A hot favourite with the Magpies

Jul 26 2008 by Jane Hall, The Journal

CREATIVE cook Sandy Higson is celebrating after netting a lucrative deal with her sporting idols, Newcastle United.

The 64-year-old former dressmaker from Rothbury, Northumberland, has scored with her Tomato Chutney, and come the start of the new football season in August will be lining-up to supply 600 jars a month to St James’s Park.

The contract is the largest to date for her firm, Coquet Valley Preserves, which started life in the kitchen of her flat in Rothbury a decade ago.

A keen Magpies’ supporter, Sandy says she is “over the moon,” to use an oft quoted football cliche, about securing Newcastle United’s seal of approval.

“I’m not fortunate enough to have ever gone to a live Newcastle match, but I make sure I always watch them when they’re on the TV,” Sandy says.

“It’s a dream come true for me to win this contract and I’m over the moon that Newcastle United believes my Tomato Chutney is good enough to be associated with them.”

The chutney joins a list of nearly 200 condiments in the Coquet Valley Preserves’ stable of award-winning products.

Sandy’s latest serving uses a mix of tomatoes, balsamic vinegar and raisins, and is one of three different recipes she developed for Newcastle to choose from.

“I was vetted thoroughly by the club,” Sandy explains. “I did three recipes and it was the plain and simple Tomato Chutney that won the day for me. It is my biggest contract now.”

The deal could be about to shoot Sandy into the Premier League in more ways than one, however. Newcastle United’s executive head chef, Robert Hendrix, is so impressed with the offering he is pushing for it to be sold to a wider public through the club’s chain of shops.

“I’m going to try and sell the chutney in the shop. It is a very good locally made product and on the corporate side we will be using it for our cheese board,” he said. “It is good to have a locally made product like this on the menu.”

The deal is Sandy’s second tie-in with a North East institution. She already has the go-ahead to use Newcastle Brown Ale in her relishes, jams, marmalades and chutneys.

And brewers Scottish and Newcastle have also given her permission to use their world famous blue star logo on Coquet Valley Preserve jars.

Sandy, who having outgrown her kitchen now runs her flourishing business from a workshop at Eshottheugh just off the A1 near Felton, has developed a cult foodie following with her passion for peculiar preserves, such as the quirkily named Cheviot Choker and Hellish Relish.

A number of her products – including her Mango and Chilli Chutney – have also won top national awards.

Sandy only started making her preserves for fun, but it soon grew into a full-time business. All her recipes are original. “I like to be bold and experiment with a variety of different ingredients. I’ve got around 200 different recipes, but offer around 30 core products.”

Sandy’s range sells at a number of outlets, including Alnwick Garden and Blagdon Farm Shop. She used to attend a number of farmers’ markets but has had to cut back on her commitments as her business has flourished and the orders have rolled in.

However, consumers eager to discover why Newcastle United have made her a star player, can do so on August 30 as Coquet Valley Preserves will be joining scores of other stallholders at The Journal Taste 2 food and drink festival in association with Tesco at the Macdonald Linden Hall hotel, golf and country club at Longhorsley near Morpeth.

It will be the second time Sandy has supported The Journal’s Taste North East England campaign to encourage people to buy, use and eat local.

For she was among the 62 food and drink producers and suppliers who supported our first Taste event on April 26 this year, which saw more than 10,000 people descend on the National Trust’s Gibside estate near Rowlands Gill.

Sandy is a keen supporter of The Journal’s Taste initiative, launched at the end of January this year. “I thoroughly enjoyed the first Taste festival; it was tremendous. I sold out of all my stock – in fact I hardly had time to unpack before I was swamped with people.

“I only regularly do Alnwick Market now and the Sunday Quayside market in Newcastle, so it is great to do such a big show as Taste. And, of course, coming from Rothbury and being based at Eshottheugh, Linden Hall is on my doorstep.

“I’m a big supporter of The Journal’s Taste campaign. I’m sure it is helping local producers, and I know a lot of people are talking about it. It is helping bring attention to North East food.”