterelles. This gives a charming wild character and goes so well with fresh herbs such as rosemary or thyme.

Ingredients: chilli, cumin, anisseed, fennel, coriander, salt, fenugreek, cloves, cinnamon, corn starch, nutmeg, black pepper, white pepper, bay leaves, no preservatives, additives & colouring agents added. Store in a cool and dry place. Recycle as plastic, 95 g net.

Curry Paste

Curry Paste can be used on its own, or in combination with the dry Curry Spice (below) to make one of our most popular recipes and the pride of the South African kitchen. It has hints of coriander, cumin, fennel, cinnamon, cloves, chillies, mustard, and ginger. Keep refrigerated when opened.

Ingredients: coriander, cumin, blackpepper, turmeric, salt, garlic, ginger, spirit vinegar, mustard, bay leaves, sunflower oil, no preservatives, additives & colouring agents added.

Curry Spice

Use our Curry Spice for any curry dish, and it makes the most fantastic Safrican Curry! The smell of coriander, cumin, cloves, cinnamon & ginger. Use lots of veggies together with – chicken – or fish if you like. The proud origin of this spice blend is the South African Cape-Malay kitchen and the curry is traditionally served with yellow aromatic rice, and different sambals (see recipes below).

Ingredients: cayenne, mint, turmeric, salt, cinnamon, cumin, cloves, fennel, anis, garlic, ginger, mustard, fenugreek, bay leaves, no preservatives, additives & colouring agents added. Store in a cool and dry place. Recycle as plastic, 95 g net

Bobotie Spice

Bobotie is a traditional Cape-Malay dish with a similar wonderful smell and taste as the curries of Cape Town. In South Africa, Bobotie is often served with yellow rice, chutney and sambals (see side dishes below). Bobotie quickly becomes a favourite among children.

Ingredients: coriander, cumin, mustard, turmeric, bay leaves, cayenne, nutmeg, salt, paprika, fennel, cloves, ginger, cinnamon, no preservatives, additives & colouring agents added. Store in a cool and dry place. Recycle as plastic, 95g net

Berbere Spice

Taste of Africa's own Berbere – an exciting chili spice blend from the horn of Africa. The secret is that the spices are roasted & that they need about 1.5 hrs to reach full flavour. Allow it to take time! This mix of spices gives a lovely body to potjies & stews that cook for a while, preferably in combination with tomatoes and onions. Our favourite recipe is Doro Wat, a chicken stew with origin in Eritrea & Ethiopia. As usual, we gave it our own twist!

Ingredients: cayenne, paprika, black pepper, ginger, salt, coriander, cardamom, fenugreek, nutmeg, cloves, pimento, cinnamon, no preservatives, additives & colouring agents added. Store in a cool and dry place. Recycle as plastic, 95 g net.

Namaqualand - a carpet of annuals explodes with the first drops of rain

Side dishes - more inspiration for your African cooking

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Bushman's Chilli Sauces

Bushman's Chilli Sauces

The pulsating heat of Bushman's chilli sauces brings to your mouth the burning African sun, the vibrating heat of the red sand, and the warm winds of the Kalahari. Bushman's Chilli sauces come in attractive 125 ml bottles – a perfect table size. They each have a scale that indicates a heat index, ranging from 0 to 15. Bushman’s Chilli sauces are a celebration of the San, a people often referred to as 'the Bushmen'. Ancestors of the San lived as hunter-gatherers and were the earliest inhabitants of southern Africa (see below). In a court case lasting four years, the San fought Botswana’s government for the right to live on their ancestral land. On December 13 2006, the San miraculously won their land back! This gives us much joy and we feel part of their victory.

Our best braai recipes with Bushman's sauces...

Click here to dowload these recipes (sorry only available in Swedish).

The little town Hotazel, an oasis in the unforgiving trembling heat of the Northern Cape, gave its name to this chilli sauce. Just like its namesake, this sauce displays an array of flavours, married with a vibrant heat that compares to a veld fire (South African word for a grass, bush or forest fire).

