Ashdel’s Grace Parris pushing the boundaries of packaged foods
The maker of ASHDEL’s Instant Porridge mix is continuously looking for ways to shorten time spent in the kitchen.
Grace Parris, the director of the agro-processing department at the Guyana School of Agriculture, and the creative mind behind the ASHDEL’s instant plantain porridge, on Wednesday told this newspaper that she has always enjoyed making new products. Parris said that she started experimenting on the plantain porridge during the COVID-19 pandemic. She said that she had been making porridge when the thought struck her, “There has to be a shorter way to do this.” She said that during this time she had been teaching from home and unlike when she had to go into the office, she had more time for herself. Parris explained that she used most of her free time to experiment and she finally got the plantain porridge right. However, at the time it was just the raw plantain.
“I thought people who are on the go don’t have time to add milk and sugar,” she opined, before stating that she decided to include other ingredients after realising that to do so would make preparation far less time consuming. Since then, she has invested over $1 million in experiments, trial and error, and packaging the plantain porridge for the supermarket counters. According to Parris, “I love and like doing this. Even if I don’t get paid to do this. I enjoy creating new products, I enjoy putting it together.”
But, Parris pointed out that there was much trial and error before she could get the recipe right and that she still faces issues when making the porridge. Weather conditions remain one of her main challenges. When it rains and/or floods, it is very difficult to get plantain and also to get it to dry. During the floods, many crops were affected and farmers lost millions of dollars’ worth of produce. However, she said she has worked through that difficulty. Her other issue is being able to supply a large demand. Currently, Parris’ porridge is sold at the Guyana Marketing Corporation’s Guy Shop and a supermarket on Agriculture Road, East Coast Demerara, as well as Go Local Marketing Agency. She said that meeting the supply needs is another challenge, but this is what she enjoys doing and she intends to continue.
As of recent, Parris has been conducting experiments into developing pre-cooked pepper pot. She is among 42 applicants who submitted their products to be selected for the Economic Development Accelerator (EDA) grant programme. The EDA programme was designed and is being implemented by the Guyana Economic Development Trust (GEDT), a U.S. and Guyana-based initiative that supports Guyanese innovation in science, technology and agriculture and is fully funded by the US Agency for International Development (USAID). The EDA programme will select 30 of these agro-processors and provide training and hands-on technical assistance from international and regional consumer packaged goods experts.
Numerous unique items such as Parris’ pre-cooked pepper-pot, pre-cooked Cook-up packaged for supermarket shelves, sweet potato cake mix, and more, are among the items submitted for selection.