How the jam is being made....
The jams are produced on a small scale, inside the monastery, using the reduction method, based on an old recipe from the mother of one of the sisters. The ingredients are limited to fruit and (organically grown) granulated sugar. “Reduction” means that no jelling agent is used during the production process; rather, the sugar is given all the time it needs to “pull the taste out of the fruit.” This method takes longer and requires patience and attention, monastic values par excellence which are so rare in this age of “faster, more efficient, larger scale.”
During the production process, the sisters take into consideration sustainability and care for the environment. For that reason, they prepare all the jams with organic sugar and, when possible, they use locally grown fruits. When available, recycled packaging from other monasteries is used for packaging what is sold, and for shipping via their webshop, and they choose to use paper and cardboard rather than plastic.
What about the profits?
As prescribed by the Rule of St. Benedict, the sisters of Klaarland earn their living by the work of their hands: the profits from the sale of their products support the monastic community and cover the maintenance of the monastic buildings; anything left over is donated to charities.
These honestly delicious artisanal jams from Klaarland are sold in their own monastery store as well as in many monasteries in the Netherlands and Belgium, and in various other monastic stores and liturgical centers. Koningshoeven Abbey in the Netherlands, and St. Sixtus Abbey in Westvleteren, serve Klaarland's jams to guests who stay in their guest houses, a nice sign of the mutual bonds and solidarity among Trappist monasteries!
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