The new self-production concepts have been designed to embody the resort’s vision for a more resourceful, sustainable future
Destinations to dream of. The verdant Amilla Maldives Resort and Residences has unveiled Homemade@Amilla and Homegrown@Amilla, a growing series of innovations celebrating the abundant natural bounty of the island itself, as well as the Amilla Islanders’ extraordinary creative capacity for self-production.
The wide-ranging new concepts have revolutionised the culinary experience at Amilla Maldives, embodying the resort’s reinvention as a champion for “conscious luxury”, sustainability and resourcefulness – a pivotal process instigated over a year ago with the appointment of its dedicated Sustainability Manager, then rapidly reaffirmed and accelerated by the pandemic-enforced period of closure.
Underpinning Amilla Maldives’ pioneering new garden-to-table philosophy, Homemade@Amilla and Homegrown@Amilla ensure the resort delivers as much fresh, nutritional island-grown produce to guests as possible. Hitherto-overlooked indigenous ingredients are celebrated alongside the homemade, homegrown and homebrewed, bringing personality and vigour to nutritious, immunity-boosting menus.
Homegrown@Amilla harnesses the 58-acre natural island’s plentiful green spaces; countless enclaves carefully tended, planted and cultivated to become the cornerstone of Amilla’s food and beverage offering.
Fruit trees including banana, pineapple and papaya; a mushroom hut named The Pentagon; and a sweet potato garden are complemented by an organic hydroponic garden bursting with herbs, salads, microgreens, fruit and vegetables, edible flowers, and superfoods such as moringa, purslane and Abelmoschus manihot, as well as Maldivian rocket.
At Cluckingham Palace, 60 happy hens provide all the fresh eggs needed for the resort kitchens; after investing in a coconut press, Amilla is also now making the most of its 2,000 coconut trees – an extraordinary renewable resource producing fresh coconut water and coconut milk, dried coconut flour and high-quality coconut oil.
In parallel, Homemade@Amilla is testament to people’s creativity and potential for self-production, dramatically reducing Amilla’s food mileage and packaging use, while creating an inspiring, interactive and informative experience for guests.
Using simple, tried-and-tested, low-tech processes that can be easily replicated in guests’ own kitchens, organic produce from Amilla’s nutrient-rich gardens is transformed into nutritious, immunity-boosting superfoods, from Kimchi, fresh low carb bread and sourdough to nut butters, Ricotta and vegan cheese.
Homemade drinks include beer made from waste pineapple skins and offcuts, Tepache, tonic water and bitters to signature probiotic sodas such as fresh ginger and lemon peel Earl Grey kombucha; Screwpine soda, made from the fruit of the pandana trees that cloak the island interior; or ‘living lemonade’ which is lacto-fermented with whey – itself a by-product of Amilla’s homemade yoghurt.
As well as actively showcasing simple home production methods like fermentation to interested guests, these products have enriched and enlivened the resort’s restaurant and bar menus. The newly created Living Cocktails menu includes signatures such as Limonade, featuring vodka and limoncello, finished with a splash of homemade green tea kombucha; Old Spice made from rum and spice bitters, topped with homemade ginger beer; and O-Margarita featuring tequila shaken with homemade orange shrub and lime juice, topped with Earl Grey kombucha.
A newly installed copper alembic will soon be distilling essential oils and hydrosols using produce grown in Amilla’s gardens, or ingredients such as orange peel that would otherwise be discarded.
Homemade@Amilla and Homegrown@Amilla represent the first major steps of Amilla Maldives’ ambitious journey towards a more sustainable and environmentally conscious future under Sustainability Manager Victoria Kruse. Who else is dreaming of a taste?
Make it happen
Elegant Resorts (elegantresorts.co.uk; 01244 292 223) offers seven nights at Amilla Maldives Resort and Residences from £4,565 per person – saving £7,325 per couple. Price based on accommodation in a Reef Water Pool Villa on B&B, including 40 per cent rate reduction, complimentary upgrade to half board and return economy flights, seaplane transfers and UK lounge passes.
