FAQ

What is your bestseller?

Habanero Gold Pepper Jelly, Naked Raspberry, Crabapple Jelly and Chokecherry Jelly sell extremely well.  

How long do I have to wait until you have my favourite jam in stock again?  Many jams are made using seasonal fruit, so we often sell out.  Sometimes I have to wait until the next year’s harvest for fruit such as Haskap berries, Damson Plums, and Seville Oranges.  

What is your favourite?

My mother excelled in making Apricot Jam.  It was my father’s favourite, and thus, there was always a quart jar of it in the fridge.  This is the jam I go to almost every time.  I eat it on toast, with peanut butter, use it between layers of chocolate cake (thinned a bit with lemon juice), and on fried egg sandwiches.  I have mixed it with BBQ sauce for a glaze for chicken and pork.  It’s the jam I would take to a desert island with me.  

How long does it last once you open it?

Jam has a long shelf-life if unopened.  Generally, we recommend opening and eating within a year of purchase.  However, you can easily go with 5 years for most jams.  Jams, jellies, marmalades and chutneys all need to be refrigerated after opening.  Preferably, keep them in the back of the fridge.  And try to eat within 6 months because fridges have a drying action on food

Why don’t you have one of my favourite jams?

Because we use fruit from local suppliers, we may not have flavour you request.   Sometimes, there Is no way of getting that particular fruit without driving 3 hours and fighting a bear for it.

Why don’t you have Huckleberry Jam.  We don’t because Huckleberries don’t grow here, there are no local suppliers, and the berries, while easy to find in the Kootenays, are expensive to buy.   Also, I’m scared of bears who love huckleberries.  Not that I think the bear would come to my house.

Why don’t you have Rose Hip Jam?

Rose Hips don’t develop into big enough fruit – I have tried twice to make it and failed both times.  My sister reports that the Rose Hips in the UK, where this jam is popular, are twice the size of ones found here.  

Why don’t you make Tomato Jam?   This is something I keep meaning to make.  However, many people think it would be like the tomato jam you might get in a restaurant.  But, if you’ve had this in a restaurant, it was likely made fresh that day.  I can’t replicate those tastes in canning.  The process of canning a product changes it to something else.  Mostly something yummy.  

Why don’t you sell Lemon Curd?  

The good news is that I have developed a recipe using Coconut Cream instead of eggs and butter.  It’s very lemon forward and creamy.  It might not taste quite the same or even as good as fresh lemon curd but it is a good substitute and can be used anywhere you would have used egg/butter-based lemon curd.  Eggs and Butter are not safe to can.

Why don’t you have Cloud Berry or Bake Apple Jam?

These berries grow in the bogs of Newfoundland.  Although they are cultivated in some places, each plant only produces one berry.  There is no feasible, reasonable way to get them in Calgary because even if I could, our old friend Math tells us that the cost of each jar would be prohibitive.    

Why do you put oranges in your Fig Jam:  Figs happen to not be acidic enough for safe jam on their own and thus, need to be mixed with lemon, orange or apple.  

What kind of jam would my parents like?

If they grew up in Eastern Europe, they would like plum, apricot, cherry.

If they grew up in Great Britain, they would like marmalades, damson plum, chutneys.

If they grew up on the Prairies, they would like saskatoon, chokecherry, crabapple.

I want to gift someone a jam from a fruit that grows on the prairies?  What jams are made from fruit that grows on the Canadian Prairie?

Evans cherry, Haskap berry, raspberry, strawberry, red currant, black currant, saskatoon berry, chokecherry, and Nanking cherry.  

Do you ship?

Yes, we ship anywhere in Canada.  

Is there a minimum quantity?

No, you can order one jar of jam if you wish

My lids don’t always seal when I can food.  Can you tell me why?

The common self-sealing lid consists of a flat metal lid held in place by a metal screw band during processing. The underside of the lid contains an applied sealing material that, when heated during canning, softens and flows slightly to cover the jar-sealing surface while still allowing air to escape from the jar.  As the jars and the product inside cool, a vacuum is created that pulls the lid onto the rim of the jar.  If your screw lid is on tight, the air cannot escape and your jar will not seal properly.  

  

It is critical to have a hot product and a hot jar.  The traditional method is to put the washed clean jars in a pot of boiling water.  Many people take out 7 jars and fill all at once.  I have had much better results when just taking one jar at a time out of the boiling water to fill and seal.  

Also, it is critical that there no product gets on the rim of the jar.  You may not be able to see it with the naked eye, but there are always tiny drops on the rims of the jars.  Wipe with a damp clean cloth or piece of paper towel.

What shipper do you use?

Shopify, the platform I use, decides which shipper.  So far we’ve used Canada Post and now, UPS.  If you live near enough to make it feasible, I live near Nose Hill in Calgary and offer curbside pickup.  

Do you do diabetic. vegan, organic or gluten-free jams?

We do not make low or no sugar jams because of shelf-life issues.  

All our jams are vegan including the lemon curd, which uses coconut cream instead of eggs and butter.

We do not use organic fruit except for a rare instance we are lucky enough to come across fruit that is also inexpensive.

All the jams, jellies, and marmalades are gluten-free.  The jams with alcohol are deemed to be free because the gluten itself boils away during the distilling process – we asked the Canadian Celiac Association. 

Do you do gift packages or gift boxes? 

We will be working on gift packages for the Christmas season.  

If you wish to send someone jam as a gift, we will gladly handle that for you.  Please contact us directly at jamgoddess@shaw.ca.  We will make sure it gets delivered in Calgary to the lucky recipient and we will even write out a card to include in the packaging.  There will be an extra charge for delivery and the card.  

If you wish to mail it to someone, again, contact us and we will get the details and arrange.  

Where can I find your jams? 

Currently, I am selling at the Millarville Farmer’s Market every Saturday.  I will be at several Christmas Markets.  A listing of where to find me will be posted on the website regularly.

Why is that flying purple lady naked?  

First of all, she is dancing so fast and joyfully that it only appears she is flying.  She is naked because her spirit demands it – after all, she is the goddess in all women.