One does not normally think of Los Angeles when the subject of homemade preserves arises. That is usually something popular in rural areas of the midwest, where growing seasons, being so much shorter, make it necessary to capture the tastes available from fruits as soon as possible. That enables people to enjoy their produce long after the harvest, and to have nutrients from them throughout the cold, harsh winters. Jams or jellies on home-baked bread are a treat you can hardly ever find in kitchens in LA.
Now, unless you take up putting up your own preserves as a hobby rather than just settling for the chemical-laden stuff in most stores today, there is a choice locally. You can find a booth at the NoHo Farmers' Market every Saturday (see http://nohomarket.org/) for From the Robin's Nest, a producer of high quality all-natural preserves, jams and jellies. None of the kind with watery, tasteless content, full of artificial junk. Katie Kildow, the proprietor, uses only fresh natural ingredients in small quantities to ensure optimal flavor in every jarful.
When you visit their stall at the market, you will be greeted by friendly smiles and offers of samples of the Nest's wares. On a small morsel of bread, the tastes come from a wide variety of fruits, as well as some vegetable sources and herbs and spices to boot. For one exotic example, there's the Strawberry Lemon Lavender blend, made from organic ingredients and sure to blow your tastebuds' mind. Most of the preserves you'll find on store shelves, let's face it, will be bland by comparison. There will not be found such ingredients at From the Robin's Nest as high fructose corn syrup or artificial colors, to say the least. Instead, great care is obviously taken to ensure only the finest and purest components are chosen for their consumers. Their labels also include information not only as to the contents but where they were grown.
What difference, one may ask, does it make to have healthy, organic ingredients in something many consider unhealthy due to being sweet? Well, "sweet" does not necessarily equal "unhealthy". The overconsumption of sugary foods, high in refined carbohydrates, devoid of any healthy nutrients, however, does contribute greatly to illnesses such as tooth decay, diabetes, obesity and all the offshoot health problems related to these. Natural substances like honey, pure fruits, vegetables and spices grown as they were intended to be, on the other hand, can only enhance your health. When consumed as part of a balanced diet, supplemented by other healthy foods such as whole grains, low-fat protein sources and the required amounts of other nutrients such as vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and unsaturated fats, small amounts of preserves are not harmful. In fact they can provide the fruits and vegetables (ie., sources of complex carbohydrates, antioxidants and minerals) everyone needs for basic wellness.
So go ahead, Angelenos: indulge your sweet tooth (or is that, collectively, sweet teeth?) on a visit to From the Robin's Nest some Saturday in North Hollywood! You'll want to take some of their products home to your own nest for sure.
Contact info: katie@fromtherobinsnest.com
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