Private-label jams, imagining new tastes

At Andrésy Confitures, 80% of our time is spent designing and making private-label, natural fruit jams. A bespoke service to meet the needs and wants of a customer base made up of upmarket groceries, chefs and luxury hotels. How is a private-label recipe developed?

Andrésy Confitures’ customers are constantly on the lookout for new ideas to surprise and delight their customers’ taste buds, eyes and mood.

They search for recipes that are innovative, tasty and have a distinctive personality.

The ideas behind private-label recipes

The sheer number and diversity of chefs’ needs and wants call for inventiveness, adaptability and a quick response. Andrésy Confitures’ job is to translate ideas into flavours and natural fruit jams that will become memorable taste experiences.

What sort of requests lead to the creation of a bespoke jam?

– It might be to illustrate a theme or a word, such as “Christmas”, “transparency”, “mind-blowing”, “a walk in the forest”, “perfume for her”, or the “Year of Brazil” jam designed for a famous delicatessen that wanted to celebrate the country hosting the world football cup.

– It might be to translate a specific taste or association: to recreate an impression of childhood (a sweet or a salted-butter caramel, etc.), a flavour that captures the essence of a country or a continent (Spain, Asia, Africa, etc.), or to create a taste using a specific list of ingredients.

– Or it might be to reproduce a recipe that a chef has concocted in his kitchen. In 2016, for example, Andrésy Confitures worked with a group of restaurants that had run a jam-creating competition for its chefs. Of the 10 recipes picked by the selection committee, Andrésy Confitures adapted three natural fruit jams, meeting the top criteria for appealing to the restaurants’ customers. Julia Cassan and her team of third-generation jam-makers made them and the group of restaurants chose one, which is now a fixture in its yoghurt bars.

The demanding process of creating private-label jams

Andrésy Confitures’ Research & Development team, under the leadership of Julia Cassan, is in charge of creating recipes for natural fruit jams.

It can be a long road from the initial idea to the finished jam in jars. You have to factor in the search for ingredients, their approval and the numerous tests and exchanges with the customer. The slightest detail counts: colour, texture, the firmness and the size of the pieces of fruit, the smell, the temperature (certain tastes vary at different temperatures), the type of ingredients and the order in which they were added, etc. Andrésy Confitures often creates variations on a basic recipe for natural fruit jam, for customers who want to have a complete range.

One of the secrets is to taste, taste and taste again… until the flavour is just right. Then “set” the recipe so that it always turns out the same, even if you make it 10 times. And only then, launch production of your natural fruit jam.