England Preserves + A Give Away!

This contest is now closed. The randomly chosen winner is #4 - Tangled Noodle.

My favorite jams are chunky, fruity, and never sickly sweet. Jam should taste like the sun-ripened fruit, not sugar with fruit. One of my first weekends in London last summer was spent exploring Borough Market. It was there that I discovered England Preserves at Neal's Yard Dairy. I bought a jar of Blackcurrant Blighty (sounded so English!), Strawberry Days, and London Marmalade. At any given time I've got 8 or 9 jams in the fridge. These three were in and out of the rotation so quick I knew I had found something so special. 

Fast forward a few months to January of this year. In one of my food policy classes this semester there was a woman who humbly introduced herself as Sky - a small food producer. A few weeks later I noticed through an exchange of class emails that she was co-owner, and co-founder, of England Preserves. Small food producer, my foot!   

 
Sky and her husband, Kai, began the business over eight years ago in their home kitchen. Both came from families that made jams and chutneys at home. What Sky says started as an experiment has now turned into a successful family business. Sky finds that her jams seem to resonate with her customers as people seem to have an emotional connection to jam - especially here in England. 

Besides the marmalade (if you've ever tasted a Seville orange you'll know why), England Preserves only uses only 40% sugar. Most commercial jams use upwards of 60% sugar. While Sky can't reveal all her secrets, her fruit never goes over 90 degrees Celsius. This means the fruit is not boiled so the sugar content does not rise throughout the cooking process. More importantly, the integrity of the fruit is not lost.

Brioche and Kentish Bramble for Breakfast

 

All of Sky's produce comes from England, with two exceptions. The first is the Seville oranges for the marmalade. You can't really run a successful English jam company without making marmalade, and it happens to be one of Sky's best-sellers. The second exception is apricots, as they don't grow in England. All of her soft fruits come from Essex where the fruit is flash frozen at the peak of ripeness and made into jam at two week intervals at Sky's jam operation in South London. The pears and apples are from Chegworth Valley, and the vegetables for chutneys from Lincolnshire.    

Sky and Kai supply hotels all over London - a city where jams and marmalade are serious business, especially for tea time. These larger jars are for them.

The smaller jars are available all over London. You can find them at Neal's Yard Dairy shops, Whole Foods in Kensington, Unpackaged in Islington, Borough Market, and at various farmers markets in London. You can also order them on-line at Food Full Stop. Unfortunately they don't deliver to US, but you might be able to win some of Sky's jam by leaving a comment on this post!

A little over a year ago, Sky gave birth to the youngest jam-maker in England. This is Sky's daughter - Bloom!

If your interested in trying Sky's jams, post a comment and make sure to leave a valid email address in the email field. One winner will be chosen at random in a few weeks and will receive two of Sky's jams. I couldn't really decide which to send, because each new flavor I try becomes my favorite. Last week was Redcurrant+Rhubarb+Vanilla and there was real pieces of vanilla bean in the jam - since when did a jam have that? This week my favorite is Kentish Bramble. For the give away I've picked two classics and the first that I tried. Blackcurrant Blighty and Strawberry Days. 

Comments

[Rich G.]

Those sound spectacular! Jam in the states, even that made locally with ingredients straight from the farm, tends to be ridiculously sweet and pasty. What's worse, people are weirded out when it's not!

[Natasha - 5 Star Foodie]

Love jams and marmalade. Wish I could do Paddington's magic tricks to have one appear in front of me right now :) (my daughter just finished reading this book last night).

[Ann]

I bet those jams are super yummy with english tea- biscute.
I wish they supply this to US - whole foods :)
More than the jam , what attracts me most is that sweet and cute baby girl :) lovely.

[Tangled Noodle]

Little Miss Bloom looks quite proud (and rightly so!) of her mum and dad's work! The jams and marmalades produced by Sky and Kai sound so tantalizing, especially Kentish Bramble. How does it taste? It looks like a deep, rich blueberry or blackberry jam. I would love to try any of these!

[elra]

OMG, Bloom is very cute and adorable. Love those wide eyes of her!

I bet those preserves and jams taste delicious!

[Katie]

I will be in London this weekend and I will be looking for these! Thanks for the tip.

[The Duo Dishes]

Oh man, do we have to be across the pond to win? :( We'd love to try that strawberry!

[lisaiscooking]

Those jams sound delicious, and good for them for operating such a lovely business! I didn't know apricots don't grown in England.

[gastroanthropologist]

Duo Dishes - Nope. This offer is open to anyone. I've got jars in the US ready to be mailed or if the winner is out of the US they will be mailed from the UK. If there are lots of responses more than one winner will be chosen!

[Rita]

Oh my, Sky's daughter's name is Bloom--I LOVE that! And, oh, is my mouth watering for some jam.

