Spread of homemade jams - spanishchef.net

Spread of homemade jam

WHAT started out as a love for homemade jams has turned out to be a fruitful business for a husband-and-wife team.

“I visited a friend in Australia and discovered that many people in the villages there would make fruit preserves because they always had an excess of fruits,” said Michelle Koh, founder of Michelle’s Artisan Fruit Spread.

“The process didn’t seem too complicated, so I tried it at home. My husband loves jam, but we find the brands available in the market too sweet, so we started making them for our own consumption,” she said.

With an abundance of local fruits available in the market, she also tried making the jams with fruits like pineapple, papaya, banana and mango.

Koh and her husband Ooi Hong Sin worked on perfecting their jam-making technique and as a result, ended up with a lot of extra jam that they would give away to friends and family.

Homemade: Koh and her husband Ooi showing off their jam.

“There was a good response from them and many people said that we should start selling the jams. My daughter sells fashion accessories at a bazaar and she encouraged us to try selling the jams there. Again, we received a lot of positive feedback from our customers,” said Koh.

Ooi said that it took them some time to get the jams just right before they could put them on the market.

“First, we had to find out how long the jams would last because we don’t use preservatives and the jams are low in sugar content. Then we had to source for the bottles and labels and we slowly learnt the process as we went along. Even finding the right fruits and the right suppliers was not an easy task. Some people seem to think that you can just make jams with old fruit but that’s not true at all. You will be able to taste it in the jam,” said Ooi.

Little efforts like waiting for the fruit to ripen just enough or using only high-quality imported chocolate add to the unique flavours of the products.

Currently, their best-selling flavours include Mango with Passion Fruit, Papaya with Orange Peel, Pineapple with Lemon Peel and Banana with Dark Chocolate.

“I like to create spreads that are not available in the market and try out a combination of fruits. Someone actually asked if we could do a durian flavoured jam, but we weren’t sure if it would preserve well. So we tried adding a tart fruit and found green apples actually go well with durian,” said Koh.

She only makes the Apple and Durian flavoured spread when the fruit is in season, like the Persimmon flavour which she does once a year.

For now, they have no plans to take the Michelle’s Artisan Fruit Spread brand to a commercial scale, preferring instead to continue putting their personal touch to the products.

Unique flavours: The Artisan Fruit Spread features a range of flavours like Papaya with Orange Peel, Mango with Passion Fruit and Banana with Dark Chocolate, made with local and imported fruit.

“Everything is made from scratch. We do everything ourselves, from choosing and buying the fruit to peeling them before we make the jams. Even the bottles have to be sterilised before we pack the jams in. There’s a lot of work involved in making a batch and making sure it turns out well. We only cook in small batches so we can make only about 25 jars a day,” said Ooi.

Ooi and Koh usually set up booths at the following bazaars: Art For Grabs, Annexe Gallery, Central Market; Fuyoh Art Bazaar, Publika (last Sunday of the month); Kaka Handmade Art Market (first Sunday of the month); and Little Red Market, White Box @ Publika.

Selected flavours are also available at Cold Storage outlets in Solaris Mont Kiara and The Gardens Mid Valley; and Jasons Food Hall in Bangsar Shopping Centre.

The fruit spreads are priced at RM8 for a 60g jar, RM13 for 120g and between RM16 to RM20 for the 250g jar.

More information about Ooi and Koh’s products is available at www.facebook.com/michelle.artisanfruitspread.

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