Meet George and Alexandra from Gareden!

George describes that with the help of his family’s long experience, great will, constant modernization and perseverance in achieving goals, he devoted himself to the primary sector and to a very special product, the wild rose! Let’s meet him…

Tell us a few words about yourself? How did you start? How did you get involved in the primary sector?

Taking into consideration my family’s long experience for the sweet wild rose and other preserved sweets, as well as the pleasure that this whole occupation offers us lead me to get involved in this. Even though I studied mechanical engineering at the University of Patras, my love for the primary sector, combined with the special process and taste of the wild rose, which is prepared and packaged immediately after the morning harvest. Based on the homemade method and the support from relatives and friends, made me realize that I want to do it professionally.

Tell us a few words about the brand. What does it stand for? There is a purpose behind it?

My wife Alexandra played an important role in finding the Brand! It includes the words “garden”, and the word “eden”, referring to the Garden of Eden. It was chosen as an idea to give importance to nature and consequently to our natural and pure products.

How did you get started? What difficulties did you face?

To be honest we are still in the beginning, in the complete beginning I would say and clearly the difficulties are many and we deal with them every day. We search, we learn, we try. Finding customers requires constant effort and of course there is the financial difficulty because we did not start with a very large capital. But we really like what we do, we believe in it and we are sure that we will succeed.

Tell us about your products. What makes them different?

The quality of each sweet and its traditional character, using pure ingredients without preservatives and dyes is what makes our products unique.

Tell us about the raw materials?

We cultivate the wild rose ourselves. Our property is located next to the river Meganitis in the community of Dimitropoulos, near Aigio. The rest of the fruit is supplied by local producers.

GAREDEN-400-400x400

Give us some suggestions for your products (ways of use other than the classics, tips or recipes etc.)

I will talk to you about the wild rose, which in our opinion we can use it in many ways. Of course it is an excellent garnish for ice cream and yogurt, spread on breakfast, it can be used as a filling in sweets, as an ingredient in ice cream. It can even accompany savory dishes such as cheese platters. We have seen some chefs we work with use it in gourmet dishes that they make with incredible success, who also use our bergamot! I do not know how to tell you gourmet recipes, but I could urge you to make homemade ice cream and add a rose to the mixture, the result, believe me, will be wonderful.

Can Greek producers make a difference in the crisis?

Of course, it is enough for them to want it, to pursue it, to be constantly modernized and to insist on achieving their goals. Greek land, as far as the primary sector but also the pure, traditional, Greek products have and will always have a special place, I believe, and will be necessary in the market, Greek and foreign. Of course, do not forget the necessary help and support of the State and the Greek consumers!

Why did you choose to participate and support the Wise Greece Initiative?

It is an initiative that will highlight our products at the beginning, while at the same time Wise Greece helps people in great need!!