Jenmich Jamaica's, for sauces and concentrates

Sacha Walters, Staff Reporter

Vegetables most times end up at the bottom of people's nutrition lists. But splicing them with fruit may make them easier to swallow.

For Jeneva Fuller, managing director of Jenmich Jamaica, creators of Jenny's - a line of fruit concentrates, sauces, fillings, toppings and salad dressing - the tanginess of tamarind was a great way to accentuate a salad.

The idea for a tamarind salad dressing came through her continuous search for different products for the line. Fuller offered the dressing to a customer who didn't fancy vegetables, the customer fell in love.

"I said, that means I must have the tamarind dressing," Fuller said. That's how that product was born.

Fuller, a former financial analyst ventured into the kitchen in the early 1990s and started making juices. Although the juices were popular, her business did not have the manpower to keep the shelves stacked and to turn over products quickly enough to prevent them from spoiling.

" I had to come up with a way to solve the problem," she said. That solution was bottling the concentrates.

The products have no additives or preservatives. Some include naseberry preserve, filling and topping; tamarind concentrate, sauce and filling; June plum concentrate and sauce; guava sauce, preserve and concentrate; and guava and soursop concentrate.

"These are what we are marketing right now," Fuller said. However, she has plans to develop others as well as expand the business into exporting.

Currently, a number of restaurants and hotels use the concentrates in their recipes.

The products are made between the Scientific Research Council and their headquarters and are sold retail at Fuller's vegetarian restaurant, Jenny's Health Bar and Restaurant, located at the headquarters of Jenmich Jamaica, 11 Ardenne Road, Kingston 10.

They are also available at Hi-Lo supermarkets in Kingston, St Andrew and St Ann, Country Farm House, Sovereign Supermarket, Loshushan and John R. Wong.

Preserves and dressing cost $250, sauces $300 and concentrates $500.