(relaxed music) - I'm Kerrie Sanson, owner of Preserve jam and condiments.

We're located on Bainbridge Island in Kitsap County across from Seattle.

(relaxed music continues) Bainbridge is a rich, diverse community.

It's rural.

There is a large art community.

There is a lot of farming.

We have preserved parklands.

It's a very friendly community.

I started Preserve when I was a chef at Heyday Farm.

It's a beautiful farm located on the south end of Bainbridge Island.

And we had quite an overflow of produce one year, and it's either do I feed the pigs or do I process this and preserve this bounty?

So that I learned how to pickle and make jams and preserve in many ways, fermentation, and use the product as best as I could.

So a light bulb went off, and I started making jams mainly.

That I made tomato jam.

That was my number one product.

And the customers really liked it.

It was well received.

And so I thought, I like this so much, I could just do it on my own.

So I left Heyday after four years and I opened up my own business.

Mitigating waste at the farm and making the best decisions so I could preserve the product was such a dominating part of my day that it became a habit.

I also realized that with these preserved foods, they really are condiments for the most part.

And condiments are really a bridge for flavor.

And I saw that there was this niche for it, and it was very unique.

And rather than putting out meals all the time, I really liked being able to put out the flavor enhancer.

Preserving and processing is very meditative.

It's a process that you can't rush.

It's almost from the nostalgic kitchen.

It's very Old World, and it feels very good to do it.

When I started my business, I knew how important sourcing local is.

And I knew that in order for me to have success with that, I was going to have to make good relationships with the farmers.

It's really nice because I'm at a point right now with my business where I don't call them, they call me.

And I love it.

I wanted to go local as much as I could and source my glass jars from Seattle.

I use a company for printing in Poulsbo for my labels.

My graphic artist was from Bainbridge Island.

I use local in every way, as much as possible, so that I can serve the community in that way.

It just all comes back.

When you start making the jam, there are a lot of visual cues and sound and smell that you can really pick up on.

When it starts combining and heating up, you wanna look for clear bubbles that appear on the surface.

And then you want the pan to be populated with a lot of bubbles.

Then there are different stages where you scrape the bottom and look for what we call jewels, but it's where there's almost a candy product on your spatula.

When you see the first hints of that, you wanna turn the heat down.

And you know your Jam's gonna set pretty much at that point.

And then the final step is sheeting.

You let the jam set for a few minutes, and then take a spatula and push the surface.

And if you see these large sheets form, it's also a very good sign.

You can really smell a jam that's just at its perfect point.

It's nice that way.

And like I said, you can't rush the process, so you have plenty of time to experience all this.

It's really nice.

I'm going to give you some ideas for pairings.

For instance, my onion relish.

It tastes great with a goat cheese.

This is a local organic goat cheese spread on crackers.

This has a nice strong pickle flavor, and you just spoon some on.

It tastes great with a crisp white wine, and great for a summer evening.

One of my favorite jams is this fig spread.

And these are local figs on Bainbridge Island.

They pair so well on picnics and charcuterie boards with Beecher's Sharp Cheddar: the sharper, the better, offsetting this flavor.

And apricot jam.

These are from Eastern Washington organic apricots.

They taste so nice with a Brie cheese on crackers.

And those are some good ideas to start with.

I feel like canning and preserving and jam-making, it's an art.

I just am very immersed in this art and all aspects of it.

I really do feel like I'm giving people gifts just by providing it.

- [Announcer] Made There is made possible by the generous support of viewers like you and Visit Kitsap Peninsula.

Thank you to Made There supporting sponsor, the Greater Kitsap Chamber.