What “Ingredient-Forward” Really Means

You may have heard us use the phrase ingredient forward when we talk about our food. It is not a trend or just a marketing phrase, it’s the commitment we have made when creating our products. At New Canaan Farms, being ingredient forward means putting whole fruits, vegetables, and herbs at the very center of everything we create. It means starting with real ingredients and letting them lead. It means flavor that comes from the field and the garden, not from fillers or additives.

It Starts with the Fruit

When we make jam, our goal is straightforward: use as much real fruit as we can.

Most of the jams in our collection contain more than one cup of fresh fruit in every jar. By volume, that is far more fruit than sugar. Our Country Apple Butter, for example, has nearly half a pound of apples in each jar. That is why when you open it, it smells like apples and tastes truly like apples

When we add complementary flavors, we do it thoughtfully and as naturally as we can. We gently roast pecans in our kitchen to deepen their mild, nutty flavor before blending them into our Peach Amaretto & Pecan Jam and Pecan Honey Crème. We simmer fresh serrano peppers with cranberries for our Cranberry Pepper Jam and cook fresh jalapeños into our Raspberry Jalapeño Jam. For our Rose Hibiscus Jelly, we steep the rose hibiscus petals for a full 24 hours before making the jam so the flavor is rich and fully developed. Our Lemon Fig Jam is infused with fresh lemon slices for brightness that feels clean and true.

Each step is thoughtful and not rushed because we want to honor that fact that each ingredient has a purpose within.

Vegetables and Herbs, Not Fillers

This same thought process carries into our homemade salsas. They are all packed with vegetables and herbs, sometimes even with fruit woven in, and are built entirely around whole ingredients. Garlic, onions, serranos, and most of our jalapeños are used fresh. In our Cilantro Salsa, we hand chop fresh cilantro just before adding it so its aroma and flavor remain vibrant. In our Peach Salsa, we use generous chunks of ripe peaches and balance them with diced jalapeños and freshly grated ginger. The sweet and the spice come from the ingredients themselves.

Sauces That Are Truly Fruit Forward

If you want to see ingredient forward in action, take a look at our sauces. Our Raspberry Chipotle Sauce contains nearly two cups of raspberries in every jar. That is almost 90 percent of what you are tasting! Our Mango Habanero Sauce has over half a pound of mango in each jar, along with fresh habaneros and ginger.

These sauces are dense with fruit because once again, we want to honor the true flavor. 

We Let It Simmer

We simmer our recipes in small kettles, giving them time. As they cook, excess water gently evaporates, concentrating the flavors and creating rich, balanced textures. We do not use fillers. We do not rely on artificial preservatives. We hand fill each har to ensure they are carefully filled and sealed to preserve what nature already made good.

So when we say ingredient forward, we mean this: You can truly taste what is inside.

Real fruit. Real vegetables. Real herbs. Cooked slowly, thoughtfully, and with care. It is not complicated. It is just the way we believe good food should be made.