After 13 years running a delicatessen in Aberdeen, Isabella Massie and her husband Alastair, decided to convert an outbuilding at their Aberdeenshire Farm into a factory kitchen to make Isabella's traditional mustard relish. She celebrated her first year of trading by winning honours at the 1996 Grampian Innovation Food Awards and the Scottish Food Awards. Isabella's product list now includes numerous other relishes along with luxury jams and marmalades, all homemade and using the best Scottish produce.

Isabella decided to hand over her wooden spoon and sold the business to me in 2005. I first met Alastair at University in Aberdeen where he was a lecturer. There he asked me if I could help on their stand at the Royal Highland Show. This led to assisting at other shows, then after graduating I started to help in the kitchen and so it all began.....

As a farmers daughter myself I decided to move the kitchen down to my base on the border of Aberdeenshire and Angus. I hope to continue Isabella and Alastair's hard work producing high quality hand made preserves made with the best Scottish produce and will continue to support the agricultural shows and events around Scotland as well as my local Angus Farmers Markets.

I am now nearly into my 2nd year of running Isabella's and still learning something new everyday, Isabella and Alastair where a very hard act to follow, and I am very grateful for all their kind support, although we sadly lost Alastair in 2006 his enthusiasm will live on within the business.

Hope to see many of you at the shows and don't forget to enjoy the preserves!

Louise