Sarah Gray — Mother, Survivor, Business Woman, Flavour Maker

I've been looking forward to this, and I've got to tell you the hype, the hype around you, Sarah Gray, was massive. So, welcome to mix of him. Thank you. Finally, shall we share? Listen, I've got nothing. I can't comment on the hype.

You come highly recommended, so there we go. I hope I don't disappoint. You won't. We aim to please. You won't, because if you do, then Daniela's going to be in trouble. And I certainly hope she's listening. Don't you? Oh, I know she will be. Daniela, yeah. Because I will get the message if I say anything wrong. I'll probably get... Sarah was fantastic, but David, geez. I don't know. I think you need to just review that again.

All right. So, let's start off with what you currently do now. Because the extent of my knowledge is you make flavors. And I was like, okay, and we've made lots of flavorful jokes and colorful and flavorful. I've got a great marketing idea for you. I'll give it to you later. Fantastic. Tell me, who is Sarah now and where is Sarah now? Okay. Well, to break it down into a nutshell, because really, if I had to kind of try and categorize everything that I'm involved in, we'll search it till next week. But I am the sales and product development manager for a company called Psychrodistribution. We procure products into the hospitality industry. I also own a company called The Chef. The Chef, basically, what we do is we develop and we procure specialized and fine food ingredients for the hospitality industry. And how that kind of ties in together is Psychrodistribution company. So, the owner of Psychrodistribution is also my business partner. So, in a nutshell, it's kind of like, how do you get to do that?

Further than that, Sarah Gray, I'm a self-developed, I'm a self-developed woman, really. I'm a survivor, I'm a fighter, I'm a mother, I'm a daughter. The journey to Geqiao, my passions basically brought me to the point where I am now in the food industry. Okay. So, now I know what you do. Well, sort of. Sort of. Wow. It's complicated.

Yeah. By the way, if you'd like to post any comments, you'd like to send a message. You can SMS us, 41348. Those SMS is charged at 150. Otherwise, WhatsApp us, 084-822-0938. Sarah Gray, my guest now, and my previous guest, Rita Zwany. Don't forget, all of these episodes of What's Involved do get published as podcasts as well. They're generally up around about Wednesday or Thursday. So, if you've missed any of it, go check out What's Involved, which is spelled W-A-T-T-S, involved.co.za. All the podcasts are there.

Just as an aside, I had a guest in the other week, and he got somebody and said, "I was listening to the What's Involved show on 94.7 last night." And I'm like, "Really? I don't know. I was syndicated." But anyway, it is W-A-T-T-S, involved.co.za. Let's talk about... because I know you've had... it's not been an easy life. It's definitely been a challenging life. But talk to me about where Sarah comes from. Were you born and bred Joberg? Are you a Joberg girl? No. Born and bred Cape Town. Oh, Cape Town. You're like one of those mountain botheries. We're not going to talk too much about the mountains. But no, I've literally lived all over South Africa. We travelled a lot when I was young. I've lived from Cape Town to Sedgefield, Wilderness, Kimberley, Joberg, Pretoria. But recently, I went to high school in Joberg. I went back to Cape Town for about six years, and we came back here when my daughter was one. So I've been back here for another six years. Yeah. Single mum? Yes, single mum. Three little girls. Three, five, and seven this year. So clearly, I have no value for my life. So you got some spare time between what, two and four in the morning? Sure, absolutely. So you grew up, where did the passion fall?

Because I mean, clearly, okay, you've got the right outfit on anything. But I mean, from the little bit I know, you have a passion for food, cooking, and where did the flavours come in? Explain this to me. Are you a chef? Are you a chef chef? Well, I'm self-taught and I'm self-developed. Having worked in the food industry for many years, I've been in the food industry now for about 12 years. Prior to that, I was actually in the motor trade. Yeah? Yeah, no. And then I got an opportunity to go to Cape Town, and I decided I'd had enough with the motor trade. And friends of ours, they knew somebody who had a company that supplied the food industry with quite a high end product. And that's when I started working in the food industry. And like being self-taught, at that time I was a brand ambassador for Pacific West. We used to teach the chefs how to use our products in the kitchen and teach the distributors how to sell the product, manage the stock. And that's sort of, I've always had a love for food. And I mean, I baked my first cake when I was six years old. And so it developed from there. I worked from manufacturer to distributor. And the flavours in particular started, I have family in the business.

