NI engineer transforms unwanted “rather sour” apples into a Pickney

IT test engineer Antima Basu set up small food business initially to make good use of a large crop of “rather sour” apples from trees in back garden at her home in Londonderry.

She has since transformed the unwanted apples into a novel food product that’s already selling well in Londonderry and, most recently, in Donegal.

Originally from Rajasthan in northern India, Antima explains that she determined not to lose the crop of apples.

“The apples just weren’t sweet enough to be eaten from the tree,” she explains. “I don’t like waste. This led me to look for other ways to use them. My research uncovered an old family recipe from my home in India and then to start experimenting with chutneys and pickles.

“I subsequently came up with the idea for a product I’ve called Apple Pickney. This is a unique blend of the apples and pickles that I’ve just launched under the Prem Epice brand. I chose Prem because it’s the Hindi word for love while epice is French for clever.”

Antima and husband Swaraj came to Londonderry in 2009 after a year-long stint working in Sheffield. Both are experienced and qualified IT engineers. The couple, who now have a son aged nine, met while studying at the globally rated Institute of Technology in Kolkata, Swaraj’s home city and one of India’s largest urban areas.

They both gained masters degrees there and subsequently decided to pursue careers in the UK, arriving in Sheffield in Yorkshire in 2008.

“We decided to set up home here after Swaraj was appointed to an important post as an R&D engineer at Seagate Technology, the global leader in digital storage technology, in the city’s Pennyburn,” Antima continues. “I subsequently gained a test engineer role with another US technology world leader.”

Family and friends loved Antima’s delicious apple pickney and encouraged the enterprising businesswoman to consider introducing it to a wider marketplace. Impressed by the very positive feedback, Antima sought guidance from the Go for it small business start team in Derry City and Strabane Council area. They agreed to support the project and steered the budding entrepreneur towards the Business Support Centre (BSC) at the city’s North West College.

The challenge facing Antima and her start up Prem Epice enterprise was to refine the product and to get is shelf-ready for retailers. BSC supported her through the InnovateUs programme which is funded by the Department for the Economy and the NWRC Foodovation team.

Christina Perry, a food technology consultant at Foodovation, provided 30 hours of upskilling support for Antima in recipe standardisation and development, understanding shelf-life, production upscaling, and labelling support including ingredient data, nutritional and allergens.

Describing the benefits of working with BSC through the InnovateUs programme and Foodovation team, Antima continues: “I had thought about making my idea a reality for some time and I was delighted with the support I received from Christina at Foodovation which helped to make it all happen.

“The skilled knowledge and guidance provided on all aspects encouraged and enabled me to launch my initial product. I would certainly recommend Foodovation to any business and feel the programmes offered by NWRC are extremely worthwhile and beneficial.”

As a result of the advice and support provided, Antima now supplies her novel apple pickney product to two local Indian convenience shops in Derry City and a deli in Letterkenny in the Republic of Ireland. She’s now planning to extend sales: “I have pinpointed a number of potential delis and ethnic food stores especially in Belfast.”

She has other original products in mind and is taking steps to continue to develop the small venture on a part-time basis. Antima says her product has a number of important features for lovers of different flavours of chutney and pickles.

“My apple pickney has a unique texture and a delicious combination of pickle and chutney. It is homemade and locally produced using excellent olive oil with punchy spices that I ground and roast in the kitchen. The pickney is also free from any artificial ingredients, chemicals or additives. And it’s suitable for vegetarians and vegans and made with great care and love,” she says.

The apple pickney, furthermore, is a very versatile food product that can be used as a spread in sandwiches, burgers, wraps, tacos, fajitas, burritos and puffs.

“I’ve used the pickney as a dressing in all the types of salads and couscous, as a dip for pizzas, nachos, snacks, samosas, bhajis and as a chutney for naans, parathas, dosas, pitta bread and tortillas,” she adds.

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