Miranda Gathercole
Times Reporter
More often than not, Lee Murphy finds herself cooking with jam.
From spiced walnut butter toast with 鈥渄amson plum &sweet vermouth鈥� preserve for brunch, to grilled wild salmon with 鈥渂lueberry &French thyme鈥� preserve for dinner, she鈥檚 always looking for ways to use up the extra jars of jam sitting in her pantry.
And now, Murphy鈥檚 sharing the recipes for these two dishes 鈥� and 43 other creations that she has tried, tasted and perfected 鈥� in her very first cookbook, The Preservatory: Seasonally Inspired Recipes For Creating And Cooking With Artisanal Preserves.
Officially hitting stores April 25, the book 鈥� published by Random House 鈥� is one part how to make preserves, and one part how to cook with them.
The first half features recipes for 55 different homemade preserves, 24 of which Murphy and her husband, Patrick, sell at their South 91原创 farm and winery, Vista D鈥檕ro.
Preserve recipes for 鈥済rilled peach with blackberry &candied ginger,鈥� 鈥渂anana passion fruit &rum,鈥� and Murphy鈥檚 favourite 鈥� 鈥渟trawberry with pistachio &vanilla鈥� 鈥� are listed by season.
The second half lists recipes for using the preserves with brunch, aperitivo, dinner and dessert, as well as cheese pairings, charcuterie, pickles and cocktails.
Murphy also includes a section on how to choose fruit, what tools to use, and the basics of preserving.
鈥淚t was just going to be a book about preserves, but then a lot of the preserves are kind of obscure, like our green heirloom tomato and garam masala or something like that. And people are always wondering what to do with it,鈥� she said.
鈥淪o it just kind of evolved into, 鈥楲et鈥檚 do a few recipes with the preserves.鈥� And then it turned into, 鈥榃ait a minute, let鈥檚 do half the book with preserves.鈥� I think it鈥檚 an interesting concept because it will give people ideas of what to do with all of our crazier flavours.鈥�
Beginning as a small-batch product sold at farmers markets in the early 2000s, the Vista D鈥檕ro Preservatory jams have migrated onto shelves in more than 200 retailers in Canada, more than 150 retailers in the United States, in Europe and Japan.
Using only fruit in season, the Murphys cultivate their 10 acres of land, located off 208 Street and 4 Avenue, to grow their own apples, pears, plums, and cherries for preserves, and their own walnuts and vines for their wine.
All berries are bought from Lower Mainland farmers, and other fruits that cannot be grown on the West Coast, such as peaches or apricots, are sourced from the Okanagan. The only fruits that are not from B.C. are exotics, like pineapple and mango, that are used in Murphy鈥檚 winter line of jams.
Their wine products, however, are created entirely from ingredients grown on their farm.
Murphy originally wrote her cookbook proposal five years ago, and it was promptly put on a shelf and forgotten about until she took a trip to New York and ran into friend Caren McSherry, owner of Vancouver鈥檚 Gourmet Warehouse.
The two got chatting, and Murphy decided to tell her about her book idea. McSherry took interest and asked if she could have a look at the proposal.
鈥淪he says, 鈥榃ell send it to me, and I鈥檒l send it to my friend,鈥欌�� Murphy recalled. 鈥淪o I sent it that night because I had my laptop with me, and I seriously had had this proposal sitting around for years, but did not know what to do with it. And I said, 鈥榃ell just let me know what you think.鈥� And next thing I know, Robert鈥檚 calling me from Random House saying, 鈥榃e love the concept, let鈥檚 talk.鈥欌��
Some of the preserve flavours were already being produced commercially as part of Murphy鈥檚 collection she normally sells, while others are brand new. With help from her crew of three, Murphy had to test and create several new products.
鈥淥nce you鈥檙e doing a cookbook, everything has to be tested, weighed out. A lot of us cook with a dash of this and that, so we did a lot of recipe testing,鈥� she said.
But that creativity turned out to be the best part of the whole process.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 what I think I love most about the book, because now that we鈥檙e wholesaling, we have to be very consistent and have to have a certain amount of flavours,鈥� she said.
鈥淓verything has to stay the same so that when somebody opens a jar of 鈥榤ulled wine jelly,鈥� it tastes exactly the same as the last jar of 鈥榤ulled wine jelly.鈥� This I got to play again and create all new flavours, and I loved that part of it.鈥�
Although Murphy has been creating preserves for nearly two decades, she鈥檚 noticed that the concept of canning has really resurfaced as a popular trend in the last few years. She believes people are more drawn to it now because 鈥渢he farther you get away from your heritage, the more interested you are in it.鈥�
鈥淚 think it鈥檚 that nostalgia of how our ancestors cooked. For us, especially when you鈥檙e living on a farm, having fresh fruit and having so much of it and not wanting it to go to waste. I mean, that鈥檚 why they originally did the canning and the preserving, so that they could have fruit all year long. Now you don鈥檛 have to do that, because you can buy it all year long. But I think it鈥檚 so rewarding and so much nicer to (make it yourself).鈥�
That inspiration, she hopes, will translate through her book.
鈥淚 wanted it to be a real celebration of the farm,鈥� she said. 鈥淚鈥檝e got a lot of stories in here too, the inspiration for a lot of the recipes, some family stories and some travelling stories. It was a very fun process.
鈥淚鈥檓 super proud of it.鈥�
For more on Murphy鈥檚 preserves, visit http://thepreservatory.com.
