Harvest time in full swing seemed like a good reason to chat with Camilla Wynne, one of Canada’s best-known chefs for her canning talent. In his second book, Jam Bake, arrived in bookstores a few months ago, she praises jam and its variations. And kindly reminds us that preserving is a pleasure in any season.
Pleasure. This is the watchword that colors the 252-page book. From the first glance, one understands the impressive work of popularizing the science and techniques of this centuries-old art. But it is above all the humor and the contagious passion of the author that make us turn the pages.
“Canning is meditative and contemplative: it’s the opposite of stress! Laughs Camilla Wynne on the phone, sitting in her living room in Toronto.
“I want to show that you don’t need special equipment or need to take a whole day to do this. You don’t have to make 16 pots at the same time either: you can just make two, three, and that’s satisfying. […] I also wanted people to know that jam is not just for them. toasts… ”, She drops, explaining the premise of the book.
Ideas
Because in addition to the jam recipes, there are also proposals for desserts to make. In the preface to her book, she also candidly points out that jam is at the center of several pastries and pastries, such as linzertorte, rugelachs and… Pop-Tarts! “It always surprised me to hear people ask me what to do with my products when I was selling them at the market,” she says. I found that people wanted ideas. “
Ideas, Camilla Wynne’s backpack is full of them. The one who has long worn the chef’s hat, especially for Patrice Demers, has also canned for seven years with her own company, Preservation Society. It is under this same name that she began to give workshops on the canning industry.
These are all these universes that are found in Jam Bake : an unconditional love for desserts – and fruits, she explains – unique recipes and the pleasure of passing on her knowledge.
From the first pages, she explains how to create her own jam recipe so that everyone can put a little happiness in a jar. “It’s good to follow a recipe, but at a certain point, we want to be creative and try our ideas,” says the one who took a course on food preservation at the Institut de technologie agroalimentaire de Saint-Hyacinthe. .
” Most [inventer une recette], it can be intimidating for canning. People aren’t sure if it’s safe, if they’re going to get botulism… So I really wanted to give them a tool to be able to create their own flavors. “
Then she adds, “I want people to know that like anything new, it takes repetition: you’re not necessarily going to get everything right the first time around. I don’t want people to be discouraged if it’s not perfectly gelled. Anything worth learning takes practice! “
A universe of possibilities
The desire to offer a book accessible to all is also revealed in the proposals for commercial jams that can be found in dessert recipes. “For those who are addicted and cannot stop making jams, the book gives a collection of recipes: it gives them another universe of possibilities. But for those who just want to bake too. »Among the sweets on offer, we find recipes developed in the restaurants where Chef Wynne worked, creations from friends (like Stéphanie Labelle, from the Rhubarbe pastry shop in Montreal) and family recipes, including chocolate cake and apricot butter – the sachertorte – from his paternal grandmother.
Potting the seasons
When it comes to his love of cooking, the memories of his grandmothers are never far away. “I don’t even know if I saw them canning. I just know I was lucky enough to eat everything they cooked! she says. My two grandmothers died in my early twenties, and I deeply regretted not having learned from them. I wanted to start canning but didn’t know where to start and how. “
It was therefore by first learning by herself (and by experimenting with different recipes) that she seized the privilege of keeping the harvest of the moment in stock.
Years of experience that now make him say that potting the seasons is not a fashion, but a way of life.
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