FIRST AND LAST
Besides, how can one be sure which flavour will suit the recipient best? I guess that's why this time of year is rife with variety selections in chocolates, biscuits and the sort.
I totally get it, I'd request the same thing if I was in their shoes.
Yet I'm not, I'm firmly planted in my own shoes, or more often than not without shoes, in the kitchen, lately.
And don't get me wrong, I love the kitchen, and experimenting with food.
I enjoy the whole process, including mindfully observing and capturing all its highs and lows. I also derive satisfaction from sharing it, be it in a blog, or as tasters, in person.
Yet selling date balls was never in my plans, but somehow it has been such a hit and in such demand that it's sort of taking over my life - and that's with just four clients, what will happen with ten?
"Why have a mind, if you can't change it?"
At least, that's what my mother always said, and right now I have to ask myself if I'm genuinely up for this challenge, on the long run.
I'm starting to suspect that perhaps, it's this 'variety pack' business that's demotivating me. Simply put, it is a logistical and packaging nightmare.
Let me explain.
First up, whether a client needs one, or seven 500 g variety packs, I still need to make seven different varieties. From one variant to the next, though they share key core ingredients, the rest of that mix changes up drastically early on in the process.
So theoretically, I'd still need to make 3,5 kg date balls to service a single 500 g variety pack request.
Secondly, what's going to happen to the various coatings and distinct flavours if they are all jumbled up in the same box? Do I wrap them individually? Get bigger boxes with separators? And how will that affect costing?
From my options at present, I've decided that this will be the first variety packs I'll sell, and the last.
In future, if Jack wants five boxes in variety, and Jane wants seven, then Jack can choose five flavours, and Jane seven - and they can jumble them up any way they like.
Yet if I'm still selling date balls a long way off in the future, then perhaps one day I'll make a sampler pack with a minimum order quantity - the sort of thing that gets handed out at conferences and placed as favours at wedding tables.
My three clients out of four who'll all be getting seven flavours jumbled up together this festive season, as gifts for their nearest and dearest, will be the first, the only, and the last ones to get variety packs out of me.
The first order of variety packs was shipped off this morning to KwaZulu-Natal, and two more variety pack orders have to be done before the weekend - so I've come far, but I'm not quite out of the woods yet.
I was not entirely satisfied with my first attempt, but then I added a bit of rosemary and olive oil to the second try, and now it's sheer perfection!
Also, turns out the Rooibos Chai just needed time to steep - it got gifted, and in that process requested, and so it became the 5th official variety - and arguably one of my personal top three thus far.
Also, turns out the Rooibos Chai just needed time to steep - it got gifted, and in that process requested, and so it became the 5th official variety - and arguably one of my personal top three thus far.
Then came our lucky number seven, the Springbok - everyone who has tasted it has had the same response,
"Once people taste this one, you will be swamped with orders!"
It somehow reminds me of 2023 and our World Cup victory - its a date ball tribute to the evergreen South African favourite, Peppermint Crisp Tart - green mint and golden caramel.
It got me thinking about the day before Reconciliation Day, when we finally got to celebrate together, and so I named it after our Springboks!
Well them, or him in their shirt declaring, "Miss South Africa!"
WORDS: rhodenel©10DEC2024
PHOTOGRAPHY: rhoderuth©DEC2024
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