So they introduced me to it about six or seven years ago. I used to bake cakes for Route 44 markets. And if you bring me any cocktail menu, I will take that cocktail and put it in a cake form for you. And they said to me, "Why are you using proper cream soda?" And I said, "Well, what else do you expect me to use?" And they said, "Well, have you tried flavours?" And it just opened Pandora's box. And then I started researching more about it. You work with a lot of different flavour houses. And I worked with the actual food technologists who taught me a lot about how to use the product, what applications work well. Carriers play a very big role in how you use food flavours. And also there's a perception that flavours are bad for you. And it's actually not. It all depends on your carriers and how they're made and where your raw ingredients come from. It gets very involved. Because I mean, immediately when you talk flavours, people go, "Ah, MSG and tatrazine." And it's more than that. So in part of my dim and distant past, I used to do work, we were a contract packaging company for some of the big perfume houses. - Yes. - So I kind of know a bit about how to make perfumes and aromas and stuff, but flavours.

It does my head in that you can... And you've got some little bottles here and I need to know what those little bottles are. So we'll talk about those in a bit. - Yes, because I'm going to open Pandora's box for you today. - Are you? - I am, absolutely.

If you literally go into a supermarket and you have to take out every single item in the supermarket that contains a flavour, you're going to be left with your natural ingredients and that's your fresh fruit and veg. That's it. Absolutely everything that you buy contains flavouring. Again, then you're looking at the quality of flavour. So flavours, if you look at our flavours, they've got no GMOs, no allergens, no sugars, no salts, no colourants, no oils. There's no nasties in it. So when you're creating flavours, you're taking natural extract and you're extending that product and that allows you a shelf life and versatility of your product. But the more you dilute, the further you go down in the chain, the more candied it becomes. So again, it depends where you're getting your flavours from and how far up in the dilution chain you are, if you want to put it that way. Now, where would one use these flavours? I know you guys made me incredibly jealous over the weekend and posted some beautiful G and T photos. So that immediately picked up because I like to infuse my own gin. I've heard it. That's why we have the flavours here. Yeah, so I love doing that. But I mean, I've seen something that's been quite big at the moment, the smokehouse flavours.

Yes. So iconic, but where else would you use it? You use flavours in literally anything. So you can use it from flavouring chocolate, you can temper chocolate with it, to flavouring your yogurts. It's used in cool drinks. It's used in baking applications. It's used in absolutely everything. Because I mean, as I was bringing you in and introducing you and seeing Rita out, the first thing she was like, I need to talk to you. Absolutely. So clearly in this industry, in the catering industry, people know what you do. It's just sort of radio presenters like me that want to know more. You know, the idea of flavours is that people mustn't get confused that it's there to replace a natural product because it's not. I can never give you texture. I probably could. But I'm not there to take away from visual and texture. You're there to enhance a natural flavour. And if you look at now, when you're cooking in that, when you're looking for some ingredients, it's costly. And if you're working with extracts, they are seasonal. Ingredients are seasonal. And if you're looking to just add extra, I mean, we've got a mushroom flavour, for example. And if you want to make a mushroom sauce, how much mushroom do you really have to throw in there to get a mushroom sauce?

A lot. As opposed to here, you could just add literally maybe three or four drops depending on how much heat you have applied. And you've already infused that mushroom flavour into your product. See, this is the bit that fascinates me. We're talking to Sarah Gray.

