The History of Pastilla Nash
Pastilla Nash commenced operation with its signature product, Prune and Walnut Log in late 2002 and, due to the popularity of this product, recently added the Fruit and Nut cake.
With 25 years experience in the food industry as a caterer and food editor, Jan Nash was inspired by a homemade sweet she sampled at a celebration dinner. From the first bite, she immediately wanted everyone to experience the unique flavour of this special delicacy. Zina, a close elderly friend, entrusted Jan with her traditional family recipe. Once refinements to the cooking method and the balance of ingredients were made, Jan realized her new venture.
After sourcing the finest ingredients, and augmenting a handmade manufacturing process, Jan now had a commodity that she could proudly present to industry peers.
Simon Johnson, Australia's renowned food purveyor, embraced the idea and enthusiastically encouraged paramount production of this marketable product. Commercial manufacturing of the Prune and Walnut Log then commenced with Zina's blessing.
Within weeks of hitting the shelves, the Prune and Walnut Log was featured in Melbourne and Sydney food columns. Rapidly growing interest in this quality product created a demand that caused stocks to be sold out in its first Christmas. Since then, the yield has increased as a result of wider distribution and the ongoing sales to convinced connoisseurs.
From its humble inception, the Prune and Walnut Log has continued to grow in popularity worldwide. It is served in all the top restaurants in Sydney including Tetsuya’s which has been voted as number 5 restaurant in the world in 2007.
The success prompted the enterprising production team to develop a fruit and nut cake under the Pastilla Nash label which contains no animal products and is free of wheat and gluten. We felt that there was a need to move away from the traditional fruit cake and present a wholesome one. Christmas 2004 was the first time consumers had a chance to buy the cake. It sold out immediately in Australia.
In 2005, Pastilla Nash exported to the USA, Japan, Canada, Singapore, and Hong Kong. Dean and Deluca sold out of the product for the Holiday Season 2005. The Prune & Walnut Log was also certified Kosher and Halal.
In 2006, I was so fortunate that Jackie Vere Nicoll saw an article in “The Daily Telegraph” on the exporting success of Pastilla Nash. Jackie arranged to meet with me and told me that she had 25 years experience as a food broker in the UK and she was mad about my product and would like introduce it to the UK. She showed it to Lakeland, a large catalogue company in the UK. Lakeland included the 260 gram log for the first time in its Christmas catalogue. The shipment sold out in 2 weeks. They are including it in their Christmas catalogue for 2007.
In March 2007, Qantas First Class commenced serving the Prune & Walnut log with their cheese platter.