Barley Scones with Jam

Why serve scones with a side of jam when you can make scones with delicious gooey jam pockets baked right into them? Just an idea, taken from Kim Boyce's Good To The Grain cookbook... She recommends using Strawberry Jam to complement the sweetness of the barley flour, but we have tried using different jams and found them tasty every time. Happy baking.

Greengage Jam with Chartreuse

We currently have twenty flavours of jam we make for Sticky Spoon, but we can't help but play around with different fruits and spices at home as a way to come up with new flavour ideas for the following seasons. A few weeks ago, while discussing different types of plums with the kind gentleman who co- owns Klippers Farm, I started thinking about Greengage plums and how their dessert-like, sweet, delicate nature would pair nicely with a hint of green Chartreuse. There was only one way to find out... 

As it turns out, the combination makes for a bright and fresh jam, a great breakfast companion to Greek yogurt or even mild goat or ricotta cheeses. We are pleased with the results and add this flavour to the potential new jams for 2013. What do you think of Greengage Jam with Chartreuse? Would you add a jar to your pantry?

Spiced Autumn Plum Jam

It's Fall. With our newest jam, we have now transitioned into Sticky Spoon Fall flavours, or so it seems.  Our jam pantry is stocked full of cinnamon, black cardamom, star anise, vanilla bean, brandys and liqueurs... we replace the bright, fresh herbs of Summer months for warm spices reminiscent of the comfort foods that we crave at this time of year.

We are pleased to announce that Spiced Autumn Plum Jam is back in stock, do you remember it from last year?

We were lucky this year, we got to pick most of our own plums, from my own backyard. Technically, they are from my neighbour's yard but she is a wonderful landlord and was pleased to have us pick the fruit, even more so after I left a jar of jam in her hands, a small token of gratitude. It's a friendly neighbourly exchange, the way it should be don't you think?

Prune plums are great on their own, tart and sweet, eaten fresh the day they are picked. Cooked down with spices and plum liqueur, prune plums are amazing, a totally different fruit with a beautiful colour we can't get enough of.

This jam seems to pair up wonderfully with every cheese, especially soft, creamy blue. It also makes a delicious cocktail when shaken with rhubarb bitters and dark rum. Sticky Spoon customers (professional chefs no less!) have roasted pork loins and veal loins with Spiced Autumn Plum Jam and mustard and received rave reviews. It is perfect for Fall and Winter months and makes a great addition to any holiday table. 

 The walnut breakfast cake above made its way to the production kitchen last week, with a small bowl of Spiced Autumn Plum Jam and gave us enough energy to make 16 batches of Tomato Jam. Oh, the little things that keep us going...

Cheesecake with Blackberry Jam

I had some mascarpone in the fridge this week. It was just sitting there, waiting to be turned into something delightfully rich and creamy. One thing led to another and here I am, fork in hand, snapping a photo of TK's AdHoc Cheesecake with a nice, thick layer of Blackberry Jam with Lemon Geranium on top. The Blackberry Jam was hanging out next to the mascarpone and I couldn't just leave it there, all alone on the shelf. Turns out, the hint of lemon geranium in the jam complements the lemon zest in the cheesecake beautifully. It was a busy morning in the kitchen (Tomato jam!), followed by many hours of office work. A small slice of cheesecake brightens up a rainy afternoon, don't you think? 

Persian Peach Jam Marks One Year

Sticky Spoon just turned one, we are pleased to report. Actually, as we started making jam in the production kitchen last August, Sticky Spoon technically turned one somewhere around that time this Summer. We were busily producing blackberry, fig and apricot jam, new flavours still, so we marked our business anniversary as we jarred our Persian Peach Jam a couple of weeks ago. Cheers to making it one full year. It's quite fun to look back on our very first blog post and remember how it began, by picking our peaches and bravely starting a company. From now on, every late Summer, as we slice peaches and sprinkle pinches of saffron into large pots, we will happily consider it another year for Sticky Spoon. Fingers crossed. 

Owning a business has its ups and downs (5 am wake up calls, reminding us of 16 hour work days, come to mind.) Overall, we have enjoyed it immensely; we become increasingly efficient in the kitchen with every batch we make and we have learned a ton about the business world, the seasons and the local food community. We have made great friends and have proudly shared our jams with the most sophisticated palates.

We can honestly say we wouldn't be where we are today without all of you cheering us on. Thanks to every one who has supported us this past year, given us advice, liked us on Facebook or Retweeted anything we had to say, carried our jams on their retail shelves, and of course, every person who bought a jar from us. You all truly keep us going.

And now, back to the Persian Peach Jam....

A thick, chunky jam with subtle hints of saffron and rose water, Persian Peach Jam is lovely stirred into thick Greek-style yogourt and garnished with a sprinkle of pistachios for breakfast or a light snack. You could also add it to prosecco for an exotic peach bellini. One of our chef friends recently made a sauce out of this jam to pair with pork medallions and was delighted with the results; we wish we could have tried it too!

Grow and Preserve Workshop with Victory Gardens

We are so excited to announce that we will be collaborating with the lovely ladies of Victory Gardens for a Growing & Jam Making workshop on October 21st. Whether you are curious about jam making or simply want to increase your skill level, this is a great opportunity for you to witness a demo and ask any questions you may have on the entire process. Victory Gardens will even show you how to grow the produce that goes into the jam.  In addition to the demonstration, we will supply an information sheet and you will also get to take home a jar of Sticky Spoon jam. Click here for tickets. It's a fun, affordable and informative way to spend a Sunday afternoon. We hope to see you there!

Blackberry Jam with Lemon Geranium

We can consider ourselves among the lucky ones. Every August and well into September the paths, tracks and even some streets of Vancouver are lined with gleaming blackberries. It couldn’t be easier to grab a handful of these little beauties to snack on while walking to your destination, and what a treat that is. Tangy, juicy, wild and sweet, they are one of summer’s true pleasures.

Picking enough to make jam- well that’s a bit of a different game. It’s a summer past time that we share with many (including the occasional bear!), and all seem to have their favourite “secret spot”; the paths less travelled that are chock full of fruit (and sometimes mud.) So, we go, buckets and bags in tow, to find our little treasures.

This year we were extremely fortunate. My parents rented a home on the Sunshine Coast for the summer that was surrounded by blackberry bushes on two sides! Even more amazing was that the two of them picked buckets of blackberries just for Sticky Spoon, hand-delivered no less. I had to have been quite the sight, walking down Georgia Street and onto the Skytrain with four buckets full of blackberries.

We chose to add a few leaves of lemon geranium to our blackberry jam this year to give a touch of freshness to the already complex flavour of the wild berries.  Blackberries are very high in pectin which makes for a nice, thick jam and the seeds give it a satisfying texture (if you ask us.)  Clearly, as each blackberry that went into the jam was handpicked, we were not able to make a ton of this jam this year so limited quantities are available for purchase. For those of you who do get a jar, we hope you enjoy it as much as we do.