Simple Beginnings
Wedgewood Nougat started in 1999 in our family kitchen. Our Mum Gilly Walters is a naturally innovative culinary pioneer who began hosting concerts at her home for up to 100 guests. She would entertained and delighted her guests with culinary creations from her kitchen. Gilly had travelled to France as a aupair in her youth and decided to try to recreate the Montpelemar nougat as an evening alternative to dessert. The first batch was runny and had to be served frozen. Not one to give up, Gilly toiled over the stove for five months before she perfected the Wedgewood recipe that we still make today. Starting small, Gilly took her new innovation to the local farmer’s market and quickly gained a following with her nougat and her totally unique nougat biscuits. To this day, we still use only the finest sustainably sourced and environmentally friendly ingredients, and Gilly’s world class recipes are still made with the same attention to detail and innovative passion in every turn of the whisk.
Gilly’s vision for culinary experimentation was ahead of her time. Her recipes continue to inspire the next generation of flavour innovators here at Wedgewood. Our family now incorporates the many people who have joined the Wedgewood Team under her banner and give their life and passion to our brand. Although we come from diverse backgrounds, our goal is to make a difference, whether it’s developing recipes, giving back to our community or finding ways to be more environmentally friendly and sustainable. We all share the same goal. The Wedgewood Family is also our community of customers who have helped us build and grow over the years.
“After our father became ill with cancer, to make ends meet our mother, Gilly Walters, held concerts for music lovers at our family home for up to 100 guests. With her passion for good food, our Mum created her innovative recipes to serve to her guests. At one of these concerts, Gilly tested her nougat making skills. The taste was great but the recipe was a flop! Not one to give up, our Mum went back to the drawing board”. Our family kitchen became a constant stream of nougat to be tasted, pulled and prodded by anyone who stepped over the threshold. Eventually, Gilly perfected her well-loved nougat recipe and packed it into baskets to sell at the local farmer’s market. Such was the demand for our Mum’s honey rich nougat, and later her world first nougat biscuits, that production grew fast. Her three sons jumped in to stir pots and help where needed. And that’s how Wedgewood Nougat began."
“This year, Wedgewood celebrates its 25th anniversary as a family business. Our nougat is still handmade on our farm and we work with the same passion and commitment that we always have, whilst creating exciting new recipes and all the while keeping a very particular eye on quality, just the way our Mum did.”
Paul Walters (CEO – Wedgewood Crafted Confectionery)
Our Family
Our Mum’s vision for culinary experimentation was ahead of her time. Her recipes continue to inspire the next generation of flavour innovators here at Wedgewood. Our family has grown and now includes the many people who have joined the Wedgewood Team under her banner to give their passion to our brand. Although we come from diverse backgrounds, our goal is to make a difference, whether it’s developing recipes, giving back to our community or finding ways to be more environmentally friendly and sustainable. We all share the same goal. The Wedgewood Family is also our community of customers who have helped us build and grow over the years.
Our Farm
The Wedgewood Farm is a decommissioned dairy farm, not far from the majestic Drakensburg Mountains. Our farm is home to our bespoke nut cracking facility, the Wedgewood Bakery and Makery and our Wedgewood Farm Shop. As a team we have worked hard to create an environmentally friendly and sustainable space with environmentally consious innovations such as our macadamia nut shell burners that fuel our hot water for our Makery.
Wallpaper
The floral theme in each Emporium is inspired by the rose farm where the Wedgewood family lived and where Gilly perfected high teas for her visiting customers as well as her original recipes which were first crafted right on the farm. Each Wedgewood Gifting & Hamper Emporium is different in design and feel but some key components create a common theme. Each Emporium has its own unique floral artwork created by Gilly’s daughter in law and other artists. Most recently, Gilly’s grandson, has taken to creating florals which are each used to create wall to ceiling wallpaper.
Handmade Box Project
In 2021, we launched our very own Handmade Box Project that employs people with disabilities living in our local community. This idea was born from our need for beautifully crafted handmade boxes and a request from our community to find jobs for these previously disadvantaged people. These boxes form the foundation of our present gifting range that can be found online and in our Wedgewood Gifting and Hamper Emporiums. This project is based on our farm in the Midlands and offers our customers the opportunity to support a meaningful, solely locally produced gift. We are sure you will agree that these beautiful boxes are the perfect showcase for our handmade honey nougat, that was itself born from our mother’s drive to support others. The Wedgewood Handmade Box Project is growing. We now employ two full-time Handmade Box Project team members, Sli and Sphume, who can produce up to 100 handmade boxes a day in 6 artisanal steps. Sli and Sphume ensure the finest quality and a unique crafted finish. Each box has the bespoke touch of a message from them inside x
ONLY THE FINEST INGREDIENTS...
At Wedgewood we are passionate about finding the finest ingredients and looking after our planet and its resources. So we obsess over every ingredient that goes into our confectionery and we go to great lengths to find them. So, when our customers experience our nougat, they are assured that our honey comes from ethically harvested, sustainably managed hives, and our eggs come fresh from local farmers to be hand-cracked in our Makery, and we use 100% local farm butter for our biscuits, bought from farmers who we trust. Our confectionery is always made using the finest ingredients, no preservatives, no artificial colours or flavours…ever!
THE IMPORTANT THING ABOUT HONEY…
For the past decade, Wedgewood has been working to create sustainable beekeeping partnerships with African beekeepers and farmers, to ensure that the bees making our honey live happy lives and that the communities that care for them benefit from this valuable African resource. Wedgewood supports local beekeepers in the picturesque Northern KZN Rift Valley, practicing ethical beekeeping practices and using hives donated by Wedgewood.
MACADAMIAS
Two years ago, we constructed our own bespoke nut cracking facility on the Wedgewood farm, to secure the finest nuts for our nougat. Our relationships with our partnering farmers have been so successful that we are now able to offer high quality nuts, surplus to our own needs, to other confectionery manufacturers for local and export markets.
- Choosing a selection results in a full page refresh.
- Press the space key then arrow keys to make a selection.
