We make a fair amount of our own preserves, marmalades, jams, and chutneys. These elements enable us to capture seasons, flavors, and memories in jars. Similarly, being a bit off the beaten path, it is necessary to have a larder of ingredients from which we may draw because sometimes ingredients just do not show up or the quality is not to our liking. We have had to work within our environment. And we have learned from our environment. We now utilize more individual ingredients as well as look for means to combine—what in the past would be compost—into a key element in a dish.
In having a pantry full of essences, our next step is in combining and juxtaposing flavors. That has led to the savory application of our preserves, beyond the simple jam with foie gras. We have begun enriching, finishing, and complementing our pantry staples with a variety of miso. We cook rose hip jam with a white miso and make smoked tomato jam with a dark miso caramel. Other current combinations consist of turnip confiture with a pale miso and plum conserve not with miso but rather preserved salted plums. While many of these marriages take the sweet and shift to savory, with other proportions and variations, the reverse is equally achievable and enjoyable.
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