Last week I had the pleasure of meeting the inventor of the aptly named ‘Scrudle’, a cross between a scoop, scraper and a lader.

Margaret O'Callaghan

The Budding inventor, Margaret O’Callaghan, aged 65 from Bromley in Kent was crowned the winner of the Finish Diamond Standard Innovation Challenge, by the king of culinary innovation himself, Heston Blumenthal. Margaret’s Scrudle was chosen from over 600 entries to emerge as the winning invention of the Challenge, after a competitive pitch between ten shortlisted finalists, to Head Judge Heston and his panel of expert judges.

Creator of the best new kitchen invention, Margaret, wins a prize package estimated to be worth a staggering £50,000; including a £10,000 cash prize from Finish, and a business development package that includes the opportunity to work with Lakeland to develop the product, bring it to market and receive royalties from future sales in Lakeland’s catalogues, website and nationwide stores. Margaret admits to regularly coming up with new ideas and was inspired to enter the competition after picking up a leaflet about the Challenge in her local Lakeland store.

The Scrudle is a device similar to a ladle but has been modified and improved so that it allows sauces, gravies and casseroles to be easily transferred from pot to plate, without even a drop of the mixture being lost. It is a clever twist on a basic kitchen tool and performs brilliantly.

Scrudle

When asked about her win, Margaret said; “I can’t believe it, I’m absolutely thrilled. I came up with the product when serving a casserole for dinner at home – I always struggle to lift large pots to ladle out all of the food, so one day I got a flash of inspiration for a handy cooking scoop. It is funny to think that now every kitchen in the country could soon have one!”

So there you have it, the ultimate kitchen accessory in all its glory. So simple yet so brilliant, not that I cook that often at the moment so I won’t be adding it to my Christmas list, I will however, get one for Mother and hopes she doesn’t get the wrong idea!

Oh and lets not forget Pecker, one of the army of chickens Margaret has in her gardens. Pecker was persistent to say the least to try and get me off his land… needless to say he won!

Pecker the Chicken