From being mistaken for 'soaps' to cranking out 3000 macarons a day

Seventeen years since their first appearance at the Christchurch markets, J'aime is turning out 3000 macarons a day.

The delicate, meringue-based French cookies are not to be confused with macaroons, owner Bridget O'Sullivan tells RNZ’s Nine to Noon, the dense coconutty biscuit.

“A macaron is two chewy almond shells and they're sandwiching either a buttercream or a ganache which holds all the flavour.”

Imparting that famous chewiness is where the skill comes in, the former commercial lawyer says.

“They're not a product that you sell on the day that you bake them. We bake the shells and then we fill them with the buttercream or the ganache and then we rest them in a fridge overnight. When the shells come out of the oven, they're quite hard and crispy.

“If you rest them overnight, they take on a little bit of moisture in the fridge and they take on a nice beautiful chewy texture.”

They realised they were on to something when they started to sell out every morning at the farmers' market, she says.

Since then it’s grown and grown and a younger foodie clientele has embraced the product, she says.

“Younger generations, my nieces and nephews, they are so up with trends that we have quite a wide customer base now.

"From teenagers who are looking for the latest trendy sort of viral flavours right through to 80-year-olds who just want a beautiful product and they're not so much into baking themselves at that stage.”

A 2011 MasterChef NZ finale when Jax Hamilton's macaron tower collapsed also gave the fledgling business a boost, she says.

“That was wonderful for us because it was very early on in our business and it educated a large portion of New Zealand about what they were and why they were so technical to bake. From a baking perspective they are like a 10 out of 10 in terms of trickiness.”

They opened their first retail store in 2009 in Christchurch, formed a partnership with Foodstuffs and most recently launched into the Auckland market, taking a lease at Commercial Bay.

“Auckland is our biggest city, it attracts a lot of international tourists and people are very well travelled there and Commercial Bay was just the most beautiful location right on the waterfront, right near where the cruise ships come in and we just thought hey we're going to jump in now.”

The all-women team pump out the macarons every day at the Merivale home base, some of which are then immediately frozen for shipping north, she says.

“The moment you make them, fill them, you freeze them straight away and then you can literally bring them out of frozen storage half an hour, an hour before you need to eat them and they're beautiful and chewy and they retain their quality

“So, we bake everything in Christchurch and then we frozen freight them overnight to Auckland.”

So, does O'Sullivan have a favourite flavour?

“The crème brûlée macaron, that's my absolute favourite I have to say. I've eaten a lot of macarons over the years and I'm quite picky now on which ones I let myself treat myself to but that's my go-to.”