The modern preserver: meet the brains behind Newton & Pott in Hackney

What exactly are feijoas and tamarillos?

Feijoas and tamarillos are indigenous to Colombia, but are quite popular in New Zealand. Tamarillos are my favourite. They are called “tree tomatoes” but they’re bittersweet. As soon as you add sugar they go into this beautiful, rich bittersweet flavour. I use them a lot throughout the book.

I think feijoas should be the New Zealand national fruit because we go a bit mad for them. They’re almost like a guava - hey’ve got this gritty texture and are almost medicinal in taste - somewhere between a pineapple and a strawberry, so quite unusual. Apparently they give you serotonin so they’re a happy fruit. They're quite hard to come by over here but I hope to popularise them. I’ve seen them down at my local Hackney Tesco of all places and Jamie Oliver talked about them recently.

How did you first get into preserving?

I’ve always cooked. Since the age of 10 we had to make dinner once a week and I used to love going through the 80s cookbooks and picking out recipes.

I’m a self-taught preserver. Six years ago I started making preserves for people as a Christmas present. People really loved getting this kind of homemade gift, so it was born from there. Since then it's taken over - it picked me rather than I picked it.

When I first got to London about 14 years ago, I worked in bars and then for a famous photographer called Wolfgang Tillmans. Eventually he relocated to Berlin, but I didn’t go with him and I didn’t know what I was going to do. I tried out floristry for a while and at the same time I started out this small company and it took off.

What was the moment that made you want to turn that into a business?

It has grown quite organically; there was no big decision-making. I just wanted to do something creative that also appeased my culinary skills. Initially I thought I could do some baking, but everyone’s a baker, you know? I just thought this is something different and it appeals to my sensibility of not wanting to waste.

You have some pretty crazy flavour combinations – how do you come up with them?

Because I have an art background I find it’s a really good outlet for me to be creative. I like to mix up flavours and be experimental - that's how I've come across all my recipes. In my book I encourage people to think about taste combinations and be experimental too.

The baked peach and vermouth, for example – I made a peach jam initially and it was super, super sweet and I just wanted to capture the peach as it was without it being too sickly. My husband had vermouth lying around for when we make risotto, so I gave that a go and it really works. I baked the peaches and soaked them in vermouth and it seems to bring out the richness of the peaches rather than the sweetness. It's a lot of playing around.

I like to use alcohol a lot in my jams – and herbs and florals. I’ve got a pear and lavender jam, an apricot and Amaretto and strawberry and Pimm's.

What is your favourite recipe from the book?

The tamarillo chutney is my favourite, favourite recipe of all time. It’s bittersweet and got this real richness to it. Some people say it’s like a posh Branston pickle, but it’s so much more than that.

Throughout the book I try and encourage people to eat preserves in alternative ways – it’s not just for Christmas on a cheeseboard with chutney. I eat it with everyday meals.

The tamarillo is great on poached or scrambled eggs in the morning.

Are there any new recipes you’ve been wanting to try?

I would like to do some mustards, which is not really preserving, but there is a certain kind of seeping and fermentation thing to it. I’d like to get more into fermentation – my book just touches on it and it’s a really intriguing process. I’ve got kimchi and sauerkraut in the book. And I’ve got homemade vinegars, which is like kombucha and it’s incredibly healthy for you.

Where do you get your ingredients?

I get mine at Old Spitalfields Market, wholesale. I love the exotic fruit guy to bits! His name is Kevin and he really looks after me.

Also, Hackney is really good for foraging. You can forage for blackberries everywhere. There are damsons, cherries and plumtrees everywhere too.

What inspires you in east London?

Food. London is an incredibly exciting place to be at the moment, and Hackney in particular is booming with foodies. My husband and I are big foodies – I’ve just been to a nutritionist who told me I’ve got to calm down a little bit. Broadway Market inspires me a lot – I think it’s my favourite market in London, just because of the variety. It’s not just the hot food – there’s lots of produce and lots of cool young designers.

What are some of your favourite London restaurants?

We really love Moro in Exmouth Market. Craft is fabulous. Paradise Garden just opened up in Bethnal Green. We like to high-and-low it, so we like to save all our pennies for really nice places, but then we’ll also get pizza or a burger. I really like Polpo, Hibiscus, The Fat Duck, Rotorino on Kingsland Road and Voodoo Rays for a slice of pizza. I really want to go to Lyle’s in Shoreditch the and Typing Room at the Town Hall – we’ve got a massive list at home. London’s full of beautiful restaurants.

You and your husband seem to make a good team…

My husband is a graphic designer – he designed the book. He had to pitch for the job and he got it. He’s just my backbone, I’m very lucky. He’s very tolerant. He’s put up with a lot of the vinegar smells in the house and stacks of jars and fruit everywhere.

What tips would you give to a beginner?

I started with chutneys – chutneys are a really good thing to start with, or pickles – because you don’t need a lot of equipment. You need to sterilise your jars of course. Sterilisation is key to preserving because that’s what makes it last longer by keeping bacteria out.

I would get some good jars and rubber sealed lids to start with, a big pan and make sure you’ve got lots of vinegars. With chutneys you don’t have to worry about temperatures, it’s just about making sure it doesn’t stick too much to the bottom of the pan. Pickles is just making up a brine – you infuse the spices into the vinegars and then pour it straight over the vegetables. And in some cases you salt the vegetables to keep them crunchy.

Jam's a bit more tricky - I was a bit intimidated when I first started, but it’s just practice. In my book there are small batch jams, which are the easiest. I don’t even use a thermometer. I use the wrinkle technique [explained in the book]. I also include troubleshooting techniques for how you can fix your jam if things go a bit wrong. Most of all you just need to have fun with it!

Any big plans for the future?

I would love to go around the world finding the best preserves for my next book. So I could go to India to find the best chutney, Poland to find the best pickle, America to discover their gherkins and France to learn their techniques of confiture and jam. I think that would be interesting.

I’ve had so much on, but this year I definitely have to get a kitchen in Hackney. All my products say handmade in Hackney and I do want to keep that handmade theme going on.

Kylee’s first book, The Modern Preserver, comes out on Thursday, August 20.