Pastry chef Camilla Ingr has been preserving and canning for the better part of 10 years. Now she’s turned her obsession into a business with Preservation Society, (www. preservationsociety.ca) churning out the most delectable spreads and pickled-veggies this side of your grandma’s house. We chatted with her about favourite sneakers, Christmas in jar and seventh-grade shopping trips.
Tell me about Preservation Society and how it got started.
I’d left both my jobs at the end of the summer and I knew I wanted to open something of my own, either a bakery or a preservers. I know a lot of great bakeries in this town but there aren’t a lot of preservers.
Did you grow up preserving?
Noooo. Both of my grandmothers were excellent preservers—one had a whole pantry full of canned goods because she lived on a farm—but my parents were not into it. I started in my early-20s. The first thing I made was some prepared orange rinds I called Momalade.
What’s your favourite canned good?
My grandmother wrote the recipe out for me, and I actually have it framed above all my cans and jars. It says: “I remember how much you loved these”; they were canned raspberries in a really simple syrup. I even found a beetle in one once, but I still love them.
What have you been working on for the holidays?
There’s the Christmas Clementine Marmalade with Christmas spices and rum. I’m really stoked about the reviews I’m getting, even marmalade haters are loving it. It basically tastes like Christmas in a jar. I’m also really, really stoked about a new one called Fall Sweater: it’s an idea I’ve had for a long time and it’s made with apples, pears, spices and lots of St-Ambroise Pumpkin Ale, which is my favourite beer in the fall.
What does style mean to you?
It’s a funny thing, it’s always in flux. I definitely have a personal style but it’s not constant. I often consign stuff and a year later I’m like, “Shit! I should’ve kept that.” I don’t think my style is particularly determined by what’s out there I’m sort of sheltered—I wore red sweatpants out last night, to go dancing.
Do you remember your first experience vintage shopping?
It was probably in seventh grade. I was constantly at Value Village looking for things like funny T-shirts. I wore a lot of old moth-eaten wool sweaters at the time, with the elbows blown out.
Favourite piece of clothing?
My Reebok Freestyles. I would have them in every colour if I could.
Is there a piece of clothing you’re addicted to?
I buy jackets, it’s insane. I don’t need them but I will always buy them. And boots, always the same kind of boots, black ankle boots. I get home and realize, “Shit, I’ve already got two pairs of those.”
***Preservation Society (Found)erie POP UP SHOP MASH UP is on from November 23 to December 23.