Written by Racheal Smith.
Posted on February 24, 2021.

Remember those days when you could laze in the Caribbean sun with a ripple of a warm breeze across your tanned legs. The lap of the ocean on the pure white sand is rhythmic, meditative. Your hand reaches out for your cocktail, and you take a sip, only for your senses to be overwhelmed with the taste of something zesty, something sweet and with a hint of the earthy.

This experience is likely a thing of dreams or, at best, a long-forgotten memory. We are cold, locked down, and so restricted from travelling.

Imagine, though, if you could bring something of that paradise into your home. Close your eyes, take a drink, and your body will forget for a second where it is. Does this sound like heaven? Maybe, just maybe, you need a taste of Carisips Tamarind Cordial.

Aisha Jade, Founder of Carisips and food blogger, came across tamarind juice when on her travels around the islands of the Caribbean. When she came home, she searched again for that taste at her local grocers' store. Like all good foodies, Aisha was intrigued by this new taste and decided to make her own sauce. She looked through the ingredients on the back of the bottle and took to experimenting with all her culinary instincts.

"(I) followed the recipe I saw but added a few spices," Aisha explained. The result of her experiments? "I completely fell in love with it."

Tamarind trees, a hardwood tree native to Africa and common in Asia and Mexico, grow a sour, dark and sticky fruit in pods. These pods dangle in clusters at the end of branches of the tree. The fruit must be separated from the seed before they are ready to use as food and turned from a berry into a paste before cooking. This paste is the core ingredient within Carisips Tamarind Cordial. It is also a key ingredient in Worcestershire sauce and the reason your cheese on toast has that delicious and distinctive twang.

Aisha Jade was so excited by this product she had developed that she wanted to share the creation. Testing her version of tamarind juice on her mother and colleagues, Aisha found she wasn't the only one to love the unique taste. Before the idea of Carisips was inspired, there were a group of people in love with this zesty flavour and Aisha Jade was inspired to follow her heart and shape a business around an exceptional product.

Although Aisha was exploring Caribbean cuisine at the time of her discovery, the cordial is also used in Thai, Costa Rican, and Indian cuisines. The juice offers a sweet, sour, roasted and savoury flavour, which can be added to yoghurt, ice cream, porridge, water and more to transform something bland into some something delicious in seconds.

With an idea born, Aisha Jade developed her product and readied it for the market. "I designed my Zesty Tamarind Cordial to be multi-purpose," she noted, explaining further that "you can pair it with a range of food and drink (and) create exotic dishes and drinks in the comfort of your own home."

The people who would love having the taste of tamarind in their larder are those who love to travel and explore cuisines from around the world. The home cooks who like to travel through their tastebuds will delight in the additional dimension tamarind juice adds to food. Yet, it is also a food loved by women for its iron content and by those who are health conscious. Tamarind paste is high in Vitamin C and several essential B vitamins. Tropical countries know its value as an ingredient more than most, as they use it to break a fever, help digestion, relieve a sore throat, and alleviate the symptoms of sunstroke.

"At the same time," Aisha was quick to point out, "People who are time poor and need something that will add flavour to their food and drink quickly (love this product)."

You need only add a little of the concentrated cordial to yoghurt or ice cream to enjoy a tasty snack. It is also excellent as a marinade for a different meat, giving a whole new dimension to a piece of griddled chicken or pork.

As with all businesses, Carisips has struggled in the time of COVID. One of the most likely markets for tamarind juice are bartenders. Aisha started her business pitching to bars and restaurants, clients who were some of the hardest hit by the pandemic.

Aisha also noted, "I started Carisips with three ready-to-drink products, but producing at home became extremely difficult, so in the summer of 2020, I put this range on hold."

The range includes this signature Zesty Tamarind and more traditional honey ginger and a sorrel spice. It is hard to imagine Aisha's frustration when having to suspend the production of such a unique combination of flavours for food and drink.

Like all outstanding entrepreneurs, Aisha Jade pivoted her business model and planned for a future for this delicious product. As restrictions are being lifted gradually, she is now crowdfunding to bring the products back to be produced by a co-packer.

She has also branched out. Tamarind cordial will soon be available in an online catalogue where independent traders can order, "so expect it to be available in more independents throughout the UK." Aisha is also pitching to supermarkets and is looking to go online to access the consumer directly. With so much opportunity on offer, the routes to market for Tamarind Cordial are many and fruitful.

We shall all be loving the sensation of the exotic on our tastebuds when the Carisips tamarind cordial is in our food cupboard.