Not everyone puts vibrant yellow turmeric in peanut butter, but Radhika Murari does.
Murari weaves her Indian culture throughout OmMade, her year-old Reston-based company with co-owner Gretchen Davison.
“Indians are attuned to what herbs and spices benefit nutrition,” she says, and turmeric has historically been revered for its many uses in promoting health. Murari, 46, started making peanut butter for her young son, but it wasn’t until a friend told her you’re “sitting on a gold mine” that she pursued it professionally. Previously, Murari was in the IT world and ran a nonprofit providing teachers with school supplies.
The continually updated nut butter line features flavors like Chai Nirvana, Coconut Bliss and Chocolate Delight, using peanuts from Virginia Diner Peanuts in Wakefield. This year, a new jar, Bee Cosmic, enlists locally harvested bee pollen, an ingredient containing, says Murari, “all of the nutrients humans need in one day.” Other products under the OmMade umbrella include mango lassi, and debuting this year, peanut brittle (pictured), available in classic and cayenne, which is also made with local peanuts and follows the company mantra of being minimally processed.
“We should enhance natural quality flavors in all food,” says Murari, “not mask the taste of low-quality ingredients.” // omlassi.com
