When two out-of-the-box thinkers like Savannah businessman Howard Morrison and global energy consultant Ross Harding put their heads together, the results are often extraordinary.
Verdant Kitchen is the duo’s latest brainchild. The gourmet health and wellness company — which features products made of ginger and other organic foods grown at Morrison’s historic Lebanon Plantation in West Chatham County — exploded onto the scene last year to rave reviews and is now quickly earning a national reputation.
“Howard and I have enjoyed several consulting collaborations, but we wanted to try something different,” said Harding, a self-professed gardening enthusiast.
“One day we were talking about super foods and how we need to eat more healthfully, especially as we grow older. We wondered if there might be some healthy food products we could develop that other people would enjoy as well.
“And that’s what started it. It was a totally innocent conversation,” he said, laughing. “Although I have to say I couldn’t wait to get my hands in the dirt.”
From that conversation in 2011, the two embarked on more than two years of behind-the-scenes experimentation and study.
“We did it all quietly,” Harding said. “Howard has Lebanon Plantation with its wonderful history as an early agricultural center, and we started looking at what we might grow there.”
Harding is originally from Australia, where the climate is similar to Savannah’s.
“When I was a child, there was a place called the Ginger Factory,” he said. “Growing ginger had become big business after World War II and the Ginger Factory became a huge public company that didn’t just sell ginger as a root — it sold it in the form of ginger candies, drinks, cosmetics, health and wellness products. It’s a booming business, even today.
“So I said to Howard, ‘Why don’t we do that?’”
He said they worked with the University of Georgia and private individuals, airfreighted organic ginger from Hawaii, had parts of Lebanon Plantation certified as organic farms by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and converted one of the plantation’s early 1900s cabins into a USDA-certified organic processing facility.
By mid 2013, the young company had developed a product line, with test-marketing underway later that year.
“It wasn’t until March of last year that we started in earnest, producing and marketing a variety of products,” Harding said. “It took us that long just to know what we were doing.”
One of the first things the two learned?
“As farmers, we’re pretty good consultants,” Harding said, laughing.
“Farming, especially organically, is incredibly difficult. It’s hard work, long hours, lots of risk, lot of experimentation — and tremendous satisfaction.
“I’ve done some pretty big jobs, but this was by far the hardest work I’ve ever done.”
‘Worth it all’
Harding is quick to point out the fledgling venture couldn’t have gotten off the ground without lots of professional help.
“The USDA and (state agriculture commissioner) Gary Black and his team at the Georgia Department of Agriculture were unbelievably supportive through the entire certification process.
“Despite ourselves, we managed to grow it and make what we believe are some fabulously delicious products that are not only delicious but good for you,” he said.
Today, Verdant Kitchen products — including beverages, baked goods, candies, snacks and spices — are available at regional farmers markets, online and in specialty gourmet and grocery stores.
The ginger crops, including turmeric and galangal — also known as Thai ginger — are grown and harvested at Lebanon Plantation, then sliced, dried and ground at raw food temperature in the plantation’s USDA-certified organic processing facility.
The products are then made in the company’s USDA- approved kitchen in Atlanta.
“This year, we are growing seven varieties of ginger that originated in China, India, Peru and Hawaii,” Harding said. “Thai ginger is the spice featured in our popular Ogeechee Gold Ginger Ale and turmeric, which is high in antioxidants, is considered a true super food and is used in our Ginger Turmeric Green Tea.”
Savannah customers include Byrd Cookie, Frali Gourmet, Green Truck Pub, Brighter Day and The Salt Table.
Dave Legasse, who founded the Salt Table with his wife, Carol, said his customers can’t get enough of Verdant Kitchen products.
“When Carol and I decided to feature locally made food at The Salt Table Shop, we were very pleased to learn that we had such high quality ginger products made from ginger grown right here in Savannah,” he said, adding that Verdant’s products are not only local and high quality but delicious, too.
“Our customers love them, especially the ginger honey and ginger syrup, and we enjoy working with the Verdant Kitchen team,” he said. “They are truly passionate about their ginger products.”
Close to home
For Morrison, Verdant Kitchen is a continuation of a Savannah and family legacy.
“Gen. (James) Oglethorpe created Trustees Garden when he arrived in 1733 to see what would grow,” he said. “In 1736, Salzburger Philip von Reck documented ginger growing in Savannah, and the French Huguenots, who were deeded Lebanon by King George of England in the mid-1700s, experimented with mulberries, indigo, olives and other crops they brought with them.”
Morrison’s grandfather, C&S Bank founder Mills Bee Lane Sr., bought Lebanon Plantation in 1916.
“He was convinced the American South would never prosper unless we processed those things that we grew,” Morrison said. “In the early 1900s, we grew sugar cane and made cane syrup at Lebanon. Pine trees grew, and we made what were called naval stores: resin, turpentine and lumber.”
Lane also experimented with different crops.
“He grew satsuma oranges and produced bumper crops for several years,” Morrison said. “He purchased Carnation cows, grew carrots for Campbell Soup Co. and was given tung oil trees by Henry Ford.”
Morrison, who lives at Lebanon, finds a certain satisfaction knowing that his grandfather’s legacy lives on today “in the rich alluvial soils of this old rice plantation.”
MORE INFO
What: Verdant Kitchen
Where: Offices are at 2750 Peachtree Industrial Blvd., Suite E, Duluth, Ga. Besides farmers markets, Verdant products can be bought at Savannah spots such as Coffee-Deli, FraLi Gourmet, Brighter Day Natural Foods and many more. For a full list, visit www.verdantkitchen.com, call 912-349-2958, or email info@verdantkitchen.com