yumpittsburgh

The Purple Spoon

Foodies beware, you may soon find yourself driving north on Rt. 8 towards Gibsonia to acquire some of the most well made, delicious preserved fruits and flower infused jellies available. Most folks have a vague idea that jellies and jams are made by cooking fruit and sugar together. But that is way too simplified.

Linda Croskey is a self described outdoors woman who has been making jams and jellies for at least 27 years, with recipe cards dating back to the mid 1980’s to prove it. Her talent for creating gorgeous fruit spreads has been passed down from her grandmother, who sent homemade preserves to her house in glass jars, sealed with paraffin wax. Lucky for residents of the northern suburbs, Linda started selling her jams and jellies earlier this year at select markets under the name, “The Purple Spoon”, named after an old wooden spoon, stained from the juice of berries used over many years.

The first thing one notices about these jams and jellies is how perfectly they are packaged, followed by how perfect they taste. Everything about the product is made by hand, in small batches, from the hand-picked fruit to the hand-drawn labels that adorn each jar. Yum was lucky enough to meet the woman behind “The Purple Spoon”, last week, and could not help but notice how well done every aspect of the business is, including Croskey’s purple car, purse and accessories!

Croskey makes several varieties of jellies made from flower infusions in addition to her fruit based offerings. The most amazing part of this is how seasonal and fresh her concoctions are, everything is picked by hand. Everything. That means when violets are blooming, she is picking packed quarts of flowers for each seven jar batch of jelly. The fresh flowers are steeped overnight before being processed, and the color has to be seen to be believed. Imagine pure ultraviolet light captured in a jar and made edible. Other flower jellies made this way include red clover and dandelion.

The jams come in 18 varieties, including classics such as elderberry, blackberry and peach plus holiday favorites such as cranberry walnut and pumpkin pecan butter. In keeping with the philosophy of making small batches when things are in season, Croskey drove south to bring back peaches and pecans from her sister’s pecan tree in South Carolina earlier this summer. Yum can’t help but think beyond toast, to drizzling the gold raspberry jelly (picked at Paskorz’s Berry Farm in Cheswick) over fresh chevre cheese or topping some vanilla ice cream with peach jam.

Croskey goes to these lengths to create such a high quality product because, she says, ‘I have a passion for God and nature and the earth. These (flowers and fruits) are God’s gift of nature’. Really, there is no way this level of quality could be produced commercially.

For real, old-fashioned jams and jellies made with no chemicals and no shortcuts visit one of the following markets that sell “The Purple Spoon’s” products:

Dave’s Country Market – 1359 Pittsburgh Rd. Valencia, PA 16059-2343;  (724) 898-3280

Harvest Valley Farm Market – Rt. 8 and Cunningham Road, Valencia, (724) 898-FARM

Iris & Ivory Cafe and Tea House – Cheswick, (412) 767-4136

Standing Chimney/Mary Mac Bakehouse – 566 Paden Road, New Galilee, PA  (724) 336-5224

McGinnis Sisters – Cranberry; (724) 779-1212

Mish Meat Market – Oak Road, Gibsonia; 724-449-6328

Narcisi Winery – Gibsonia Rd., Gibsonia, PA 724-444-4474

Soergel’s Orchards – 2573 Brandt School Rd, Wexford, PA 15090 (724) 935-2090

Wagner’s Market – 4978 Middle Road, Gibsonia; (724) 443-3777

Backyard Gardens – 650 Ohiopyle-Farmington Rd. Ohiopyle, PA (724)-329-4014

B&Z Deli – Hartwood Towne Centre, 3392 Saxonburg Blvd. Glenshaw, PA  (412)-767-4101

Reyna Foods – 2031 Penn Ave, Pittsburgh, PA  (412)-261-2606

Soup Du Jour – 2228 W.Hardies Rd. Wildwood, PA  (412)-486-2313

Winfield Winery – 1026 Winfield Rd. Cabot, PA  (724)-352-9589