Our Story
From a cheese shop in Cambridge Massachusetts to your cheese board,
Bonnie's Jams are designed for pairing.
Before her jams were sitting on the shelves in many of the most highly regarded grocers around the country, Bonnie Shershow aimed to put her delicious jams on a shelf in Formaggio Kitchen, the renowned cheese shop in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The year was 1999.
After convincing the owner of Formaggio Kitchen to sell her small batch jams in a coveted spot on their shelves, she was also invited to create her crafted flavors in their kitchen on Sundays. The Cheese Mongers at Formaggio were always excited to taste and share their thoughts.
Using simple ingredients in small batches, Bonnie developed spectacular flavors that paired wonderfully with Formaggio Kitchen’s specialty cheeses. Thus, the deep origins of Bonnie’s Jams deliciously paired with artisan and farmhouse cheese.
Meet Bonnie Shershow
Bonnie grew up in Southern California in a house surrounded by acres of citrus trees and an incredible assortment of other fruit trees and berry bushes: pomegranates, persimmons, saucer peaches, macadamia nuts, kumquats and loquats, avocados, tangerines, black mission and kadota figs and more. She helped her mother gather fruit when it was ripe and fragrant for the extraordinarily tasty jam that she would carefully cook to fill jars that would serve them for the year, or until the next batch of perfectly ripe fruit was ready to pick.
When she began traveling, her search and discovery of jams of other countries became a preoccupation.
Following the scent of raspberries in a hill-town in Southern France, she found a small group of women stirring fruit in large copper pots and ladling exquisite, deep crimson, steaming “confiture” into lovely little jars with hinged lids; in Shanghai, she had the most delectable shiny bright orange apricot jam made by a transplant from the Netherlands; and in Cuzco, Peru, she enjoyed a fruit jam that is still a mystery today – but lingered in her mind as simply delicious!
We at Bonnie's Jams like to get creative and use her jams for more than toast. Bonnie made an intensely flavored glaze for chicken, duck and ribs from the Apricot Orange and Peach Ginger jams, a breakfast smoothie from the Strawberry Rhubarb or Raspberry Lime Rickey and a number of other dishes to fit the mood and the day. And she especially liked pairing them with cheese. We invite you to do the same – and let us know how they turn out!
