Word of mouth: Rubies in the Rubble chutney By March 2011 she had left her job. She travelled for three months, and then began planning. To be viable, she needed to make chutney throughout the year, so had to find recipes for seasonal waste - anything from tomatoes, bananas and red onions to apples, plums and mangoes. She began with her mother's recipe for rhubarb and ginger, but now invents her own. Pear and walnut is a particular favourite of hers. Initially, she borrowed a kitchen to stock a stall at Borough Market, but now has a purpose-built mobile kitchen at Leyton in east London, and a second stall in Chelsea. Fortnum & Mason agreed to stock her chutneys last November. 'A friend introduced me to the buyer," Dawson says, 'and they were incredibly excited by the idea and asked us to come in for a meeting." She employs two to three out-of-work or disadvantaged local people on a part-time basis with the long-term aim that they will come off benefits, become self-sufficient and work full-time to help make the chutney and run the stalls. She also now runs the business with a partner, Alicia Lawson, who shares her vision for socially-oriented business. I wanted a business, not a charity," Dawson says. I think the way forward is to get businesses to solve problems rather than charities. Between them, they can make 1,000 jars of chutney a week, in two batches of 100 jars a day, and hope to increase that to 300 jars a day. 'It's all done by hand, even the labelling. Dawson has called her chutney company Rubies in the Rubble. 'I'm always struck by how much in our society we discard. Jars, imperfect veg, imperfect people, out-of-work people. I'm trying to show that people as well as fruit and veg can look all wrong on the outside but still be amazing inside. What are her plans for the future? 'I want to get into pickles," she says, 'especially cucumbers. Waste cucumbers are a pain for wholesalers, because if you want to recycle them, you have to take the plastic wrapping off each one individually. She also hopes to start a 'kind of umbrella company specialising in jams and smoothies as well as a soup-to-offices Tuesday lunch service - Ruby Tuesdays. Mostly, I need to work hard to keep the quality up to scratch. I want my chutneys to be something that people love. I want to prove that there are rubies out there among the rubble. Rubies in the Rubble chutneys, £5 for 300g, available at Fortnum & Mason and good delis. For more details visit rubiesintherubble.com