Charlotte says that Pomona’s Pectin revolutionized her business because, as a mother, grandmother, wife, and someone who also wants some personal time, she has to be sure that her jam making doesn’t completely take over her life. With Pomona’s, she can double her recipes; she can lower the amount of sugar; and she knows her jam will jell successfully. She has even seen Pomona’s jell water!
Charlotte has begun thinking about retirement, and her jam-making business is part of her retirement plan. In California, if you make jam to sell, it needs to be made in a certified kitchen. Charlotte has a friend with a restaurant who lets her rent the restaurant kitchen on Sundays from 2 pm until midnight. That is when she makes her jam.
Her jams are low sugar, but not no sugar. She feels that sugar enhances and brings forward the flavor of the fruit, as well as clarifies the jam and makes it shine. The only other sweetener she uses is agave, for her diabetic customers, since it doesn’t raise blood sugar and has no chemical taste.
Her advice to anyone who is thinking of starting a jam-making business: Persistence; don’t give up; take a problem-solving attitude – one step at a time. She is constantly learning new things when making jam with Pomona’s. And the more jam she makes, the more confidence she builds to work with different fruit combinations and experiment with the amount of pectin she wants to use according to the final product she wants to create.
Berry Blitz Jam recipe, from the kitchen of The Seasonal Gourmet
