If you’ve been a reader of my blog, you may have read my entry titled, “Why a Mason Jar?”. If so, you're ahead of the game. If not, check it out. It gives you an explination of why our cookies are packaged in mason jars and what’s to come.
It’s hard for me to believe that the entry noted above was made almost a year ago to date.
So much has happened with Brooklyn Treat Shoppe since then but, it feels like it was just yesterday!
Since that entry, we made a major decision to slightly separate Brooklyn Treat Shoppe from it’s jamming sister, Brooklyn’s Preserved. We’ve been buzzing about it for a while now and would like to officially introduce you to our sister brand….
We tested products for Brooklyn’s Preserved last summer. It was such a hit, we felt we needed to separate it from Brooklyn Treat Shoppe since it’s completely different from our sculpted cakes and dessert delivery service.
However, the premise is still the same, if you want it, call us and we will bring it to you!
Brooklyn’s Preserved started when my family learned just how interested I was in the art of preserving fresh produce.
This past February, I went with my Mom and Grandfather to Canada to visit my Great Aunt Mary and Great Uncle Patsy. They both settled in Canada in the 1950’s after taking a boat across the Atlantic from Italy.
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| Uncle Patsy & Aunt Mary (Grandpa's sister) - Not too long after their ship left them in Halifax. |
While we were there, my Great Uncle Felice and Great Aunt Adeli also visited.
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| Grandpa's brother Felice and his wife Adeli. |
I was the youngest person in the house and was able to pick the brains of generations of immigrants from my family history.
We talked about family traits, their boat ride from Italy but, more importantly, we talked about food.
At the very mention of marinated mushrooms, my Great Uncle Felice sprang from his chair - a spry 77 years young, put on his coat and said, “Come’on, lessago….we gonna get somma mushrooms anda showa you ‘ow to makeit.” And, he wasn't kidding.
We went straight to the market, picked up some mushrooms, worked together as a family and just a short amount of time later, we had these beautiful pickled mushrooms floating in oil...
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| Aunt Mary, showing me how it's done. |
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| Aunt Adeli sorting out the mushrooms. |
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| Grandpa (caught in a rare moment) helping in the kitchen?!?! |
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| Aunt Mary refused to let anyone do this part. |
They all laughed at me as I sneaked into the basement to take photos of their Cantina (or canning cellar) but, how could I pass up on something so beautiful!
You see, they never wrote any of this stuff down.
All of the recipes were in their heads but, now that they are all getting older, I felt it was important to document these things before they were lost for good.
For the last year of so I've been collecting family recipes in a hand written cook book. That trip in February filled my family cook book up to the brim.
The main premise of Brooklyn’s Preserved is that we’re preserving these family secrets and decades of a great love for food.
In the end, I see Brooklyn Treat Shoppe and Brooklyn’s Preserved living happily ever after in one place but, for right now; we’ll work together as a family - co-marketing and co-branding wherever possible.
As with anything else that comes out of our kitchen, we take our time so we can get it just right.
All of our produce is carefully sourced while we create partnerships to help support America's Family Owned Farms – more on this in another entry.
Each product is slow cooked with hand-picked, farm fresh fruits. They are always free of additional pectin and low in additional sugars.
We want you to taste the beauty of the fruit in each and every jar.
We recognize that we're preserving the beauty of nature so; you can appreciate locally grown produce throughout the year.
Share with us these family secrets….enjoy Brooklyn’s Preserved!
We just finished making this year’s jars of Strawberry Jam and Strawberry Mint Lemonade. They will be ready for sale as soon as we get the labels on them…We’ll definitely keep you posted!
Stay in touch:
www.brooklynspreserved.com (still under construction)
www.twitter.com/bklynspreserved
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Brooklyns-Preserved/151935648196951
www.brooklynspreserved.com (still under construction)
www.twitter.com/bklynspreserved
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Brooklyns-Preserved/151935648196951
