Meet California Winner Ellelle Kitchen

Posted on Friday, November 18th, 2011 in Preserves by Emily Portman

Lennie LaGuire started Ellelle Kitchen just over three years ago, when she was presented with an opportunity to leave her job as a journalist at the Los Angeles Times.  Coming from a long line of chefs and foodies in her family, Lennie had always had an unscratched itch to get involved in the food industry and, after a stint doing a pastry course in Paris and a workshop with June Taylor, jam-making seemed to be her ticket in.

One of the first things that Lennie iterates to me during our interview is her desire to simplify.  After three years, many businesses would be trying to ramp up: create more, market more, sell more.  However, Lennie has learned in a hands-on way that, when it comes to jam-making, bigger is not better (“There’s a reason they say jam is a small-batch product.”).  That’s why Ellelle Kitchen is trying to become intensely focused on a set of small, seasonal jams, “little gems in a jar”.  “I want to winnow it down, keep it simple, and get the best jam I can to the audience that will appreciate it.”

And what better place to do that than Southern California, where farmer’s markets run all year round, and fresh fruit practically falls from the sky. Lennie’s unique contribution to the world of home-made jam-making has been to represent this quality and diversity of fruit in a product that lets the fruit speak for itself.   Right now, their featured product is Fig Walnut Conserve with Backyard Orange, Lennie’s favorite of all her creations and a product that is very dear to her heart.  As a little kid, Lennie’s grandmother would set out little bowls of jam for breakfast whenever her grandkids visited, and she remembers always going for the one with walnut.  Playing off this craving for nuttiness, Lennie decided to use fig and orange, classic California fruits, in order to create a product that is a perfect fusion of her past and present.

As the only employee of Ellelle Kitchen, Lennie is able to execute this same creative expression over each and every jam, as well as do 100% of the cooking, which she would like to continue doing for at least the foreseeable future.  However, Lennie is definitely not alone in this endeavor; she receives incredible support from her family.  Her husband, Russell DeVita, is Ellelle’s creative director, the mastermind behind the website, postcards, labels, etc.  “He gives Ellelle Kitchen its aesthetic signature by taking this world of hot, sticky, sugary mess and putting it into one coherent package.”  In addition, Lennie’s daughter is the official Ellelle Kitchen photographer, and the one to thank for that beautiful picture of last year’s winning Raspberry Jam.

Winning a Good Food Award was a point of honor and prestige for Ellelle Kitchen because it served as positive reinforcement for the sustainable business model that Lennie is trying to create.  “It was great to see all this energy around a really fabulous idea and be in on the ground floor of the first one.”  The award created recognition for Ellelle Kitchen within the food world and has since resulted in media mentions in Delta Sky Magazine and Martha Stewart Magazine, just to name a few.

Aside from her growing success, what’s Lennie’s favorite thing about being in the food business? “Honestly, it’s being on a first name basis with the farmers that I purchase fruit from.”  Lennie jokes about how seeing one of her farmers, Randy Pudwill, at the farmer’s market was a momentary brush with fame, like meeting a rockstar, sans leather jacket and electric guitar.  But on a more serious note she adds, “It’s really transformative and great to be involved in this food movement at a point where people are paying attention to where their food comes from and how its grown.  For me, in terms of consistency and relationships with people, this whole process has been incredibly fulfilling.”