Take 5 with Carolina Braunschweig

Title: Jam maker CMB Sweets
Hometown: Miami, FL, in California for five years

1. What's your jam philosophy?
I want to stay true to the fruit. I try to have big clean flavors. I'm not going to add lavender or almonds to jam. I don't make "gourmet jam" but I use less sugar and more fruit. I use high quality produce and I look for best flavor quality from local producers. Some of the fruit comes directly from the growers and mostly it's California grown. I go to the farmer's market and taste everything. Once I find a fruit I like I stick with that grower all season long.

2. How did you get started making and selling jam?
I was a reporter for a long time and I covered venture capitalism, entrepreneurship and start-ups. I had this co-worker and we'd complain about our jobs and evil bosses and contemplate quick-rich schemes. I suggested a "jam of the month club" I had read about local jam maker June Taylor and it seemed like people in the Bay Area really liked jam. After that I decided to learn how to make jam.

I went online and downloaded all these strawberry jam recipes and I bought strawberries and sugar and Ball jars. Then I sent out an email inviting people to join my jam of the month club. Initially people thought it was a "rock concert" jam of the month club! At first I got only three responses, but slowly I got more and more.

3. What's your favorite flavor and favorite way to eat jam?
The blackberries--olallieberry or boysenberry but I sometimes have a weird craving for pomegranate. I have a mix of jam leftovers in my fridge it's blackberry, strawberry and raspberry and that's what I eat most often.
I like it on toast with butter or with yogurt.

4. How did you come up with your unique labels with characters on them?
The original label had a line rendering of the GG bridge and on top I was going to put the flavor on a sticker. The first flavor was orange and I remember thinking that I wanted a picture of an orange with a smiley face on it. A friend and I worked on it and then we added arms and legs to the orange. The bridge was nice but the characters were more fun.

5. What are your plans for the future?
The jam is moving into more and more bigger stores, but I'd like to have a wider national presence. I'd like to expand the product line and add more products such as fruit syrups and Italian fruit mustards.