You see, I think... I'm going to share this with you now because I guarantee you've never heard this more than about a hundred times in your life. Okay, bring it. But I think we should have a line of products called the 50 Flavours of Gray. Right. So I'm all for it. I'm all for it. I do have a line that we're going to be launching called the Seven Deadly Sins. So we're on the same sort of wavelength. We'll be back with Sarah Gray. Anyway, my special guest in studio. Hello.

Okay, I'll read that in a bit.

Sarah Gray, my special guest. She just blew my mind a little bit, okay? So that's why I'm taking a while to get around to this. So it's no secret that I am a gin fan. Absolutely no secret. Big fan. Big fan. Infuse my own gin. And now suddenly, here you go and you bring me a whole bunch of flavours which I'm assuming I can use in gin. Absolutely. One of my favourite things that I make at the moment is a blueberry strawberry infused gin. And here we have something called a drinkology. Yes. And it's blueberry and I'm like, and then you open this bottle and it's like, oh my golly goodness me. But I have to resist the temptation just to bang it onto my tongue because it's very concentrated. Yeah, you know, you don't want to do that. But I mean, wow. These Turkish Delight. I pulled my nose up at the Turkish Delight because these are just some of the flavours that you do. Yeah. Until I smelled it and I'm like, yeah, okay. It can work. That's not bad. And then almond that doesn't smell like marzipan. 100%. I hate marzipan. So that was my challenge to find an almond that is not marzipan. The lavender is absolutely beautiful. That lavender and honey is absolutely gorgeous. This, I would imagine, could make a very nice drink.

Yes. I would imagine that it could. And then the last one is cotton candy, which is like opening up candy floss. That's what it's like. It's beautiful. It's beautiful. The first question, and I know somebody's already started to ask me that,

a lot of people are going to go, but they're not all natural products and they are lab created and now you're going to kill us with stuff. Tell me about that. I mean, because I know in terms of, yes, we want to all go natural and we want to use as many natural things as we can. It's not always possible though. I mean, if I look at, to infuse my gin to get any sort of a flavor in it, the amount of blueberry, strawberry, et cetera, et cetera, that I have to use is silly. Yeah. So where do we stand on that? Oh, you're now making, you're creating this stuff in a lab and it's compared to natural flavorants and colorants. Where are we on that spectrum? Okay. So if you're looking at the specification on flavors, if you look at our range, it's nature identical flavoring. The only time you're really going to get 100% natural product in any kind of flavoring is when you're working with direct extract. It's super expensive. I mean, that's literally like taking the orange, taking it, dehydrating it and putting it in a powder. That's the only time you're really going to get 100% natural products. When you're working with nature identical flavors, you do get laboratory flavors and you do get artificial flavors.

We don't use any artificial flavors. So when you're talking about a cream soda, for example, people think this is a laboratory flavor. It's actually not cream sodas, vanilla and rose. So that's what makes up cream soda. If you want to use that in these examples. So you've got a nature identical product that appears to be unnatural, if this is making sense.

Talking about cream soda though. Yeah, I have that too. It originally wasn't green. And then somebody stuffed it up and made it green. Cream soda should actually look like vanilla essence. But why can't we have cream soda? Because I like clear cream soda. And I can give you clear cream soda. There's a company, I don't know if they even, I haven't looked for so long. Frankies. Called Frankies, yes. Their cream soda. Clear, beautiful creams and then they changed it. But I think they're changing it back now. Because I sent them a strongly worded email. So it's actually your responsibility and we should take this up strongly with you. Yes. Okay, I'm there. So basically, you get different grades of flavors. And then again, it's a carrier that you are using. So carriers, all they really allow us is application of use. So in a liquid form, most of our carriers are what is called propylene glycol. Your body cannot absorb it. It passes through. It just allows us to put it in a liquid form. It distributes heat evenly. It gets very, very technical. But when we say it's got no allergens and that it goes through a process where all the allergens and that are removed from that super concentrated extract.

