We are all in, fully living the Spring life as the days get longer, filled with sunlight.

And with it comes waking up with desire! For toast with jam and butter! And maybe a cup of joe.

And our spring arrival of our favorite treats from France. La Trinquelinette. We may call them jam, but by French law they are not.

"By decree in France, the term "confiture" can only be used with a sugar level greater than 55%, which is why you will not find the word "jam" on our pots." - La Trinquelinette

In 1982, La Trinquelinette was founded by Bernard Berriley in the village of Trinquelin, a village in the Morvan National Park, in the Burgundy Region of France. A fruit farmer who turned his crop into jam with the credo of "More Fruit - Less Sugar."

These jars are jam-packed with incredible, amazing flavor, all without the corn-syrup sweetness your typical commercial mix brings. These are all, and I mean all, mind-blowing taste treats that you can't believe could be true!

Every spoonful is as your imagination wants all things to be, even better!

Make a great sponge. Technique is everything for perfection! Spread some jam!

Peanut butter and jelly. The go-to sandwich made with Wonder Bread for much of our grade school life until we hit puberty and high school, where cool was not a peanut butter and jelly anything.

Finding ones you like is both easy and difficult. When you crave a jam, any will often do.

If you have time, though, and you're not traveling, having one on hand that is outstanding is an important job to succeed at.

When it comes to strawberry, there are a zillion of those. And these days they are often more jelly-like than jam-smooth.

And then there are those that tout their big chunks of berry, which quite frankly ruins the spreadability of the jam. It is like spreading jam with speed bumps. And many are sickly sweet, and not in a happy sugar kind of way. More like a bad taffy that is stuck to your teeth kind of way.

And then there is this Fraise (strawberry) jam. It tastes like a strawberry, like you want it to.

The morsels that are left are not visual chunks or bumps. Instead, they are like packets of strawberry explosions.

The jam is sweet, of course, with sugar, yet when you are done with a spoonful, it is the flavor of strawberry that remains.

This French Strawberry Jam is like what you remember and want it to be. It is worth always having on hand for the daytime and for the late-night saltines, peanut butter, and Fraise jam. Just like what I used to do in high school.

From the crunch of the little seeds to the stickiness so expected everything is perfect. And it is all encapsulated in this fig jam.

Inside this jar you get the texture and taste of a fig but in a spreadable, smoothable jam. Wow! What could be better?

For the nose, there's not much to smell. To the mouth, there is joy filled with this intense richness of coffee, filled with sweetness of fruit and an explosion of freshness.

To the eye, the lid as you flip it over, has a wonderful blueberry burgundy color. It is perhaps more berry than scarlet.

Inside the jar, at the top, you see a glossy wash of jam with the bumps of little blueberries resting on top—like little heads floating in a calm sea.

The first spoonful is filled with the same, jam and berries swimming nicely together, visually appealing, a happy family.

The first bite presents a conundrum. Do you sweep it all at once like you would any spoonful? Or do you delicately use your top front teeth to draw it into your mouth cavity? I chose to use my upper lip to softly and carefully draw in the jam, the blueberry mix. And with my tongue I licked the bottom of the spoon, the backside, to clean every last morsel.

And what a taste it is! It is sweet, sugary, blueberry for sure, along with the delicious little globular shaped morsels which are the wild blueberries.

This is a jam with texture, with bite, with fun. Absolutely it is spoon-ready, meaning you could eat the whole jar with just a spoon.

To spread it on toast would be the opening moment to a perfect morning bite.

I am sure it would also easily lend itself to a delicate French croissant or accompanying a soft cheese.

As I have my fifth soup spoonful, I can think of a million excuses to have this jam in my life.

Sweet, with a wonderful texture, and blueberry flavor, if you love blueberries and like a little bite to your jam, this is another perfect La Trinquelinette jam to have on hand.

"I always had crepes as a child, and made them countless times for my daughter and granddaughter. There is nothing easier than making crêpes. I put a piece of butter to melt in a skillet, and by the time that butter is melted I have mixed enough milk, flour, and an egg to make half a dozen crepes. You can serve them with jam inside or something savory, like ham or cheese. Easy and delicious." -- Jacques

And with the recipe you can see Jacques explaining how he makes crepes!

Sometimes unrequited love is worth it.

For many of us, apricots are a whatever or never touch'em and others can't wait until May or June when the first of the apricots are ripe on the tree.

A great fresh apricot is like candy. Hard to comprehend when our first taste of an apricot is a dried one, tart and chewy and quite unappealing. So we think, why bother.

