Microwave snack that keeps the bread crispy
Dennis Hardy of Horsham's Country Produce butcher's was inspired to develop the convenience snack under the brand Grandma Hardy's when he noticed that his wife, Jan Hardy, was doing a "roaring trade" selling Welsh Rarebits in the tea rooms she runs.
"She was packing them in," he said. "So I thought it would be a great idea to manufacture her recipe. But it had to be a frozen product that you could heat up in the microwave to catch the convenience market."
Hardy asked Nobility foods of Fareham to manufacture and package the product.
The main obstacle was ensuring that the freezing, defrosting and reheating process didn't make the bread go soggy. The solution was inserting a susceptor a paperboard 'plate' with aluminium bonded onto it. It gets very hot when exposed to microwave energy and crisps the surface of the food near or in direct contact with it. Perfect for toast.
The next stage is getting it to market. "Freezer space is going to be difficult to find," said Hardy. "We're up against big names. But cheese on toast has always been a favourite snack. If it's done right, it will be bigger than Aunt Bessie's."