Okay. Again, it's a very involved process. So, you know, I'm very comfortable. I gave this to my baby because I have an issue buying yogurt that is filled with sugar. Where here, I can go and I could buy a double cream yogurt, put in two drops of it, being very comfortable to know that I'm not causing any harm to her body or my body. To give you an idea of getting my personal journey, I'm trying to go to an 80% plant based diet and it's purely out of personal choice. But, you know, you start reading the ingredients and it can be very overwhelming. And then it goes on to another thing. You think something as an E number is bad for you. Where most of the time, a lot of E numbers are actually natural ingredients, not even a laboratory ingredients, but they're too long to put on a label. So they created E numbers. So there's quite a lot of controversy around food ingredients and it really does become quite technical and it's a whole another conversation. Being the simple man that I am, what you are saying is with these products, I'm not going to turn my liver into tapa whey. Absolutely not. Fantastic. I'm quite comfortable then to put my name on. That's all I needed to know. That's all I needed to know.

Yes. So these flavors work and I mean, obviously the grapevine and my screaming about it all over the internet, this I can all put in gin. Yes. Yeah. Okay. Definitely. And I mean, you can use that. When we say full cross application use, you can temper chocolate with it. Most flavors unless it's oil. I know it's amazing. Most oils in that or if you're using water-seized chocolate. Here you've got a product that you can temper chocolate. It doesn't split cream. You can put it in your meringues and your macarons. You can use it in your water if you really want. It's not going to taste great because it doesn't have an activator. You can put it in milkshakes. You can really use it in absolutely everything. You can flavor your coffee in the morning. Hang on there. So are you not telling me that I cannot just buy two liters of carbonated water and make my own cream soda? Yes, you can. Good. But however you're going to need to go and you're going to need to put sugar in it. Otherwise, you're going to get the smell and you get a little bit of a bitter taste. Again, because it's got no sugar and no salts and salts and sugars activate flavor. So it needs to be put in application. That's why you can't taste it raw.

I think we need to talk to you more about this kind of stuff. But what fascinates me is not only do you do this. So at the moment, it's kind of one and a half, almost two businesses and counting. Yes. And three little girls. I don't know. Three little girls. Plus, I'm the cheer lady of the South African shifts associations, women in culinary. Also something very close to my heart. I believe in empowering our industry. And I am on the Gauteng South African shifts committee as well. And the South African bakers associations. Gravy woman. And now, thanks to a mutual friend of ours, do you want to start with public speaking keynote addresses? Yes, definitely. What is that about? I really firmly believe that if you have knowledge and to be able to share that with people is empowering in a way of giving back. My journey has been an interesting one. Anything people know about me is my life will never be boring. And I refuse to let that be for nothing. Are you happy to share some of your journey with us? Absolutely. Yes, yeah. Talk to me a bit about it. Well, I mean, I'm two years divorced now.

That in itself was an interesting journey. I'm not going to go too much into that. But I've been in situations, I've been in very abusive relationships, whether it be physically or mentally. I failed many times with this business. I had an interesting upbringing with a childhood. I suffered many years with depression and anxiety, suicide. And it was a journey. And it was learning different life skills to be able to get to the point where I am now. And learning different coping mechanisms, whether it be in a workplace or in a personal capacity. And I would really love to share that with somebody else. Because if you can better another person, you know, you've improved your own journey because that's where your healing takes place. I know a little bit about your story. And not a lot because I was very firmly told that you're going to share what you feel like sharing with me, which is fair enough. Very fair.

I'm sorry, I'm going to have to move these things. It's distracting, right? No, well, yes, because I can still smell it. And I keep going, hmm, when I get home tonight, will it be too late to test out?

