Cardamom Hills Trading Co.

Southern India’s Cardamom Hills are the inspiration for my line of chutneys.  They are part of the Southern Western Ghats in the state of Kerala, India and their name comes from the cardamom spice that is grown in much of the hills’ cool elevation, which also supports tea, coffee and pepper.

My great grandparents established their coffee estate near these hills in 1830’s.  There they grew an abundance of tropical fruits and had access to the freshest of spices – the ingredients that define the British adaptation of this venerable Indian condiment.  My chutneys combine the purest fruits of my Pacific Northwest Home with the exotic spices of India. 

 

 

Family Heritage

My mother's British family had a long history in India, beginning in the mid-1700s when an ancestor arrived with the East India Company. A hundred years later, Mum's grandfather bought himself out of the Army and purchased 6,000 acres of virgin land in South India after finding coffee growing wild there. He later established a coffee plantation he called "Hope Ville," and this became Mum's childhood home. When I was a child, she would often delight me and my siblings with amazing stories of growing up in this remote place. When she married my wonderful Indian father, she assured that family life would be a true melding of the cultures and traditions of East and West.

 

About Sophie