Intrigued by a Daily Candy article, I purchased two jars of Sqirl confections online and tweeted the find using the tag #canvolution. Four months later, I met owner Jessica Koslow IRL (in real life) at Forage in Los Angeles to connect over good food and a love for canning.
As a trends research, creative development and marketing consultant— and former merchandising manager for a national coffee brand–I’m always amazed at the willpower, endurance, and can-do spirit of small business owners like Jessica from Sqirl. It takes a lot of time (recipe testing, production, distribution) and resources (kitchen rental, artwork design, jar procurement) to turn a love for jams into a business. And she just got into the Master Food Preservers Program.
Her rare jelly combinations like Moro Blood Orange + Campari, and her commitment to produce from family-owned farms that practice sustainable and organic methods made her a great candidate for our first interview in a new series I’m calling “Canning Success.” Here’s how this pint-size baker and former Fox Interactive Media Producer, found her calling.
Shannon Kelly: What is your background?
Jessica Koslow: In 2005 I moved from Georgetown to Atlanta after receiving my graduate degree in Media and Theory. My degree was about as far away from food as one could get. During that time, however, I considered (and still do consider) Waverly Root’s book, Food, as one of my favorites. It is in this visual history and dictionary of the foods of the world that I started finding humor in the pairing of art and culinary pleasures–Edward Hicks’ painting of the animals entering Noah’s Ark comes to mind.
Arriving in Atlanta, I decided to take a year to explore this appreciation. I wrote an email to Annie Quatrano and Cliff Harrison and a day later I found myself working in the pastry department at the James Beard Award-winning restaurant, Bacchanalia. Yes, it was life changing.
It was my first experience working within the confines of the seasons— farmer’s, ranchers, and foragers were part of each day’s interaction. I felt like I was back in school. At their other restaurant, Abattoir, the animals would come in whole and emerged as charcuterie. I got to work there as well, making all sorts of pickles and preserves (green tomato chutney!) to go along with the plates. My mind became consumed by the craft…and here I am.
SK: Was canning part of your childhood or was it something that you found on your own?
JK: My grandparents on my father’s side owned a grocery store in Richmond Virginia and my grandfather also ran Richfood, a Virginia-based cooperative wholesaler with a line of canned goods sold to retailers. They are basically a generic line of canned goods which are still available in many grocery stores today. Since it was such a part of their life on a commercial level, only when I lived in the South (I’m originally from Southern California) did I start canning personally.
SK: What was the first item you ever canned?
JK: Dilly beans!
SK: The varieties of jam that you sell are quite unique. For example, Santa Rosa + Flowering Thyme, or the Moro Blood Orange + Tonga Vanilla Bean Marmalade. What inspired you to create these combinations?
JK: I find that I’m a bit fixated on finite moments— to me they can actually tell a larger story about place, time and perhaps even conjure emotion…or memories. When I was ten, Fridays in the summer were just the best. An ice cream truck circled the neighborhood and Friday was the one day I was allowed to order a treat. The Creamsicle was the go-to [confection], and it still is. The Blood Orange + Vanilla Bean Marmalade is the Sqirl version of that childhood memory. Something like Santa Rosa Plum + Flowering Thyme is another snapshot memory— a time when the plums are perfectly ripe and thyme has flowered (when thyme flowers, it’s actually more fragrant,hinting that summer is in full stride — a mid-point — and that fall is not far behind).
SK: Do you personally hand-select all of the produce for your products or do you have pre-arranged farmer relationships?
JK: I do personally choose produce based on the location of the farm, the farmer, the process, and his or her produce. Terroir is always a thought. When I’m looking for Moro blood oranges, [for example] I’m also looking for a farm that has the best conditions for growing this variety because the flesh’s intensely red pigmentation indicates a growing region with large diurnal temperature fluctuation (hot days, cold nights). Bill and Linda Zaiser’s farm, Rancho Del Sol, grows specialty citrus at the highest elevation around–in Jamul, California. Their Moros are blood red because the growing conditions there are [perfect]. It’s important to make these decisions at the produce level–and to pick them up at that point.
SK: What exactly is your definition of small-batch and how long does it take to produce?
JK: Small batch to me equates to what one of my jam pans can hold. Each pan can turn out between 24 and 28 jars. The preserves can take up to four days to produce. The longest being the kumquats, as their rinds take several days to settle down. The stone fruit can take up to three days–they go through a steep and a pre-cook (otherwise known as “plumping”) and a final cook.
SK: I noticed that you sell your products on your website and at select stores. Do you have wholesale representation or are you running the sales department too?
JK: I am a small operation (just me and a newly hired employee–hooray!) so I do not have wholesale representation. Whether it’s online or in a store, I’ve been selective as to where Sqirl ends up. It’s important for the right synergy to exist between store and product. Sqirl was just picked up by Gilt Taste (you’ll see it soon). Since Gilt Taste is an online arbiter of taste, it’s just a reminder to me that I’m on the right path and that it’s ok to slowly work my way into the marketplace.
SK: What advice would you give anyone who wanted preserve professionally?
JK: Know that preserving at its finest, most detailed level is a concrete example of slow food. It’s quite a process but that process is invaluable to the work. So ask yourself: what does preserving mean to you? And let that point of view come through in your craft.
SK: What is your biggest accomplishment so far with your business?
JK: The fact that Sqirl is real is an accomplishment— just having a tax ID number is amazing. And, I just signed a lease on a kitchen in Silverlake, where Sqirl will become an education and community center dedicated to the craft of preservation. I guess what I’m trying to get at is that it’s difficult for me to focus on one specific milestone. The accomplishments are contingent upon the previous achievements, with the end goal being to literally preserve the craft of canning and to share it with others.
CAA Founding Member Shannon Kelly is a trend illustrator, cultural anthropologist, brand strategist, gastronomic devotee and social media enthusiast. She founded In Your Head consultancy to transform her knowledge of marketing, innovation and merchandising into strategies for retail, food & lifestyle industries. Her love of pickling and new media has earned her the title of marketing/tech guru for Canning Across America. Shannon tweets about the intersection of food, fashion and culture @trendscaping and always cans wearing stylish shoes.