Never too late, no. I'm going to, I'm going to, I just got to figure out, maybe I can find a plastic cup and I can steal a few drops, but I'm going to do that. I'm telling you right now. David, I'm quite happy for you to take one. It's really okay. No, no, no, I don't want to be one of those kind of people. But if, you know, well, there we go. Just say thank you. Anyway, so, so, but, you know, as I said, I know a little bit about your journey and, and just from the little bit I know, the person that's sitting in front of me now is certainly not that person. Definitely not. I mean, wow. Yeah, like, like I said, you know, it's, we go through things in life and, and it's very easy for us to blame our past and to blame whoever was in our lives at that period of time. But it really is, nobody can ever force you to make the decisions that you make. Nobody can influence your free will to a degree, unless the other circumstances leading to that. However, we make choices and you need to be responsible for those choices. And when you can self reflect, and when you've self reflected and grow from that, that's when you start empowering yourself. And that's a very important message. Listen, I mean, I've often said this, but I believe it is true.

You know, one of my theories is if you want to know somebody, get married to them. If you want to really get to know them, divorce them. Yes. You know, so yeah, I've been there, been there, done that. And I've also, in terms of my relationships in the past, have made some spectacularly bad decisions. And that's all part of my, what did somebody say to me? It's part of my social worker issues because I want to go out and rescue all the broken people. And the problem is broken people sometimes don't want to be rescued and then they make you a bit broken. Absolutely. You can't help somebody that doesn't want to be helped. And all you're going to do is destroy yourself in the process. And there is not one person on the face of this planet that is worth losing yourself over. If you can help somebody, great. But if you can't, that's also great. But again, I must say, I'm blown away. Seeing you sitting here tonight. I mean, calm, seeing, are you a bit flustered because I just threw you into the seat and started talking to you. As well, and that's part of the coping mechanisms that I've learned in life is, you know, just. Smile and wave boys, just smile and wave. Okay, so what is the keynotes about?

You've just got one. You're not like I interviewed Daniela Bichelli last week and she's got like seven. No, we've got about four now. So it really does go between my passion and food. So we've got one about food and technology and that really does revolve around how the industry is changing, how technology influences our industry and also career opportunities. So as a chef, if you've studied to become a chef, you're not only stuck in a hot kitchen or a pastry kitchen. You know, there's other avenues for you in terms of food styling or a lot of the bigger companies actually look for chefs to develop product with them. So food and technology is quite a big one in terms of my passion for the industry. Coping mechanisms in the workplace. And I mean, having gone through very challenging personal issues in that when I went to work, I never brought my stuff to work. I mean, you've got to go to work and you've got to perform because if you don't do that, you're not going to get paid and you can't look after yourself and then you go home and it just becomes even more of a down spiral that you start going into. So one of them is coping mechanisms in the workplace. You know, I'm a very rare creature that I can be having, I can be crying on my way to work by the time I get to my office, my face is on.

I'm always the same, I'm always constant. And I wasn't always like that. I used to be quite emotional. I don't think me and my old self would be friends and all honesty, she would irritate me. So it was a journey to get to that point. And then you've got one about exactly that. Survivor, fighter, daughter and mother. And in different things, that's on a very, very personal level. That's about your relationships. How to take what you've been through and turn it into positives that can work for you. Automatically, I'm saying that third one is going to be the one. Yeah, no, it's deep. Because of that. Absolutely. If you get to talk about it, and I've often found people that have challenges when they're growing up, I mean, it's no secret. I grew up with an abusive father, alcoholic, all sorts of things. Okay, and I mean, I could have gone, and I was very clear, I could have gone one of two ways. Okay, I could have gone crazy. Or I could have sorted myself out. And I don't know if I'm there, because you know, history and stuff. You look okay, you portraying that picture. It's my here and place. But yeah, it's been tough. And I often find when unconsciously I share my story, people are like, "What?" I hear you.

