Pear and Vanilla Jam

At Sticky Spoon, we spend a lot of time hunting for the best fruit for our jams and this week was spent shopping around for pears with the very best flavour. After much consideration, discussion with farmers and of course, sampling, we settled on biodynamic fruit from Harvey's Orchards at the Farmers' Market. Their Bosc pears were just perfect for the job, an explosion of pear flavour, hints of floral notes and a subtle, delicate sweetness characteristic of fruit picked at the peak of its season. We certainly are getting to know fruit on a whole new level but wether we are becoming fruit connaisseurs or total fruit geeks is up to you.

We proudly carried home over 50 pounds of those pretty pears (thank you Angela for almost breaking your back) but we won't lie to you, those tiny little things took forever to prep. It was worth every minute of labour because the results are, in our humble opinion, just perfect; a delicate, smooth and pleasantly sweet jam with a subtle hint of vanilla. In addition to the taste, the fact that we combined a large quantity of Bosc pears with a few pounds of Harvey's Orchards' red pears resulted in a gorgeous rose colored jam.

We both took a jar home with us and reached for a bottle of bourbon. A generous spoonful of pear vanilla jam, a couple of ounces of bourbon, lemon juice, freshly grated ginger and a few drops of bitters were shaken and served over ice as a one of the most satisfying cocktails we have had in a long time. The rest of the pear and vanilla jam made for a delicious breakfast over walnut bread and brie. We can't wait to share it with you.

Cranberry-Apple Jam with Citrus

Apple picking is an activity that we, at Sticky Spoon, look forward to every year. Autumn colours combined with the brisk air, beautiful pumpkin patches and corn mazes always make our trip out to the country a memorable one without fail. This year was no exception and, as a bonus, we brought back a car load of apples that tortured us with their amazingly fresh scent the whole way home.

100 pounds of apples, all of which individually chosen by yours truly, were just begging to be chopped up and cooked into deliciousness. We decided to combine apples with cranberries, also locally in season at this time of year, and created a nice, chunky jam with a ton of flavour.

After careful planning, research and testing, we chose to add to the apples and cranberries just the right amount of crystallized ginger and citrus zest for a little zing, but mellowed the flavours down with the addition of sweet vanilla bean, freshly squeezed orange juice and a touch of cinnamon. Needless to say, the production kitchen smelled amazing this week.

The result is a pleasantly sweet and aromatic Autumn jam with hints of spice and citrus, perfect for Christmas gifts. It has plenty of that cranberry zing to pair with your holiday turkey, but is soft and sweet enough be eaten first thing in the morning over scones and muffins.

This week, our jams are being reviewed by a jury for the farmers' market and we are keeping our fingers crossed. Our Sticky Spoon logo has arrived and we are looking for a company to print off hundreds of stickers. We cannot wait to stick them all onto our jars and show you the results. We will let you know as soon we can finally start selling our jam! We have been working on this for a long time now and have cases and cases of jars just waiting to be sent off to a new home. Thank you for reading and patiently waiting for jam, we appreciate your kind support.

Tomato Jam

People, we now have three different jams for you. The last batch to come out of our production kitchen is no ordinary jam. Like a tomato ketchup for adults, we call it Tomato Jam but don't be fooled by the simplicity of the name, it's totally different. Pleasantly sweet, with hints of ginger, lime and just the right amount of spice, it can be spread on a piece of bread for breakfast but easily doubles as a savory jam. Our friends and partners have been raving about this one and we have caught them dipping all sorts of savory goodies into it, from spicy samosas and porchetta to crispy chicken. It pairs beautifully with a chunky piece of manchego, or any strong cheese of your choice.

This week, we got a teaser sneak peek at our label design and we are thrilled! We can't wait to see our logo and print off those little stickers. Our jams should be for sale in the next two weeks so stay tuned for more info. Thanks for reading!

Spiced Autumn Plum Jam

We have just completed production number 2 and this is one we are particularly proud of. We, at Sticky Spoon, have made a lot of jam in our lifetime. A lot. So it was a pretty bold statement when Julie-Anne claimed it was her favourite, ever. We call it Spiced Autumn Plum Jam. We love the tartness of the plum combined with the smokiness of the black cardamom. The hint of cinnamon and star anise add sweet spice and depth to the jam and a whole bottle of plum brandy adds...well, deliciousness of course. But don't take our word for it, try it yourself and let us know what you think.

Sticky Spoon jams will be available for sale shortly. We are finalizing the last details and cannot wait to sell our first jar. We are currently awaiting our Sticky Spoon logo, our local food lab has approved our product, the farmers' market has showed interest in our jam and it will be scrutinized by their jury in three weeks. Indeed, we are making great progress.

Yet the best part for us so far has been watching our friends, family and co-workers get so excited about our company and the flavours we are producing. The support and enthusiasm for Sticky Spoon is almost overwhelming and we couldn't be happier. Many friends, having previously sampled our goods, have requested to purchase jars from us (cases!) and we are incredibly flattered. We would love nothing more than to send all of our jam off and give it a good home...on a piece of crusty, nutty bread for breakfast perhaps? Or maybe on top of gooey, creamy cheese after dinner? That's up to you to decide, dear friends.

Persian Peach Jam

Well, we have been practicing for four years, chopping, boiling, stirring up fruit. It started off as a hobby and slowly, gradually, it became an obsession. Hundreds of pounds of fruit have been processed into many, many jars. That's how Sticky Spoon was born. Welcome to our blog. This is a place for us to document our process, if you would care to follow it. We want to show you how we do turn fresh, ripe fruit and vegetables into great jams. We will show how we source the product, pick or purchase the fruit from local farms, peel, boil and can everything until it is turned into delicious jam with just the right texture and a combination of spices and flavours that we put a lot of thought into. Hopefully, these photos will be able to translate just how much fun we have in the kitchen. So here we go, glad you could join us. Things are happening!

Production #1: Peach & Rose Water Jam