So many foods, when you enjoy them fresh, as close to the earth as possible, picked-at-their-peak, can be mind-blowing good. Like a fresh apricot.

And sometimes, those foods can be transformed, placed into a jar and come out just like you want them to be. Freshly delicious!

And that is what we have here. Apricot fruit cooked in a copper cauldron with brown sugar, where time and patience make all the difference.

This jam is by all standards, amazing! It tastes like fresh apricots, though never sharp or sour, it is a spoonful of a sweet treat.

The flavor of apricot, the way a freshly bitten fruit would be, is all there, swelling like a balloon rising, the smoothness of the flavor envelops all the senses, with the right cheek filling more than the left and then the tongue feels the weight of the flavor. And then suddenly you realize the physical being is gone, and all you are tasting is the memory!

And what a memory! It is indeed splendiferous.

And it is indeed spoon-ready, perfect for a croissant, sourdough bread, scone, oatmeal, cheese, pork chop and chicken. And of course crepes!

What's Happening in the Store

Did you know the store often has more? And 2 parking lots!

Come, taste and check it out! Pick your favorite and meet friends new and old who all love food. We love it when you hang out!

June, 2026
Monday - Saturday 10am-5pm
ChefShop Retail Shop, 1425 Elliott Ave West, Seattle

Open this jar and you are greeted with a loose, bumpy surface of jam.

This look makes you want to skim the surface instead of taking a big dip with your spoon. As you skim the surface, you pick up bits and pieces and as you lift the spoon the jam trails on.

To the nose, you smell the wonderful combination of strawberry and rhubarb. This is one of our favorite fruit combinations on the planet.

It is just as you dream about, but even better, way better!

To the tongue, there is the jelly, smooth and flavorful, that moves gently as you push it this way and that. The little bits of flesh, that only a strawberry can feel like, are a wonderful chew, which seems to enhance the flavor experience. Like a tactile reinforcement to your mouth.

It is delicious. It is sweet, it is fruity, it creates visions of a perfect croissant in your mind's eye. This jam is meant for flakey buttery pastry. And a large spoon!

This easy delicious recipe is perfect for a crowd!

We first introduced this to the crowd in Aspen, and they loved it! They couldn't get enough! Let it rest overnight and it melds and mellows and magnifies. Keep in mind that emmer likes to be al dente and not soft and mushy!

Farro is a grain that has been enjoyed since ancient times. It's non-GMO, high in fiber, protein, and nutrients, and absolutely delicious. It is nutty, full-flavored, with an appealingly chewy texture.

Emmer was one of the earliest domesticated crops in the Near East, where it was highly valued as a crop that would do well in poor soil. There are even indications of humans consuming emmer as early as 17,000 B.C., even before the advent of agriculture! It was grown in Egypt and Mesopotamia and eventually migrated, as many grains did, through the Mediterranean region and Europe.

Emmer was appreciated because it grew well in many soils and for its heartiness. It is very high in protein and nutrients, and it was valued just as much by some cultures, particularly the Italians, for its flavor. This organic emmer is toothsome, wholesome, and full of big, nutty grain flavor. And this organic, whole grain emmer farro is especially healthy!

Grains like the whole grain emmer farro have three parts to the edible kernel: the endosperm, the germ, and the bran. The endosperm is the inner soft, white carbohydrate portion. The germ contains many proteins, and the bran holds the vitamins and minerals.

Farro is naturally high in fiber and nutrients and due to growing conditions, this emmer has a whopping 17-19% protein. And in this whole grain version, nothing has been removed. Farro described as "pearled" or "semi-pearled" has had all or part of the bran removed and has often been parboiled as well, which speeds up the cooking time but takes away from the nutritional value, nutty flavor, and texture.

Whole grain Emmer Farro is quite versatile. It works as the basis for a robust, meal-in-itself salad or a simple side dish. The organic farro cooks up beautifully, retaining a chewy texture and nutty flavor, and works well with robust flavors like red wine, wild mushrooms, onions, and also meat.

Chefs love it because you can cook it for the beginning of service and it is still robust at the end of the night.

Watch a short clip about a farmer talking about Einkorn and see Emmer just after harvest intercropped with camelina here!

This oil is a definite go-to all year round and especially now that the grill is hot and temperatures even hotter!

Grill your veggies until they sweat and then drizzle this lemon pressed olive oil liberally all over! This oil makes everything taste amazing! No hot kitchen time, just easy!

When it is so hot and all you want to do is lay around all day, this oil makes dinner for you! Boil your pasta to just the right firmness (al dente) and then drizzle with lemon olive oil, parmigiano-reggiano and a pinch of capers. Perfect.