You survived that. Because I mean, I should have been dead like many times over. Okay. Yeah, I have a few. You also, okay. And I can just pick that up just by chatting to you. Some days I do wonder how I managed to get through some of the bits, you know. And then we've got one that I actually co-lab with Daniela, on high performance focus. And it's exactly that about changing your thinking and shortening your timeframes and setting your goals. And when you shorten the timeframe, you put more pressure on yourself and you don't leave room for excuses. Because we like to make excuses. I sat for about six months making excuses of why I couldn't do it. And so one day you're just like, "You know what? I don't really have a choice. It's time to get up." So it's shortening timeframes. It's reevaluating how you think. Because your mind is incredibly powerful. People will turn around and say, "Okay, well, who are you to say that?" And I say, "Well, I am Sarah Gray. And I did that through my thinking." And once you start vibrating at a different level, you start attracting the things that you're really looking for. So if you can manage your thoughts, you can manage your life. I love it. We'll be back with Sarah.

So I just got to... Who's this from? Looks like Tasha?

You just messaged me. Perhaps I was a tad harsh, but I am concerned about the artificial labs. You don't have to apologize. This is the cool thing about me and my guests. If you feel differently to us, say it, and I will talk about it. I'm not scared to talk about it. And that was one of the things that I was also like, "Okay, are you now genetically engineering stuff that's going to turn me into Tupperware?" That was my concern. I have a huge issue with ingredients like that. I avoid them. I don't like them in my products. And it's purely because our food... Like people are saying, "Why is there so much more cancer in children?" For example, my point of view is, well, number one, we feed the cows what they shouldn't be fed. And then we choose to eat that and we wonder why we're getting sick. So I have a huge issue with ingredients and what goes into our food. So when I procure and develop product, I am very particular about where I get it from. Does it come with the right specifications and have the right tests been done on the product? But can you make tofu taste like 35 day mature drum? I probably could, hey. But that's another conversation. I'll give it a go. 'Cause you were going with this, you wanna get onto this plant-based diet.

It's one of the things I'd love to do and I'm starting to work on it, but I am a committed carnivore. I'm not gonna lie. Listen, time's slowing by. We've got lots more to talk about. But one thing I wanted to mention to you and Sarah, the 10th of February. Yes. I'm not sure what you're doing, but between seven and eight, I would suggest you listen to your radio station. I am going to have as my special guest... I know I'm special, but David, I don't know if I'm that kind of special. I'm running in a perilapse for a horse. I'm gonna have as my special guest in studio. Rum roll, please. And if you don't know who I'm talking about, then okay, I can't help you. Prue Leith is gonna be in studio with me. Oh, wow, yes. We're gonna be chatting to her about her life, about the great British menu. 13 books that she's written. And the reason you should be listening, she's releasing a brand new one, all on vegetarianism and vegetarian cooking. So the lady, the duyen of the culinary arts in this country, I believe, is gonna be here. She's coming in from the UK. I'm gonna be chatting to her. Very excited. We'll be back with Sarah in just a little bit. It is Mix 93.8. What's involved? So good to have you along with us.

My special guest in studio. I said we were gonna keep it culinary and flavorful this evening. And we've got Sarah Gray with us. So we're talking about all of these different flavors and what you can do. And you do keynotes. And I don't know where you find the time. And three little girls. So goodness gracious me. Single mom, three little girls.

When you talk about these flavors, though, is the man on the street, i.e. yours truly, am I going to be able to, either now or at some stage, go to a website or a place and go, okay, like for me, we were talking about my fondness for gins and infused gin. And go, okay, your mixology range. Because I think that's fairly new, isn't it? Yeah, that brand, the drinkology brand. Drinkology. Yeah, yeah, it's still new. Okay, because you did something. Was that on the weekend when you were posting those gins? Yes, the gins. Was that the lavender and honey? What did you have in there? That was the cotton candy. Really? Yeah, the cotton candy. So what I have to do, I just literally put a drop or two drops in my drink. You would literally do like one, maybe two or three drops in your drink, and that's it, you don't need anything more than that. So I don't have to go through this painful process of days and days and days and days of infusing. So when do you distilling? Distilling will be slightly different. You're going to use it in your distilling process, and it's going to be a percentage of what you're distilling with. But you wouldn't have, it wouldn't have the long infusing process, you would still have the same distilling process, if that makes sense.

