There’s grocery store Jam and then there’s ARROYO SECO jam

Lower sugar, more real fruit, zero pectin

Arroyo Seco Orchards uses three times more fruit than sugar and no pectin.  That means more time and natural flavor goes into our jars than other preserves.  Yes, we use real organic unrefined sugar, because it tastes better than any sugar substitute.  Most jam is made with more sugar than fruit and then pectin is added to stabilize it and rush the process.  Not ours.

The evolution of our jams began in a neighbor’s backyard comparing her creative usage of her persimmon tree to my creative usage of my citrus trees.  When Joseph Shuldiner, founder of the Institute of Domestic Technology had a local jam competition, we couldn’t resist.  While our labels weren’t part of the contest, I felt a need to design one expressing the frustration I had commuting to Long Beach on the freeway. It was called “710 Jam”. At the time, I didn’t realize that the jam making was my counter-balance to a hectic life.  As life evolved, I found myself surrounded by lawyers (insert your own lawyer joke), so the jams were renamed “Legal Jam”, and became holiday gifts intended to provide a chuckle. 

After opening a cheese shop, I began pairing the jams with cheeses and listened carefully to my customers’ oohs and aahs.  While I love the British, their taste for things like grapefruit marmalade simply aren’t popular here in Southern California, but the one thing everyone agreed on was – fruit, more fruit – made these jams stand out.

I have immense gratitude that I can experience the wildlife as well as the soil quality of living on the arroyo, northeast of Los Angeles.  Coyotes, hawks and pesky squirrels are just some of my neighbors.  The fruit generated locally is amazing and there is simply too much for my family to consume.  I do local harvest exchanges, put bowls of avocados out in the front yard for the neighbors, and still there’s more fruit – and so I am grateful to share my bounty with you.