[grace]

kick out the jams!

[Heavenly Housewife]

These preserves look wonderful. I am going to have to look for them next time i go to london!

[zerrin]

I have a special concern on various jams. I love to try making jams myself. These jams look fantastic. I love that they contain less sugar than regular ones.

[Deelish Dish]

Me me me! Choose me! I want some jaaaammmm!

[Anne Kaplan]

I love jam! I'm hoping to make some of my own this summer, but I would love to try England Preserves' version.

[Sophia]

ooh! how lovely! I DETEST jams that are sickeningly sweet. thick and chock-full of real fruits is the only way to enjoy jam! I would love this...
and harlow, Bloom! What a sweet little darling!

[Sapuche]

I agree with you that jam should taste like sun-ripened fruit. What a great, simple description! Sky and Kai’s (and Bloom’s) business is inspiring. What they’re doing sounds great, and also a lot of fun (and hard work, of course). Incidentally, I didn’t realize that most commercial jams use 60% sugar! I need to start reading my jam labels more closely. Every jam you describe sounds absolutely incredible. You’re fortunate to have access to them, but then you know that already!

[Sophie]

What an informative post! I love jams! Whenever I am in London, we visit this wonderful market!
All of the jams sound so delicious & the names are apart & original! I love jams!!

[Rowena]

The only UK preserves that I currently find at my market are from Wilkin & Sons Tiptree line, and even if you were to tell me that they aren't absolutely the best to be had, I would still have to say that they rock my tastebuds! I can only imagine how wonderful how these taste, and am jumping into the drawing. The names alone....fantastic!

[gastroanthropologist]

Rowena - I like Tiptree jams too, the strawberry jam - Little Scarlett - is my favorite.

[OysterCulture]

oh my goodness, these preserves sound truly special not only because we now know much more about who makes them than most preserves, but also because of the methods they use that differentiate themselves from other tasty toppings.

Most recipes for preserves tell you not to stray from the sugar ratio as it helps firm up the preserves. So I imagine some of their "secrets" also attribute to the texture.

My English sister-inlaw's father has a fondness for making chutney and the combinations he came up with were flavorful and totally unexpected, To my knowledge that is the limit of his activity in the kitchen - he chose one thing to focus on and it was chutney.

Count me in on the context, otherwise, on my long layover in London, I'll be spending it finding grocery stores to collect a jar or two.

[maria]

That sounds amazing! I love hearing stories like that ... starting such a business from home and having it become successful. And their products sound delicious.

[Sarah]

Yum! I must get some of this jam ASAP.

I've only started reading your blog recently but am really enjoying it. I'm also an American transplanted to London, and found you because my husband knows yours through work stuff.

[belinda leong]

mmmm...i love jam! I wonder...does this beat my smucker's seedless strawberry jam? I bet this jam goes perfectly with a cup of cadbury hot chocolate!

[Jenn@slim-shoppin]

That sounds fantastic!

I love jams too. Her baby is too cute!

I hope I win :0)

[Jenni]

Wow--Sky sounds like she really knows what she's doing! And such inventive flavors, too. Yum:)

[lisa from dandysugar]

I bet those jams are delicious!! What a cutie pie too!

[Lori]

Red Currant, Rhurbarb and Vanilla? That sounds amazing! These jams look wonderful and I enjoyed reading the explanation about the sugars and the cooking process. Very interesting.

[mangocheeks]

Some of the flavours are tempting me so much that I want to get my hands on a jar or two, the next time I am down London way, I will try and source some.

[megan (brooklyn farmhouse)]

Oh those jams sound incredible. I'm so obsessed with jam making - interesting learning a bit about their jamming methods.

[bsh]

i wish that we'd known about these last year when we were in london -- we packed our weight limit full of english jams back to the states! these sound amazing. thanks for sharing.

[Sarah Docherty]

This looks so delicious! Thank you for sharing!!

Sarah

[Jen]

These jams sound delicious and little Bloom is so stinkin' cute!!!

[Daniel Meyerowitz]

Ha! On the very top of my London list for this visit are the words "London Marmalade, Bramble!" Their London Marmalade is the tart, bracing marmalade that I've sought in countless bottles but never discovered until one happy morning in Burrough Market. Their bramble is also superb. Now what can I do to get myself to try their other varieties?

[Jessa]

Well, I wasn't originally going to comment, but after seeing the picture of the strawberry jam on your butter bars post... my mouth just started watering. Wish I could find that sort of thing here in the states!

Also, I'm the kind of person who doubles or triples the amount of vanilla in all my recipes. The idea of vanilla beans in a jam... oh my!

[Anna]

These jams look delicious and the little girl is super cute too!