Drop 1
The London Borough of Jam, giggling siblings and a botanical drink fit for the Queen
Hello everyone - So here is what we have in our first ever (trial) Drop. Can’t wait to hear what you think! Amy x
Lillie’s Great Wall of Jams
Lillie used to work as a pastry chef at the renowned St. John Bread & Wine, where she would make wonderful jam creations out of surplus ingredients. Soon, her hobby turned to a fully-fledged line-up of jams with a twist, which she now makes in her small shop in East London: Fig & Earl Grey, Apricot & Muscovado, Damson & Black Pepper… all under the grand name of the London Borough of Jams.
As a rule of thumb, Lillie never uses more than 4 ingredients and always works with fruit that is in-season. “My jams are fruit-driven” she tells me, when I visit her shop to pick up the two flavours featured in this week’s Drop: Raspberry & Hibiscus jam (#1), and Seville Orange & Chamomile marmalade (#2). Having tried them both, I can confirm they’re the fruitiest jams that I have ever tasted.
The secret Lamiri family recipe
Sam Lamiri recently got back from a family trip to La Marsa, in Tunisia, where he buys the baklouti chillies for his harissa paste from small, local cooperatives.
“Harissa recipes vary from neighbourhood to neighbourhood and every family makes their own Harissa, in small batches, just the way they like it. It's a tradition that brings the family together and ties you back to your regional roots”, Sam writes.
The Lamiri family - whose family-run business is all about celebrating their Tunisian roots - is no different, with Sam’s grandma seen teaching his dad the secrets behind their own family recipe for harissa, below.
I have been addicted to putting the Lamiri Harissa paste (#3) into every sauce I make, ever since I got to taste it. It’s like getting your hands on your neighbour’s secret recipe that they don’t normally share with ANYBODY, but they like you so they make an exception.
Oxymels - ancient tonics with a base of vinegar and honey.
A few years ago, master drink-maker Sam set out on a mission to create the most delicious non-alcoholic drink possible, bringing true craft to the category. If anybody is fit for the job, it’s Sam - he has been making small-batch drinks for 20 years, and was hand-picked to create all the drinks for the Royal Wedding back in 2018!
After a lot of research, Sam discovered Oxymels - herbal tonics made up of vinegar and honey that were used as medicine in Ancient Greece. It turns out, they’re also natural preservatives that are great at carrying the flavours of botanicals, and so Botivo (#4) was born!
Described as an ‘aperitif-inspired botanical drink’ by Sam’s co-founder Imme, Botivo is still made in small batches, by hand, by Sam (even the yellow wax top is dipped by hand!). It is slowly developing a huge following by drinks-connoisseurs and independent cocktail bars, with Drop member Aisha calling it “it’s my favourite non-alcoholic drink I have tried so far”.
Also in Drop #1:
The Bold Bean Co butter beans (#5) and appropriately-named ‘Queen chickpeas’ (#6) that everyone has been going bonkers for, set up by Amelia in a spark of hungover genius as an Erasmus student in Spain.
Chocolate-lovers contain yourselves - we have a couple of oh so creamy and luxurious chocolate bars by Hu this week, with a choice of Hazelnut butter chocolate (#7) or Cashew butter and raspberry chocolate (#8) (although nobody is saying you have to choose just one…)
Granola (#9) full to the brim with nuts, handcrafted by Robin and his team in the UK.
And last but not least: brother & sister duo Adam and Zoe, seen giggling below, are championing British fava beans grown on their regenerative, family farm in Yorkshire. Their BBQ-flavoured roasted fava beans (#10) went down a treat with my younger brother Josh, who said: “Ngl, these are actually decent”… 3 minutes later, he had finished the pack.
We hope you enjoy our first drop of products and can’t wait to hear what you think. We’ll be back in a couple of weeks with a new batch of products, for Drop #2!
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