This month featured foodies (your getting 2 for the price of 1 this month !) are the lovely ladies behind I heart Jam, a Bolton based company which produces seasonal artisan jams and preserves. Regulars on the farmers market circuit this ladies are passionate about using the finest local seasonal produce to create some mouth watering flavour creations. They love to ring the changes and will often have a new creation for you to try.
- What is your favourite cookery or food book or publication ?
We like a whole range of cookery books particularly those which have interesting ideas about jam. Marguerite Patten has some great advice for jam makers and her recipes for traditional jams and marmalades have been important influences for us as well as the recipes which we’ve received from friends and family over the years. More recently we’ve enjoyed ‘Salt Sugar Smoke’ by Diana Henry which contains some gorgeous recipes ideas for jam and marmalade.
- What sentence sums up Lancashire Food to you ?
‘I need stodgy food without a fuss and wife turns round with a plate of cous cous ‘ (hyperlink to Lancashire Hotpots Chippy tea)
- If you weren't doing what you do now, what would you like to be ?
Sarah would like to be finishing her PhD on urban planning and economic growth! As well as jam making, Sarah’s other passion is social research and she is currently undertaking a full time PhD at Glasgow University.
Lisa says she is happy where she is right now, enjoying the jam making & about to finish work for a year’s maternity leave with a first baby on the way in early April.
- Which piece of kit could you not do without ?
Our kettle, it’s an essential tool which helps fuel us with tea on our jam marathon days!
- Who would join you at your ultimate dinner party and why?
We’d invite Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall, Leonard Cohen , Eddie Izzard, Aung San Suu Kyi as well as our families. We’d serve afternoon tea with a selection of our favourite jams including hedgerow jelly, strawberry and gooseberry and Lakeland damson.
- What advice would you give to your younger self ?
Sarah - don’t take life so seriously! Enjoy it. Travel more.
Lisa – start up a small business early in life! So much fun & very rewarding.
- Describe your style in three words
Home-made, seasonal and jammed (full of flavour)!
- What was your latest foodie gadget purchase ?
A strawberry corer! We thought that might be wise since Lisa got a major neck injury de-coring 10kgs of strawberries that we bought for jam making last summer! A week off work and 5 physio sessions sorted it out eventually!!
- What is your greatest achievement to date ?
Taking the plunge and setting up I heart jam from scratch and in the process creating a whole range of seasonal jams.
- What is the worst mistake you have made ?
Getting pounds and kilograms mixed up whilst measuring sugar! Buying too many strawberries!
- Tell us a secret about yourself ? may be something we wouldn’t expect !
Sarah was once a member of the National Youth Theatre and briefly contemplated a life on the stage.
The majority of Lisa’s days are spent in casinos and pubs..... because she works as a environmental health consultant auditing in the hospitality industry).
