Keisha Shakespeare, Staff Reporter
Left: Baked chicken seasoned with God's Garden products. - Right: Bottles of From God's Garden decorated with bandana plaid fabric. Products of Elsepth Madden and Nicole Bain which are available in Kingston supermarkets. - ANDREW SMITH/PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR
IT STARTED out as a family secret. And it has become an economical and time-saving seasoning found in supermarkets in Kingston.
From God's Garden is a seasoning made of natural herbs, scallion, garlic, thyme, and onion that have been grounded and bottled. This brilliant idea is the work of Nicole Bain and Elsepth Madden.
The name From God's Garden, came about when both women reflected on the scripture verse in Palms 24 verse 1: "The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof." After discussing it, they decided to name the product From God's Garden.
Nicole Bain, 30 and Elspeth Madden, 36, are managing partners for the product. The small business started in February 2004. The ingredients and recipe for the seasoning have been in the Bain family for generations. Bain's husband, David Bain's grandmother, Maude Bain passed on the recipe to Agatha Moore, David's maternal grandmother who later passed it on to Nicole Bain after she was married in 1997.
The recipe remained in the Bain family until she met Madden five years ago. Both met at Mona Heights Chapel convention. They had recently joined the church and subsequently found out they were neighbours. After becoming acquainted, Bain invited Madden to her home. From then their friendship grew. Bain introduced the family recipe to her new-found friend. Madden was anxious to try out the new seasoning so they went shopping.
"After we bought all the ingredients, Nicole showed me how to make the seasoning. When I tried it the first time, I loved it. It was so convenient and potent. I did not need to use a lot and it lasted a long time without spoiling," said Madden.
From then Madden has been using the recipe especially when she entertains guests at home. She loved the seasoning so much she encouraged Bain to market it but she was a bit hesitant. Bain was apprehensive about marketing the product because she did not see herself as a businessperson. However, after she carefully weighed the odds, decided to make her move.
"I asked and encouraged Bain to market the seasoning for one year. And one day out of the blue she just called me and said, 'let's market it'," said Madden.
Both decided to make their test run in Christmas 2003. Their first batch was bottled in recycled spice rack bottles that were decorated with rich purple fabric to enhance the presentation. They took the bottles to church and gave them to 24 families to try.
Next test run, it was Mother's Day, 2004 and Madden was celebrating her first son, Nathan Madden's birthday. " We were just giving God thanks that he was alive. Doctors had said he should have died because he was born with chromosome abnormality," reminisced Madden.
For the event, they made some samples and gave them out to their guests. Also in November, they made more samples, this time, for Emmanuel Christian Academy School in Kingston fair. The responses they got were so good they decided to make samples for the Devon House Craft Fair (Kumba Mi Yabba) held in December 2004. Currentl Bain and Madden operate a small business in Kingston. They manufacture the product and sell it to supermarkets. However, so far, the seasoning is only available in three supermarkets in Kingston: Lee's Food fair, Red Hills, and Family Pride Supermarket in Manning's Hill.
COMMENTS FROM TASTING:
From God's Garden was used to complement foods such as garlic bread, chicken and tofu. These are the responses from the sample tasting.
1. I like the flavour especially on the garlic bread. It's not too overpowering and it's not too faint that you have to search for the taste. Especially for those who do not like spicy food, it's great.
2. It saves time and it's very
convenient.
3. It is great on the garlic bread and it complements chicken.
4. It is very efficient and saves time.
