Around the Table
By Vesna Vuynovich Kovach
It's always summertime inside Lee Davenport's little glass jars
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You can put it on a shelf and open it in winter and it will transport you right back to summer with one bite.”
That’s why Lee Davenport makes jam. And jelly. And preserves, conserves, fruit sauces and all those other ways of compressing summer sweetness into a glittering jar of spoonable delight.
“You can take some really delicious fruit and make it taste even better,” says the 36-year-old proprietor of Pamplemousse Preserves, of her passion for preserving. “I personally can’t think of many things in life as rewarding as turning a pile of raw ingredients into a row of jewel-toned preserves. But maybe that’s just me.”
Brava caught up with Davenport once before, in early 2005, when she was running a food cart downtown that featured a creative, from-scratch menu before she moved on to Pamplemousse. Davenport’s earlier culinary credits also include baking at L’Etoile and Sunroom Café.
Today Davenport jams with local and/or organic ingredients, using recipes that call for little or no commercial pectin and far less sugar than ordinary preserves. She sells at farmers’ markets, through her new Web site (pamplemoussepreserves.com) and at the gourmet shelves of L’Etoile’s Café Soleil, Fork and Spoon Café, Fromagination and Washington Hotel Coffee Room. Her treats are also found on the menu at Bradbury’s downtown.
This winter she and two fellow market vendors launched a brand new venture, Community-Supported Preserves and Bakery, (CSP&B, accessible through Davenport’s Web site). It’s modeled after community-supported agriculture (CSA), whereby market farms sell shares of their produce, then supply boxes of produce to customers throughout the growing season.
“This is like a value-added CSA,” Davenport explains. “Our tag line is ‘keeping your pantry stocked with hand-crafted staples throughout the seasons.’” Twice a month, CSP&B shareholders receive a unique assortment of bread, butter cake and pastry from Mary White’s Honey Bee Bakery; kraut, kimchee or other fermented vegetables from Andy Hanson’s Kindly Kraut; and Davenport’s preserves. “Opening a CSP&B box is like Christmas because of that element of surprise. You don’t quite know what’s going to be in the box, but you’re pretty sure you’re going to love it,” she says.
Vesna Vuynovich Kovach: How did the idea for CSP&B come about?
Lee Davenport: I read an article about a woman in Minnesota who had taken the CSA concept to the next level by making salad dressings and other prepared foods from things she grew. I thought a CSA for preserves might be a way to make some money doing something that I loved. I asked Andy and Mary to join me because we all needed a way to keep working through winter when the outdoor markets stop. We source as many local ingredients as we can to help people eat local year-round.
VVK: What makes Andy’s krauts and pickles special?
LD: A lot of people say they don’t like kraut, but they haven’t had kraut like Andy’s, which is a natural, wild ferment. It’s a live food, and so good for you.
VVK: How about Mary’s Honey Bee Bakery?
LD: The baked goods are made the same day they’re delivered. I think Mary is one of the most talented bakers in Madison. She uses freshly ground flour from Cress Springs, organic ingredients and whole grains. Her breads are always tasty but I love her tartlets the best.
VVK: Where do you make the products that go into the box?
LD: Andy and I share a [commercial] kitchen and Mary is currently working out of Sophia’s Bakery. We’re all licensed.
VVK: What have some of the box ombos been so far?
LD: Mary has done a whole wheat bread, cornmeal bread and wild rice bread. Andy had several kinds of kraut and a radish kimchee. I’ve sent tomato jam, black currant preserves, blackberry preserves, raspberry preserves and Summer Fruit Medley. I recently made some pumpkin apple butter and I have lots of cranberries to work with.
VVK: You tell a wonderful story on your blog about how you got into preserving fruit.
LD: I used to live right downtown on Wilson Street. I went out for a jog and found [a fallen] limb full of plums. I don’t even remember what I made from them, but most likely plum butter. I’ve always been a frugal person and I hate waste. If I didn’t have to work for a living I’d start a gleaning organization to work with farmers to get more unwanted produce to food banks.
VVK: How much jam do you make?
LD: During the busy summer months, I make several hundred jars a week.
VVK: What kinds do you make, and which are most popular?
LD: Every season I add more of my own creations like the Elderflower Wine Jelly and Coffee Caramel. I just like to play around with flavors. [Most popular is] whatever I happen to be passing out samples of. To try them is to buy them! The tomato jam was the big hit of this summer.
VVK: What are your favorites?
LD: Pear Chocolate and Apricots with Pinot Grigio.
VVK: What advice would you give someone who wants to give home canning a try, but who might be afraid it’s complicated?
LD: Buy the “Ball Blue Book of Preserving” and get cracking. If you know how to read a recipe, you can learn how to can!
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Tabula Rasa Panna Cotta with Pamplemousse Preserves
Here’s a panna cotta recipe Lee Davenport, proprietor of Pamplemousse Preserves, likes to hand out at the farmer’s market because “it’s simple and elegant and a great blank slate to serve with my preserves.” At the market “I had it paired with rhubarb passionfruit preserves. It would also be great with any of the berry preserves — Summer Fruit Medley, Trio of Berries, raspberry.”
Davenport’s version of the classic Italian treat (literally “cooked cream”) is “a little lighter and tangier” with the addition of yogurt.
2 Tbsp. water
1 1/4 tsp. unflavored gelatin
2 c. whipping (or heavy) cream
1 1/4 c. yogurt
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/3 c. sugar
Sprinkle gelatin over water in a small bowl and let stand for 10 minutes or until softened. In a small saucepan, combine sugar with one cup cream and bring to a simmer while stirring. Remove from heat. Add softened gelatin. Stir until dissolved.
In a separate container (preferably one with a pouring spout, like a one-quart Pyrex measuring cup), whisk yogurt, vanilla and remaining cream until smooth. Pour in hot mixture and whisk until smooth. Divide among six ramekins, tea cups or small bowls, pouring 1/2 cup into each. Refrigerate uncovered until cold, then cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
Serve panna cotta right in the ramekins or invert onto plates. To invert, set ramekins into a pan of hot tap water for 30 seconds, making sure water doesn’t get into them. Run a knife around the inside edges and turn onto dessert plates. Remove the ramekins. Top with preserves.
