Eat This Yum 2024: Get Jammin’
DeliveryRank chats with Gino De Schrijver, the founder of Eat This Yum!, a family-owned and operated business in Erwinna, PA, specializing in all-natural, sustainable, locally-produced jams and marmalades. With a commitment to using simple, wholesome ingredients, Eat This Yum! ensures quality by making everything from scratch without artificial ingredients or preservatives. Additionally, the company donates 5% of sales to support local volunteer firefighters.
Gino, what inspired the creation of Eat This Yum!, and how did the idea for your unique fruit-forward flavors come about?
After spending many years in a corporate job, I felt the need to do something different. I had found an old recipe for tomato marmalade and had an abundance of tomatoes in my garden that year. I decided to make a batch and sell it at our local farmers market. Much to my surprise I sold out in one day and realized that I might be on to something. I continued on that path and while still working at my corporate job I also sold my marmalade at the farmers market. As time went on I created new recipes and new flavors to add to my repertoire of jams.
Can you walk us through the process of creating your jams and marmalades, from selecting the perfect ripened fruits to the final taste testing?
I wanted to create something out of the norm, and not the daily run of the mill jams and marmalades you find on the shelves in grocery stores. Something that explores experimentation and different applications from cocktails to what you put out for dinner, and everything in between. But of course, also still good on a piece of toast. All our batches are still made in house.
Our Kitchen, Our Hands, No Co-packing! We select our fruits at the right ripening where the natural sugar content is at it’s highest, thus allowing us to lower the amount of sugar we need to add. It creates an atmosphere of real fruit forward flavors. Since we make everything in small batches it is imperative that we taste test each one, for consistency, flavor, ph level and brix level. It’s our final chance to adjust if needed.
Sustainability is a key focus for Eat This Yum!. How do you ensure that your products are environmentally friendly and locally produced?
We try to purchase our fruits from local farms as much as possible and use recycled packaging in our shipment department.
The social aspect of your business is admirable, with 5% of each jar sold being donated to local volunteer firefighters. What led you to choose this cause, and how has the community response been?
When we first moved to Bucks County I was introduced to our local volunteer firefighters during one of there spaghetti dinner fund raisers. I became interested in doing some kind of volunteering and decided to become a volunteer firefighter. This was a precursor to Eat This Yum, I had no idea how pivotal that moment would turn out for me.
Years later when I started the business out of my home, I quickly realized that I needed a commercial kitchen, and upon that realization it made sense to approach the Firehouse company and see if they would be open to this kind of arrangement. The kitchen was barely used at that time, and the company overwhelmingly voted yes to my proposal. 13 years later we are still operating out of the same kitchen, with some upgrades to make it easier for us. The community has been very grateful for our effort and I too am grateful to have the opportunity to serve.
With such a wide range of flavors, from Spicy Bacon Marmalade to Orange Saffron Cardamom Marmalade, how do you come up with new and innovative flavor combinations?
I have to say, that it’s a relatively easy process for me to come up with new ideas. Of course, there have been some failures, but most of all I come up with combinations in my head and throw them in a pot. What I like to do is create flavors with hints of spice and herbs, where it is not overpowering but more layered such as our flamin raspberry. First there’s a burst of raspberry then heat then cocoa and vanilla. All complimentary and not overwhelming. I just created a new triple berry jam last week with Vanilla and Cinnamon. Again one has to really concentrate to taste the cinnamon, but it’s there ;).
If you would like to find out more about Eat This Yum, please visit https://etyum.com/
