Blake Hill Preserves, producers of award-winning, all-natural chutneys, jams and marmalades in historic Grafton Vermont is proud to announce its entire line of gourmet preserves is now certified kosher by the Orthodox Union.
Third generation English preserve makers uniquely combine Vicky’s family traditions of jam making with her husband Joe’s Mediterranean culinary palate spanning southern Spain, North Africa and the Middle East, to create some of the finest chutneys, jams and marmalades on the market today.
Good Food Awards, the organization that sets the nation’s standards for taste, authenticity and social responsibility, has just honored Blake Hill Preserves with three finalists for 2014 — Blake Hill’s “Plum & Fennel” chutney, “Raspberry & Hibiscus” jam, and “Grapefruit, Lemon & Thyme” marmalade (winners to be announced January 16). This is the first time in the history of the awards that a preserves maker has achieved such broad recognition across its entire range.
Blake Hill Preserves is passionate about providing its customers with the most incredibly full-flavored, fruity preserves that are completely all natural. Being a true artisanal preserves maker, every jar Blake Hill is made with only the finest fruits picked at their peak of perfection, and ingredients are carefully layered in during the cooking process and slow-cooked to maximize evaporation and hence concentrate flavors further. “We believe every jar should taste fresh and wholesome, showcasing the top-quality fruits used in every batch – just like true homemade, small batch cooking.”
Blake Hill’s mission to produce only the very best preserves also ensures you will never find any artificial ingredients in its jars, or other ingredients simply added to “bulk-up” contents, speed up cooking, or compensate for less-than-perfect fruit. You will therefore never see commercial pectin, citric acid, colorings, artificial preservatives, thickeners or flavor enhancers in its ingredients list.
The Orthodox Union was an easy choice for Blake Hill when considering an agency for kosher supervision. Joe explains, “We believe in exemplary standards in everything we do, and we wanted to work with an organization with the same core standards. We have been incredibly impressed by OU’s meticulous supervision and efficient administrative processes, and believe that providing our customers with the confidence that the OU certification logo embodies is an excellent investment.”
Vicky adds, “We have been thrilled with the reception Blake Hill Preserves is receiving in the kosher market. We love many of the foods and flavors so popular in kosher cooking and this is therefore a natural market for us to serve. We are receiving phenomenal feedback at customer tasting events, proving the popularity of our chutney, jam and marmalade varieties for the kosher palate, and we are developing additional unique varieties in 2014 to provide our customers with a fresh, exciting choice of preserves on an ongoing basis.”
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The Orthodox Union, now in its second century of service to the Jewish community of North America and beyond, represents the fastest growing segment in Jewish life. The OU is a world leader in community and synagogue services, adult education, youth work through NCSY, political action through the IPA (Institute of Public Affairs), and advocacy for persons with disabilities through Yachad and Our Way. Its kosher certification label is the world’s most recognized kosher symbol and can be found on over 400,000 products manufactured in 80 countries around the globe.