Ingredients: fresh chillies (50%), spirit vinegar, capsicum oil (1%), herbs, spices, garlic, sugar, salt, sunflower oil, food starch from maize, preservative potassium sorbate (E202). Volume (net): 125 ml

This bottle has a 'Warning' sign on it! Don't let it scare you off! This explosive sauce has a strong aroma, broad flavour and a less sudden hotness than Hot Az Hell but the heat lasts longer and could be compared to that of a bonfire.

Ingredients: spirit vinegar, fresh chillies (40%), water, balsamic vinegar (contains preservative sulphurdioxide) herbs, sunflower oil, spices, maize starch, preservative potassium sorbate (E202). This product is very hot and must not be consumed by children. Avoid direct skin contact. Volume (net): 125 ml

Bushman's Chilli mustard is coarse mustard with a rounded taste. It tickles with a hint of chilli. It tastes like no other mustard you've had before. Some mustard connoiseurs say "it's more like a chilli sauce than a mustard"… Well maybe it is! Anyhow, it's incredibly popular – as it is, in sauces and marinades. Or in "Swedish home made mustard herring" (see our tips from a customer below :-)). Perhaps you have a favourite recipe to share? Little brother Bushman's Honey Mustard has also found his way into many kitchens! This lovely mustard can be used in your salad dressing, or in a warm potato salad (see recipe above), or perhaps also in "Swedish home made mustard herring" (see below). Otherwise spread it on your sandwich or use as a compliment to smoked or marinated salmon?

Bushman's Chilli mustard is coarse mustard with a rounded taste. It tickles with a hint of chilli. It tastes like no other mustard you've had before. Some mustard connoiseurs say "it's more like a chilli sauce than a mustard"… Well maybe it is! Anyhow, it's incredibly popular as it is, in sauces and marinades. Or in "Swedish home made mustard herring". Perhaps you have a favourite recipe to share?

Ingredients: mustard seeds (35%), spirit vinegar, apple cider vinegar (preservative sulphur dioxide, water, spices, herbs, sugar, salt, sunflower oil, mature chillies (2%), food starch from maize, preservative potassium sorbate (E202). Weight (net): 250 g

Bushman's Honey Mustard has also found his way into many kitchens! This lovely mustard can be used in your salad dressing, or in a warm potato salad, or perhaps also in "Swedish home made mustard herring". Otherwise spread it on your sandwich or use as a compliment to smoked or marinated salmon!

Ingredients: water, rapeseed oil, mustard (65%), apple cider vinegar, spirit vinegar, honey (21%), salt, modified corn starch, sugar, olive oil, pasturised egg yolk powder, stabiliser (E415), white pepper, sorbic acid, preservative potassium sorbate (E202), colourant (E160a) & flavourant. Store cold after opening. Weight (net): 250g

Harissa is a spicy sauce from North Africa, often used to add flavour to cous cous. It's delicious in stews, marinades, in cold or hot sauces and as a condiment directly with your food. It may contain different ingredients but always has chilli, cumin (jeera) and garlic.

Ingredients: paprika, cumin, cayenne, garlic powder, turmeric, tomato puré, sunflower oil, apple cider vinegar (sulphur dioxide, preservative), lemon juice, salt, potsassium sorbate(E202) (preservative). Store cool when opened. Net weight: 250g

This extremely hot chilli sauce is made with the finest Habanero chillies, mixed with dark Belgian chocolate, and matured for five years. It is a sauce made for the chilli lover and connoisseur. Let the flavours of prunes, spicy hot chilli & chocolate explode in your mouth! By us you will taste this wonderful sauce when you make the desert chocolate sauce for chilli lovers' together with your friends in Baobab Kitchen. Or if you order our 'chilli hot chocolate' that we serve in Baobab Café.

