Jess, savouré: Unique sodas & seltzers for the love of food & flavor
This is my craft
Almost every cafe and well sorted (farm)store in Vermont stores them, Jess’ sodas and seltzers. And it’s not just because of the iconic labeling and imagery on the cans and bottles, it’s most and foremost the unique flavor combinations that make savouré beverages fun and delicious.
Some flavor combos seem quite experimental - to me anyway - using celery, pink peppercorn or geranium. But it’s these flavor combos that make all the difference.
Jess is working with complementary flavors, meaning she is always trying to have the ingredients complement each other. It’s not necessary that one can taste individual flavors, says Jess, but how they play together, having a round base line, then playing with the unexpected, sharp, acidic, spicy.
She always uses fresh ingredients and what’s in season, too.
“Seasonality is key for me! For the winter season I’m often using citrus, because they’re in season somewhere, toasted grains, different kinds of teas… I want my beverages to be warm and nourishing in the winter, tells me Jess.”
The most interesting fact, though, - and I can totally relate to that - Jess doesn’t really write down her recipes, as she usually does what she feels like and doesn’t follow any recipes. Cookbooks? Not part of her library.
Growing up in a large family as the youngest of nine children the growing and making of food, the adventure of it and the taste however was always in focus for Jess.
Be it the amazing dinner parties where friends and family gathered and were able to try home made goat cheese (from their own goats on the homestead) or bread, even wild boar. Or Jess would help her mother make pickles. Often her grandmother would come over to help, too. It is how you are raised that shapes you as a person and growing up around food helps you get creative in that realm, too, says Jess.
This community-oriented approach remains a constant in Jess’s life. As a community person she is always seeking for opportunities to bring people together. Her space Tandem on Main Street in Bristol, Vt., as part of savouré is where culinary experiences, events or dinner parties take place.
From the very beginning, Jess tells me, she does not need Marketing or advertisement for her products, since her customers simply love them. The stores and people who sell savouré sodas and seltzers are all very excited about them, and usually sell fast.
She travels back and forth between Montreal and Vermont on a monthly basis to stock up the stores and shops that sell her sodas and seltzers up there. Why Montreal? Yes that’s Canada!
Well, she started her business (with producing jams, pickles and other fermented foods on top of the beverages) in this Quebec city and only relocated back to her home in Vermont in 2014, where she now has accessibility to a commercial kitchen and since then is focusing on producing her sodas and seltzers in bottles and cans.
“The creative, hands on part, is the most interesting to me when working on recipes. I don’t want to be a producer,” Jess tells me.
With a background in international human rights, Jess is also an activist. And without having met her personally, yet, I can tell she is by her attitude during our conversation and her stories she shares on Social Media.
Working with food and flavors is always fun and a great creative outlet, says Jess. Being an activist, the underlying mission of reducing food waste is also on her mind: “I’m interested in being engaged in the world, and make a positive impact in some way, professionally and personally.”
Her dream, besides growing her business, aiming for a more steady production and product lines, is to get back involved in international development, even live abroad again. Going back to school and gain a masters degree in international human rights law is also on the horizon. Or learn more about food, herbs in particular, and food as medicine. There are still so many things to explore in this life…
savouré and Tandem, the production kitchen, event space, and tasting room are both located on Main Street in Bristol, Vt.