One whiff and your nose is filled with a wonderful lemon scent, without any bitter notes. To the eye, it has a nice yellow green color and darkens with depth.

To the mouth, it is pure joy. A sip is lemony. By the mouthful, it takes a moment for the lemon to evolve into a gentle wash that passes through. As the oil swishes the lemon moves to the outside in the cheeks and to the back of the throat. It has a bit of roll around action and when the oil has dissipated, the upper part of your cheeks seem to keep the lemon flavor!

The finish has a little bit of bitter on the top outer edge of the tongue and a hint of heat in the lower back of the throat - enough to create a little cough.

Summer is better with Sorrento lemon infused olive oil from Italy.

To taste a Bing is indeed like eating a cherry. It is the flavor you expect. It is the flavor that a cherry is. The flesh and the juice are dark (richly dark, full of pigment) and you know this because this cherry stains with a gorgeous deep reddish color. If you only have one cherry this season, it might be the one to have.

The Bing is the definition of classic cherry flavor—bold, sweet-tart, and unmistakably itself. Its sweetness and acidity are in genuine balance with each other, neither overwhelming the other, which gives it depth and complexity that flatter, sweeter varieties lack. It finishes with a clean brightness, a slight tang from malic acid, that most other sweet cherries don't deliver. Where the Rainier is honeyed and delicate and the Early Robin is mild and gentle, the Bing is assertive. It tastes completely, satisfyingly like a cherry because it is the cherry—the variety that set the standard everything else is measured against.

What is perhaps its most remarkable characteristic is its consistency. Year to year, site to site, the Bing maintains a flavor profile that customers recognize and return to with confidence. The Bing has stayed the Bing in part because the cherry itself resists the pressures that change other varieties.

A French Gimlet is a modern, floral variation of the classic gin Gimlet cocktail, replacing simple syrup with French elderflower liqueur (typically St-Germain). It consists of gin, St-Germain, and fresh lime juice, often shaken and served chilled for a refreshing, slightly sweet, and botanical taste. We make ours with Elderflower syrup for a lighter feel.

This chocolate berry smoothie is a perfect way to get a little of that healthful ChefShop cocoa powder into your morning routine. Perfect for the summer when the berries are everywhere.

The summer is a great time to grind the rice koji into dust, spread it on your steak, and let the steak rest for a couple of hours to overnight. Then wash it off, pat it dry, and cook it on the grill. Magic!

The best thing about Koji is that it inspires you to explore in the kitchen. Throw out preconceptions; what you thought was true is by the wayside, and spread the love of Koji on your meat, your veggies, your meals so that life is renewed, optimistic, and a place where change can make things taste good at the same time as being the same.

Think of it as mold that is your friend and not your enemy. Once you get to know it, you will find it can make your life better. And once you get used to it all, pretty much, it will seem normal, like a friend that you always wished you had. Yes, it is different, but that is okay.

If anything can turn straw into gold, it would be Koji. I suspect that those who say Koji is not magic don't believe in magic, even when they see it right before their very eyes. For some things in life, explanations are only there to take the fear away from that which cannot be explained.

Koji was crafted 9,000 years ago, most likely under another name, in an earthen jar in China, and it has been a staple of food alchemy ever since. Just not so much here, at least not until recently.

There is a lot of science in Koji. Papers have been written about the subject.

Professional pastry chefs are using ChefShop Grande Brut because it does several things well at once: deep flavor, smooth texture, rich color, easy blending, low acidity, and real versatility across applications. It is a many-trick cocoa powder.

We stock it now because after working with it ourselves, we found it spectacular! It makes a giant difference!

ChefShop Grande Brut contains 22% to 24% cocoa butter. That is significantly higher than most cocoa powders on the market, and it is one of the main reasons we chose it. That extra cocoa butter is not a minor detail. It changes how the cocoa tastes, how it blends, and what your finished desserts actually feel like.

What "Brut" Means

The word comes from French—raw, pure, uncompromised. In cocoa powder, it signals a bold, concentrated style with deep color and serious chocolate flavor. It is the cocoa you reach for when chocolate needs to be the point.

Why Cocoa Butter Content Matters

Most people focus on cocoa percentage (and with cocoa powder it is always 100% as it has no sugar) and overlook fat content entirely. It is the balance between cocoa mass and cocoa butter that matters. Cocoa butter is the natural fat in the cacao bean, and it shapes everything about how cocoa performs in a recipe.

Shop now for ChefShop Grande Brut Cocoa Powder here!

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