I’ve been making Thai curry pastes by hand using a pestle and mortar for decades now, but even on my hectic days, I would get frustrated that I couldn’t find a store-bought paste that was even close to the freshness and authenticity as my own.
There are plenty of pastes on the market that is ‘okay’ or at the best ‘good’, but I would find myself adding more makrut lime leaves or chili to get close to what I grow up with.
If only there was a brand that encapsulated the true taste of Thailand, where you didn't need to buy or add anything extras. I couldn’t see my children, all busy young adults, making fresh paste in their kitchens every time they wanted mum's favorites – the curries they love!
So, I thought, why can't Mae Jum be that brand, give them (and everyone else) a neat way to transport them back home (or to Thailand) without the hassle. So this is where my journey began.....
Back in late 2018, I spent 8 months travelling back and forth to Thailand, visiting different producers small and large. What I saw astounded me, it was not what I expected at all.
The small producers made wonderfully fragrant and fresh curry paste, which they sold locally and reminded me of my own childhood, meanwhile larger producers were “packing out” their products with ingredients that did not look as fresh or vibrant.
They seemed to skimp on the more expensive elements like makrut lime rind and various high grade spices, choosing to add more salt, lemongrass stalks and garlic. Many didn’t peel some of the ingredients and added parts of the plant that would’ve normally been thrown away or used in stock.
Worse of all they added strange ingredients that bear no authenticity. We even found some adding orange juice concentrate in Yellow curry paste!
All this to attract the international export markets with basement prices, their “we know best” attitude to what they wanted me to accept, I knew this wasn’t path for me.
At this point I was pretty angry and bitterly disappointed, even Thai manufacturers selling within Thailand were cutting corners. How was traditional and authentic Thai paste going to survive this commercialization, would it abandon all its therapeutic benefits that make Thai cuisine so exceptional.
Now it wasn’t about the fun of making pastes for my children, I felt inspired and motivated to do something about it, to produce a flavorsome, fresh and authentic Thai curry paste, would this be my time to shine? I turned back to the small producers who were selling the real stuff locally.
They were so enthusiastic to help, but they didn’t have the equipment necessary for an international operation that would allow me to import and sell it into the UK or other regions of the world.
So, there lay my challenge, I had to find a producer that was not so big, that understood my frustrations and was willing to work with me to replicate my own recipes using only ingredients that I would buy and add to my paste as if I was making it at home.
I want to give my customers no less then I would give my own family.
After several trips and many meetings later, I found a producer who wanted to help me achieve this goal of honoring traditional techniques and truly authentic flavors.
Over the following few months, we worked together to replicate the aroma, flavor and texture of my recipes while using a modern stone grounding techniques, pan roasting and blending technologies to ensure we had a product that could be imported and sold safely.
Having gone to great lengths to make sure that the ingredients were prepared as if making the paste at home, I was faced with another dilemma. Do we sterilize or pasteurize?
After testing, we felt that sterilization was just too aggressive and affected the natural aroma and taste, but the downside was that pasteurization would give us a reduced shelf life. However, when it comes to taste there was only one option.
It was a compromise worth taking, it tastes so good, so why would you want to keep it that long anyway?
I was satisfied that we had created a blend that captured my love for the real tastes of Thailand, undiluted by years of commercial alterations, and staying true to the proportions that bring maximum benefit, not just in taste, but in therapeutic elements.
I won't say I'm an expert in this area, but it is what my family and I believe.
While the use of shrimp paste in Thai cuisine is common, you won’t find any in our products, even though most other brands include it.
This was intentional to keep in line with our desire to offer an authentic Thai pastes using only a blend of 100% herbs and spices.
In Thailand, shrimp paste is not normally included in the blend of fresh raw pastes sold in Thai markets, it is a seasoning that is added at the time of cooking, or while making the paste for immediate use.
Other than allergy concerns, or to be vegan friendly, I believe that blending shrimp paste or fish sauce together with the other herbs and spices compromises the freshness of this otherwise raw blend.
It's much easier to season your dish to the ingredients you are cooking with, sometimes shrimp paste is not needed in a vegetable curry or perhaps for a slow cooked beef massaman, a teaspoon of shrimp paste would make all the difference.
Now comes the business bit, I’m no businesswoman (not yet at least), so I enlisted the help of my family to turn this idea into business.
With the Mae Jum brand, it empowers me to do what I believe in, to make a real difference to those that care about the things I care about. I’m not expecting to revolutionize the Thai Paste market, but if I can make a difference for you, then it would have been worth it.
A few years on and Mae Jum has been elevating the dishes of tens of thousands home cooks across the UK. We've received multiple Great Taste Awards, expanding our range into soups and stir and building an amazing community of foodies who are in love with Thai cuisine.
Now on to our next adventure... launching my collection of pastes across another ocean to the United States of America!
Thank you for the support, it means the world!
With Love, Jum
The word Samunprai is Thai for “Herbs and Spices”, but it has a deeper connotation as it is often used in Spas and Health Clinics.
That is because the word also encapsulates the health benefits and properties of these ingredients. I truly believed in the therapeutic nature of specific herbs and spices, many are used in Thai cooking, some of which have been labelled as superfoods.
I have always found ways of including these ingredients into my cooking, and I plan to talk more about them on my blog.
How to include these ingredients as part of a balanced diet. Not only do they provide incredible flavors and aromas but they bestow the beneficial properties that Mother nature has intended for us all.
