Of Preserving Folk25 year old Emma Craig can’t decide exactly what she wants to do with her life, but for now she’s happy rocking the pubs at night and making preserves by day.
That’s right – during the day, she makes a living out of creating jams, chutneys, pickles and even honey bread.
This isn’t what you’d expect from a 25 year old but Emma has found a niche in creating amazing, colourful and exotic blends of fruits, spices and honey, transforming her into successful ‘preserve-ess’.
“I love it that I’m doing something that people have done for centuries,” she said. “These days it isn’t necessary to preserve food in preparation for a shortage, but I still like to only use produce that’s in season.”
Based at her parents company, Blue Mountains Honey in Penrith, Emma has spent the last couple of years testing and tasting and now has a large range of preserves with unique flavours, textures and themes brandishing her own label – Peachtree. Emma’s creations are far from the traditional sickly sweet preserves so many of us have grown up with.
The young preserve-ess started out by making traditional jams varieties such as fig and berry but Emma admits, “I’m not a major jam eater myself so I wanted something different”.
Every product in the Peachtree range features honey as a key ingredient and usually spices or herbs of some sort. For example, Spiced Orange Honey Marmalade still has the bitter sweet trademark you’d expect in marmalade but it also has a surprising hint of something extra, the spice mix behind which Emma keeps deliberately quiet about.
Emma’s Christmas Jam (a multi-layered mixture of cranberry, strawberry, cloves, cinnamon and orange) has become a hit, while more exotic blends like Apple and Ginger Jam, and Pear and Cardamom Paste have customers intrigued and often, addicted.
When it comes to cooking, it’s all in the family. Dad, Steve, was a pastry chef and Emma remembers when he used to make wedding cakes. “I remember Dad decorating cakes for weddings. I always wanted to help but was never allowed so I would just sit and watch and stare
at the cakes… we love our food!” she adds with a giggle. Both her Grandmothers have also played a huge part in Emma’s passion for cooking. “Dads mum, who had seven children, was a great cook. She didn’t cook preserves but there was always something on the stove. Mums mum, on the other hand has always made jams. I often use her old recipes and ask for her advice if something isn’t working.”
Emma sources her fresh ingredients from local farmers whenever possible, mainly through various Hawkesbury Harvest growers. She also uses produce from Steve’s backyard crop which supplied pumpkins for last years batch of Roasted Pumpkin Relish.
The inspirational jam maker also has a ‘night job’, which is, according to Emma, where her biggest dreams come to life.
Emma is the lead singer of the self-described ‘quirky folk pop’ band, Emfatale & The Scary Rabbits, which plays at venues all around Sydney. Her boyfriend, Craig, plays guitar, bass and keys and does backing vocals for the band.
While Emma admits that she’s certainly not in the music industry for the money, she loves the satisfaction of writing a song and hearing the band perform it. Life experience is where Emma finds inspiration for her songs. “I like to write about things I see happening around me, whether they be good or bad,” she explains. “Public
transport is a great place to find inspiration. There is usually something happening or someone who looks like they have a story to tell. People in this area always have something to say.”
Rabbit Jam is set to be next on the menu. Aptly named after the band (and containing no actual rabbit), the jam will form a link between the two careers and will be sold at gigs.
So, how does an indie (independent musician) chick find herself making jam?
“Well.” Emma explains, “Mum calls me The Singing Chef because food and music have always been a huge part of my life. From the age of two I was singing in the car on the way to the markets. If I wasn’t a musician, I’d be a chef. I guess now I’m a singing jam maker.”
With two polar opposite but equally creative careers, Emma can’t afford for her imagination to dry up. “I love listening to birds.” Emma says, when asked how she manages to keep her creative juices flowing. “From a vocalists point of view birds are amazing. Their melodies are endless and timeless. I also find reading food magazines inspirational. I like to know which flavours are in vogue and what produce is available and in season.”
When asked what plans she has for her music career, her answer is infused with excitement; “To win an aria award of course!”
After meeting Emma and experiencing firsthand her zest for life, I have a feeling that this folk-popping, preserve-making, full of life chick is only just getting started.
Catch Emfatale & The Scary Rabbits on April 3 at The Mars Hill Café, Parramatta and on May 2 at Lansdowne in Broadway.
As featured in Hawkesbury Lifestyle, March 2009 
I saw this sign the other day: 
This man is amazing. He designed and constructed 5,127 prototypes, endured 14 years of debt and even ended up in court a few times. All in persuit of the perfect, bagless vaccuum cleaner.
It’s not often that a girl hailing from Ebenezer is chosen as one of only 30 in the finals of the Miss Australia contest but this year we’re in luck.
at the cakes… we love our food!” she adds with a giggle. Both her Grandmothers have also played a huge part in Emma’s passion for cooking. “Dads mum, who had seven children, was a great cook. She didn’t cook preserves but there was always something on the stove. Mums mum, on the other hand has always made jams. I often use her old recipes and ask for her advice if something isn’t working.”
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