ONE of Jersey’s favourite delicacies has become the latest victim of the cost-of-living crisis.
Barbara Bechelet, who makes Jersey wonders, has been forced to close her business temporarily due to the price of sunflower oil ‘going through the roof’.
She said she had made the decision after prices doubled recently, despite a bumper business year selling around 20,000 of the products, which she cooks at home in sunflower oil.
The price of the cooking product has spiked since the war in Ukraine began, which has affected exports from what was the world’s largest producer prior to Russia’s invasion.
Ms Bechelet said: ‘Last week oil prices went up overnight. They went through the roof. Prices have doubled. I can’t work like that, as I need to know what my prices are. The prices have just got silly. It’s drastic.’
Ms Bechelet, who runs Wonders by Babs, said her honesty box in Grouville was now closed and would remain closed until at least January.
The rising cost of goods in the Island has also prompted the government to step in. Its ‘mini-budget’ was recently approved by the States, in a bid to tackle the cost-of-living crisis, which has seen the rate of inflation rise to 7.9% (the highest increase in 30 years).
On the importance to the Island of maintaining the Jersey wonder, Ms Bechelet said: ‘It’s a unique product. It’s really important for me to keep them out there, otherwise it just dies.’
Ms Bechelet said she hoped to reopen her business in January, adding that she would be ‘patient’.
She said: ‘I’ve been making Jersey wonders since I was old enough to be responsible in the kitchen.
‘We can do really well with the honesty box. My grandparents would never have thought an honesty box would be used to sell cakes.’
She said: ‘It’s a local product being cooked in liquid gold. I don’t want to be putting my prices up.’
