Valentine's Day might be a tad too commercial, but it does not hurt to spend some extra time and effort - if not money - on your loved ones!  Who can resist the charm of freshly baked biscuits? Our harvest-inspired love biscuits are deliciously buttery with a small jammy heart as decoration. Try our recipe and spoil...

The Dutch brought oblietjies to the Cape. Initially these small waffles were baked in a small iron pan with a lid, called an oblie-yster (oblie iron).The pan usually had an engraved pattern, which decorated the oblietjies and made them look like little works of art. Because the oblie iron was used on an open fire,...

The Franschhoek Valley is famous for the quality and elegance of its Méthode Cap Classique wines. Each year, the first weekend of December sees the valley hosting the party of the year, the annual Franschhoek Cap Classique & Champagne Festival. White marquees pop up around the French Huguenot Monument, the best bubblies of the valley...

The end of year rush can easily get in the way of planning a proper menu and often we resort to the old faithful but less exciting recipes. Luckily, we have a decadent suggestion marrying trend and tradition, one that will be a festive showstopper whether you use it for dessert or on the tea table. Try...

A raw vegetable soup might sound very modern, but it is a true celebration of Cape heritage cuisine. With fresh produce such as vegetables the actual reason for the establishment of the Cape, the Company Gardens in their prime spoiled chefs and cooks of the old Cape with a spectacular selection. Quality produce are required...

The Cape Winelands, from the Constantia Valley to Stellenbosch, Franschhoek, Paarl, Wellington, Worcester and Tulbagh, hold the combined history of many different nationalities who, over the centuries, travelled to this most southern part of Africa to start a new life. As they adapted the recipes of their homeland to new surroundings and ingredients and shared...

Persian-Arabian pasta recipes were also known in Spain, but it was the Italians who experimented with the recipes and exported the use of pasta to France. The Italian cooks started to fold pieces of meat or vegetables into pasta dough strips, which they then fried in fat. According to Anne Willan (Great Cooks and Their...

In the days of the early Cape, meat was scarce and the ocean was big. We can therefore easily assume the fish dishes were often served. The Cape cooks improvised and adapted their fish soup recipes according to the availability of ingredients and the seasons. Snoek head soup is one such adaptation and today it...

With the promise of stormy winter weather in the Cape Winelands, we asked staff to contribute their recipes for warming one pot wonders. Brand Manager, Stephanie van Rensburg, shares her recipe for an easy, but hearty chicken curry: “I have a heavy hand with the Masala – it gives that extra bit of heat…. and...

Before Christopher Columbus ‘discovered’ the Americas in 1494, cooks following the Persian-Arabian culinary tradition had to rely on a type of calabash pumpkin that couldn’t be used when ripe (the pumpkin dried out and became hollow as it ripened). Therefore they prepared green pumpkin stew. Jan van Riebeeck planted South American pumpkins at the Cape...