CBC: With pea-based liqueur, Edmonton entrepreneur bridges heritage and home

Kashmala Fida Mohatarem speaks with Faaiza Ramji about how she came up with the concept for Field Notes, and why this new venture of hers is a full circle connection between her South Asian heritage and her current Canadian identity.

Edmonton entrepreneur Faaiza Ramji has created a herbaceous liqueur with a sweet and fresh taste, one she says goes well on its own or mixed with prosecco or club soda. 

But at the heart of this spirit is a pulse — literally — otherwise absent from most Edmonton liquor store shelves: peas. 

For Ramji, pulses are also a connection between her home in Edmonton and her heritage in Pakistan. They are a staple food in South Asia and widely farmed in Alberta.

While working with Explore Edmonton, the 38-year-old realized that innovators and entrepreneurs often ignored the potential of pulses.

“It always kind of bothered me that we didn't do more with our products," Ramji told CBC's Edmonton AM on Monday. 

Neil Blue, provincial crop market analyst for Alberta Agriculture, said peas — by area — are the largest pulse crop grown in Alberta. On average, farmers in the province harvest about 1.7 million acres of peas each year, he said. 

Alberta is responsible for almost 40 per cent of Canadian pea production, Blue said. About 85 per cent of all Canadian peas are exported, especially to China and Bangladesh. 

"Most Canadian domestic use is for animal feed, although more Canadian processing industries are being developed that are using these and they're producing flour, other components to use in foods as well as cosmetics and pharmaceutical industry," Blue said.

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