And obviously you're not going to use as much of the natural ingredients, because it can be a 0.1 to 1% dose is actually what you're using. Okay, and then you say the same for the chocolates and excepts. So you've got a drinkology range and then you've got? The chef with a double F. The chef. The chef. And the chef sells flavors for... So you mentioned something about, and suddenly you see you keep talking about food, and on a Monday night talking about food is bad for me. Anytime talking about food is bad because I get angry. A smoky barbecue, what is that? So we also do aromas. We have a couple of rubs and bespoke spices in that. Generally, it's not the ordinary that you would find, like your average barbecue. We've got an American barbecue that's quite heavy on smoke. It's got molasses in it. We've got a bourbon barbecue. Kaz is going thumbs up there. Because I want to do me some serious American style barbecue. I can help you there. Okay. And we've got a bourbon barbecue even. So you're thinking Jack Daniels and barbecue, it's going to work. And the beauty with that is most of the spices, they are gluten free as well. And we don't have a lot of fillers and extenders in the products because a lot of your spices to bring the cost down, you're using a lot of fillers and extenders.

We use the actual liquid flavors as well in the dry spices. It's a whole other process, how you get there. But we've got a chimichurri course rub, got a Jamaican jerk. So generally, it's stuff that you wouldn't find on a shelf. So the weirder, the better, and I'm there. Is this available to Joe Public? Okay, so not yet. We're going to be launching the online store in the next month or so. So then the public will be able to buy this. Because I'm about to say I demand. I can help you in the meantime. I demand. If somebody wants it in the meantime, they're welcome to contact me directly. Like I said, we distribute to the hospitality industry through Sycro at the moment. But if there is somebody that wants privately, they're more than welcome to contact me. Okay, but then I'll be able to go, what is the website going to be called? It will be chefsa.com with a double F. So C-H-E-double-F-S-A-dot-com. And then everything will be on there. I go in there, I search for what I want, place my order, pays my money, and then it gets delivered to my house. And I make beautiful culinary delights. And then you come and post your pictures and I can see what you've got. So you say aromas. Do you do aromas as well?

Well, not really. Because I mean, what is the difference between a flavoured aroma? The carriers and the dilutions. Because I'm just thinking that honey lavender. Okay. We've sort of been dabbling in the area of bath bombs and homemade soaps, etc. Listen, if you want to put that into, it's not an essential oil as such. So it depends on whether it's food grade or not. Aromas, you do get food grade aromas. It has a different carrier and it's not even really a different application. It's more the carrier. But if you want to use that in soap making, it's got the most beautiful smell you can do that. I have made a range of sprays for my daughters with 100% food grade ingredients. So it's doable. Well, it smells so good. Why am I not going to wear it as well? Yeah. Yeah. Oh, you're fascinating. I think we need to bring you back. Is there anything else I need to know about Sarah Gray? Not at this stage, no. Just because I think you're pretty much covered. And I don't know if there's much more that you can fit in. I made a joke between two and four in the morning. I can't fit more in. I'll probably try how successful I'll be is also debatable.

So where to from here? Are you going to focus now on the keynotes? It's going to be something extra that I'll be doing. We'll be doing one keynote a month. And then from that, we will also do master classes. So learning how to apply and the skills from the keynotes. I mean, there's lots of exercises. There's lots of things that you can do to refine your thinking, refining your skills. And how do you implement these things into your life? So that will happen once a month. My plate is quite full. But this is a passion. This is something that I really want to work on. So it will be something that'll be extra moving forward. You know what I find amazing? Just in terms of what you do, because I was thinking about it now. It's like your cotton candy, your candy floss smell. Or flavor. Because I think obviously we can't taste it because we haven't got anything to put it in. Or a carrier, as you say. But that aroma. But how that can certain aromas can take you back to times and places in your life in an instant. And incredibly vividly. Well, I mean, we've got memory. And it's exactly that. That certain smiles trigger certain emotions. And for me, and I think that's why I am as passionate about what I do, is this is a way for me to express my creativity and my love of food.

