First Bites November 2023 - Gorgeous Gifts
Hail, Caesar
No need to arrive empty-handed to a holiday brunch. Preserved's Caesar kit comes with two jars of home- made Caesar mix and a choice of either pickled asparagus or green beans.
“I’m a Caesar girl through and through,” says owner Steph Scott, who likes making things that she enjoys.
What else does she enjoy? The company’s wide range of preserves, including carrots, cucumber pickles, asparagus and delicious “Cowboy Candy”— spicy sweet pickled jalapeños.
Scott started canning about 12 years ago after the birth of her first child. “I loved being able to put it on the table for my family and know exactly what it was,” she says.
Scott was a corporate event planner by day. The onset of the pandemic saw the event-planning business dry up and she also had a new baby at home. Looking for work she could do from home that would allow her to spend more time with her family, she participated in her first market in Langley in 2021, which was, she says, “way more of a success than I expected.”
She particularly enjoys talking to her customers at the markets, many of whom are canners themselves but either can’t or don’t want to do it anymore because of the work involved.
In the first two years, she worked out of her 100 sq. ft. home kitchen, which, despite its size, helped her to yield 10,000 jars in 2022. In 2023, she moved to a commercial kitchen and is now selling her products through retail locations, buying as much of the produce as she can locally. Along the way, she’s recruited her family to help. Her father often helps at the markets and her mother helps with her kids while she cans. “The whole business is about family,” she says.
Party season is here and a thoughtfully sourced, unique gift is alway appreciated by a host. These three local companies are making hand-crafted, delicious gifts guaranteed to please everyone.
Preserved: Family Made Canning
preservedcanning.ca | @preservedcanning
Find it: Little Green Apple (Abbotsford), The Local Space and online
To your health
“It’s a healthier version of a drink that you can still say cheers with,” says Michaela Misikova when talking about why her line of ginger elixirs, called Gingeraki makes such a good gift. An alternative to the oft-gifted bottle of wine, the ginger, she says, “brings a kick and punch to the drink.”
Misikova was always interested in juicing and natural home remedies, referring to them affectionately as “grandma remedies.” She first noticed commercially available ginger shots in Europe, often in airports she was travelling through, and she liked the idea of drinking them while travelling as a way to boost her immunity.
She started making her own version for her own use with just a blender and a strainer. Later, a juicer helped her to enjoy it more. She had good feedback on what she made herself, with friends and family encouraging her to sell it. “Maybe” was always the answer she gave, until during the middle of her first maternity leave, when, looking for more flexibility with work, she decided to try.
Misikova started offering the product at the Langley Community Farmer’s Market in early 2020, making the first few batches at home. By the autumn, she had secured a commercial kitchen and was offering Gingeraki at Vancouver Farmers Markets as well.
In addition to individual bottles, Gingeraki offers subscription plans with delivery available through the website for those who want to make it part of a regime. The elixirs are prepared fresh to order.
The drink can be consumed as a shot, but Misikova says many of her customers like it mixed with sparkling water. She also recommends using it as a hot beverage, by mixing it with hot water or vegan milk. Ginger hot toddy anyone?
Gingeraki | gingeraki.ca | @gingerakielixir
Find it: Hastings Park Farmers Market, Riley Park Farmers Market, Vancouver Christmas Market (Vancouver), Cranberries Naturally (Fort Langley) and online
Sweet things
If you are looking for a gift that’s a bit out of the ordinary, Corbicula’s Buzzed Honey is a creamed unfiltered honey with added bee pollen. The result is a sweet, creamy honey with a unique crunch and the added benefits of bee pollen.
The name Corbicula refers to the area on the leg of a bee where pollen collects as the bee flies from flower to flower. It’s a clever name for a company, started by former bush pilots Jason and Carolyn Essaunce, that considers itself not a honey company but a pollen company. Its main product is Wild Forage Bee Pollen.
In addition to having its own bee hives, Corbicula provides pollen traps free of charge to existing beekeepers on the understanding that they will sell their pollen harvest to Corbicula at a pre-determined price, which always has above market value.
The bees interact with fireweed, alfalfa, clover, blackberry and dandelion plants as well as cottonwood, maple, pine and chestnut trees, and the result shines through in diverse, rainbow-coloured pollen.
“Similarly to how we say you should have multiple colours on your plate, we think you should have multiple colours of pollen,” Carolyn says.
Bee pollen is high in amino acids and minerals, and a poll of Carolyn's customers tell her that the number one reason they consume bee pollen is for a "non- synthetic multivitamin."
A graduate of the commercial beekeeping program at Kwantlen Polytechnic University, who eventually became chief beekeeper in the same program, Carolyn is modest about her role. She says, “The bees do most of the work.”
Corbicula Pollen Ltd. | corbicula.ca | @corbiculapollen
Find it: Richmond Country Farms (Richmond), Meinhardt Fine Foods, Famous Foods, East West Market (Vancouver), Nature’s Fare Markets (Langley, West Kelowna and P nticton), Mission Hill Family Estate (West Kelowna)
