Our Pick: Totally Pickled
Have you ever wondered where we get our delicious Cannings sauces from? Wonder no more! We had a chat with Sue from Totally Pickled to learn more about her story, her business and her food philosophy.
Totally Pickled is a small local providore run by the unstoppable Sue Clarke, and is responsible for producing much of Cannings’ incredible condiment range. Sue developed her passion for cooking from an early age, guided by her mother: “She was one who did many cooking courses, and then brought it all together by hosting innumerable lunches and dinners, for which I assisted, learnt and developed a great love of the art of cooking.”
Although Totally Pickled is growing from strength to strength, it is still a one person operation, so Sue’s schedule can get pretty full! “As a complete sole operator, at times, I find that my day is often filled with sourcing product, cooking, printing and labelling, and deliveries/markets. But having recently moved close to family, I can now be in easy reach and contact with them all, which keeps me happy.”
Originally Sue just made her delicious homemade jams, relishes and sauces for friends and family, but some things are too good to keep to yourself. She always hoped to one day turn her culinary adventures into a business, but between family commitments and full time work it was difficult for her to make this dream a reality. After 30 years in a very different career, she one day found herself ready for a change – “I now had a chance to develop a “Cottage Industry” where I could finally use my own recipes (many of which are now over 40 years old), and from there called my new business ‘Totally Pickled’. After 3 painstaking months of registration with council, commercial kitchens, pursuing the labels, selecting jars etc, and lots and lots of cooking, my product was ready and weekend markets began.”
A Cannings representative tried Sue’s amazing products at one of these farmers’ markets, brought it back to HQ for taste testing and we were absolutely blown away! From there, we approached Sue to ask if she could make a tomato sauce specifically for us, and she was happy to oblige. The rest, of course, is history and now we are thrilled to offer an ever growing range of Totally Pickled products produced especially for Cannings, including our Sweet Chili Sauce, Smokey Sauce, Chili Jam, Pineapple Chutney, Orange and Mint Jelly, Mustard Pickles and of course the Tomato Sauce that started it all!
One of the things we love about Totally Pickled is the quality of their ingredients - you get out what you put in! Like us, Sue prefers to keep it local and sources her product from her local greengrocer, who is able to purchase boxes of fruit and veggies for her straight from the market. Herbs and spices are sourced from Australia as much as possible, and on top of this, Totally Pickled contains no preservatives or additives! If you’ve perused the labels of the big brands on most supermarket shelves, you’ll know how rare this is to find. Because Totally Pickled doesn’t sacrifice quality for cost cutting when it comes to ingredients, Sue’s recipes also contain way less sugar than her standard supermarket counterparts. As an example, we compared the Cannings Tomato Sauce to one of the leading brand supermarket tomato sauces and guess what? Ours had almost HALF the amount of sugar! So if you’re looking to lower your sugar intake without cutting out your favourites, this might just be for you.
Since we first partnered with Totally Pickled, the range of products Sue makes for us has expanded a lot, and will hopefully continue to! We asked Sue how she comes up with ideas for her flavours, and what her favourite Cannings sauces are so far:
“The flavours of my product have evolved from trial and tribulation, with lots of testing on friends and family.
There are of course , the favourites, one of which is Tomato Sauce and Chilli Jam. I love to make them all, and am so happy people are enjoying the different flavours!”
So there you go, now you know a bit more about our amazing supplier, Totally Pickled! We are so happy to be able to partner with like-minded, passionate and hard working small businesses like Sue’s. We can’t wait to see what’s next for Cannings and Totally Pickled, but for now - happy eating!!