Ingredients: habanero chillies (40%), balsamic vinegar (contains preservative sulphurdioxide), olive oil, spirit vinegar, Belgian chocolate (70% cocoa), capsicum oil (2%), maize starch, preservative potassium sorbate (E202), spices, herbs, molasses, salt. Volume (net): 125 ml

The Bushmen of southern Africa

The range of Bushman's chilli sauces is a celebration of the earliest inhabitants of southern Africa – the San, a people often referred to as 'the Bushmen'. The unique culture of the ancestors of the San of today is revealed in archaeological sites, dating back hundreds of thousands of years, and in the legacy of their beautiful rock paintings, found throughout the southern tip of Africa. Ancestors of the San lived as hunter-gatherers, which means that they moved around to fulfil their needs for food and hides. They gathered wild plants and hunted both small and large animals. Near the sea, they lived mainly from fish and other sea animals.

Very tragically, the unity of the San as a distinct cultural and economical group vanished with the arrival of colonialism. Many were killed, enslaved, or employed as farm labourers or trackers, which by the beginning of last century eventually lead to the destruction of their cultural and traditional identity. Only a fragment of this rich culture prevails today in the San of the Kalahari. Struggling to maintain access to their land, now part of Kalagadi game reserve that extends over Botswana, South Africa, and Namibia, the Kalahari San have adopted many aspects of a western life-style and some keep domestic animals. The San of today speak a language with 'click' sounds, which is one aspect of their rich culture that has survived their transition from a widespread people to a marginalized cultural group that struggles to retain their identity.

Doesn't this look like a pleasant place to stay? This Bushman cave with its stunning rock art is found in the Cedarberg, Western Cape. Please visit www.travellersrest.co.za for information on these sites, and how to stay in beautiful stone cottages. surrounded by rock art.

The pulsating heat of Bushman's chilli sauces brings to your mouth the burning African sun, the vibrating heat of the red sand, and the warm winds of the Kalahari. By telling the story of the San, we want to pay a tribute to a fascinating culture, one of many on the African continent. We also want to say – it's not too late! You can still do something to help the San of today. With every bottle of Bushman's Chilli sauces sold by Taste of Africa 4% of the purchase price is donated to Survival international, (www.survival-international.org) an organisation that currently works to help solving the problems for the San people.

Further readings on the San:

Vanishing cultures of South Africa by P. Magubane. 1998, Struik Publishers, Cape Town.
In search of the San by P. Weinberg. 1997, Porcupine Press, Johannesburg
The Bushmen of southern Africa. by S. Gall. 2001, Chatto and Windus, London.
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Amelias Chutney

Amelia’s Chutney

This unique chutney is made with great care following a 140-year-old family recipe. Amelia Ball (1865-1962) chose only the finest ingredients for her chutney. The skill and love of making chutney has been carried down over five generations. Enjoy it with food that you like. It goes very well in sauces & marinades! Amelia’s Chutney contains no flavourings, or colorants. Therefore, the colour varies naturally. Keep cool after opening. Can contain small pieces of fruit stones.

If you've had chutney before, that was sweet and sticky, as the Indian mango chutney often is, this chutney will strike you as less sweet and not as sticky. Rather like a jam in its composition. The apricots in this mild Amelia's chutney give the signature sweet-sour taste and in hand with the spices, it's a good companion to meals.

Ingredients: spring water, sugar, white grape vinegar, dried peaches (10%) & apricots (5%), the dried fruit contains preservative sulphur dioxide, onions, spices, sea salt. Volume (net): 260 ml

The 'hot' Amelia's chutney is a little hotter than the 'mild', but not as hot as the 'chilli'. It can be used as a condiment, just like 'mild' variant, but is often used in our kitchen to give depth to stews, soups, sauces and marinades. Or why not make a lovely aromatic butter with some garlic, herbs, real butter and hot chutney?

Ingredients: spring water, sugar, white grape vinegar, dried peaches (10%) & apricots (5%), the dried fruit contains preservative, sulphur dioxide, onions, spices, chillies (1.5%), sea salt. Volume (net): 260ml

Amelia's chilli chutney is our hottest chutney. The heat comes from fresh habanero chillies and the flavour is similar to the mild and hot Amelia's. This chutney is lovely in our Sunny potato salad. See recipe below!

Ingredients: spring water, sugar, white grape vinegar, dried peaches (10%) & apricots (5%), the dried fruit contain preservative, sulphur dioxide , onions, spices, chillies (1.5%), sea salt. Volume (net): 260 ml