Alison McQuade: Chutney Queen

Alison McQuade didn’t set out to be a chutney maker. Crafting jars of chutney was just a holiday project that took on a life of its own. Originally from Glasgow but based in San Francisco and working at a law firm, McQuade made chutney inspired by her grandmother’s recipe and shared it with close friends. But the chutney made it into the hands of Peggy Smith of Cowgirl Creamery, which led to her first wholesale order and a burgeoning business.

McQuade, who had no formal culinary training when she first started, did have a knack for making chutney, and quickly expanded from her original version to a whole product line using different fruit and spices. Today McQuade’s Celtic Chutney comes in a wide variety of flavors but none of them resemble the goopy brown “Major Grey’s” variety you find at most supermarkets. McQuade sources her fruit from local farms and pairs them with different vinegars, sweeteners, chiles, and spices to make often vibrantly colored condiments worthy of the best cheeses. Crafted with a keen sense of balance, her chutneys are unique in their spicing, heat levels, chunky texture, and creative flavor combinations. Unlike Indian style chutney, McQuade’s chutney is a style commonly served with Ploughman’s Lunch (a British style of cheese plate) and grilled cheese sandwiches in Scotland. Her bestsellers include Habanero with a base of apples, Fig ’n Ginger and popular seasonal varieties such as Rhubarb and Tangerine, and Plum and Black Pepper. Her most recent creation is Fig, Orange and Whisky chutney made in collaboration with Sonoma Distilling Company. Some of her favorite cheese and chutney combinations include BoxCarr Cottonbell, a bloomy cow’s milk cheese that’s smooth and creamy with an almost liquid center with bright Mandarin Apricot chutney and Quattro Portoni Blu di Bufala, a blue semi-firm creamy and crumbly water buffalo milk cheese from the Lombardy region of Italy with rich Fig ’n Ginger chutney. She’s gotten to know many cheesemakers and particularly loves working with Sarah Marcus from Briar Rose Creamery, Von Trapp Farmstead, Tom Perry at Shelburne Farms and Soyoung Scanlan of Andante Dairy. Her chutneys are carried in cheese shops, specialty markets, and on cafe menus, but her chutney business recently took another turn.

Serendipity played a role in the birth of McQuade’s Celtic Chutney, and also in her next endeavor. A chance meeting with Eddie Herrador, a friend she met at a local bar, and a realization that the two shared a mutual love of picnics, led to her most recent business, A Smashing Picnic. Leveraging the popularity of her chutneys and cheese, McQuade partnered with design visionary Herrador to create the custom picnic company in 2019. The pair create Instagram friendly picnics at a wide variety of sites around San Francisco including Chrissy Field, with views of the Golden Gate Bridge, north of San Francisco in the Marin Headlands, and just south of San Francisco in Pacifica for lovely sunset picnics. They have catered groups up to 50 but are able to accommodate any number, currently with social distancing. Infinitely adaptable, she believes picnics with family or your “bubble” of people will only become more popular for the foreseeable future.

ProfilesAmy ShermanJune 16, 2020American, Italian