Food is my love language. So this is all me. All in that bottle is what I've said. I think this is great. And there's no more pleasure I get than watching somebody either open that bottle or taste something that we've made using that and you see that emotion. Well, I think you saw that. Well, I love it. Because it's like, just open the bottle and you just see the eyes are like, wow. And for me, it's like my job is done. Because I think as well in terms of that, when you're talking about your keynotes and people have gone through a lot of trauma and processing. But I mean, that's why we love comfort food because it makes it. So there must be a way for you to incorporate that. I'm just saying I'm putting it out there. You need to come to the keynote and you'll find out how we do that. I'm putting it out there because I am somewhat of a keynote specialist. Fantastic. Having done absolutely none in my life.

Music and food. Yes, sound food. That's what it's all about. So I can't even say we eat you from now because your plate's full. So let's make a plan. We're going to chat again soon. I would love for you to let me know when the website is live. Definitely. That drinkology stuff, I think it's going to sell like hotcakes. I am intrigued that I can make my tequila. I have to be honest now that I can make my tequila taste like maple syrup.

But no, you've got to pay the price up front for tequila. No, no, you can pay it afterwards. It's fun, but it doesn't have to taste bad in the process. I'm here to make that ride a little bit more comfortable for you. Could you make my headache taste a little better, please? I probably could.

Private stuff? Do you cater privately at all or do private things? I don't have the time for that. I used to do a lot of private catering and cakes and that. But at the moment, I really just, I don't have the time for it. Really? No. Because that was going to be a prerequisite to us inviting you back here. I mean, she was talking about barbecue, you know, baking. Did you see? There's a new special. So I'm happy to bring it with me. My mum used to say to me, "I'm a special child." Okay, deal.

Anyway. Look, I do spend a lot of time in the kitchen. Now, I teach people how to use the products, use it in applications. We do recipe development. It's part of my job at Sycro. So I will go and I'll work with groups. We'll do menu developments and that. So I do still spend my time in the kitchen. But privately, there's no time for that. So if somebody is listening and they've either got a business, a restaurant or something, or they've got an idea, like Rita's eyes lit up and she's talking about ribs. And you were like, "Yeah." And I could see you guys. So somebody's listening that does that kind of thing and they want to kind of come up with a unique take on something you're the person to speak to. Absolutely. How do we get hold of you? So you can reach me at sarah@chefsa.com. So it's sarah@chefsa.com, double F. Or sarah@sarahgray, G-R-A-Y dot C-R dot Z-A. And Sarah's spelled S-A-R-A-H. That's it. Or through Sycro distribution. Okay, we're getting too complex now. There's a lot. So even if you just Google Sycro, you'll find the contact details. Okay. But I would go with sarah@chefsa.com. That's it. Get hold of her, find out more about it. I think if you're a corporate and you're looking for a truly inspiring keynote address and something to uplift you and to just give you an idea of the power of possibility, the power of your mind and how to think strong, then Sarah is definitely the person to speak to.

And that wraps it up from us for this evening. For once, I might even be out on time. Kaz, would you look at that? Kaz is up next and she's going to be keeping you company. Playing you some of the best music on the face of the planet. Hope she's got some jazz and blues lined up tonight. Some blues. Lovely stuff. My favorite. Smokey blues. Love it. Kaz up next. Sarah, thank you so much for coming and chatting to us. And I'm sure we'll get you back at some stage in the future. Great. It is what's involved on Mix 93.8. Just a reminder, the podcast will be available of both shows tonight, a little bit later on in the week. Once again, if you are a bit of a foodie, Prudleeth is going to be in studio with me on the 10th of February.