Pantry

Romania's sweetened chestnut puree from Răureni — slow-cooked chestnut into silky spread, ancestrally Romanian. Pale amber, nutty-mellow, the Bucha...

Raspberry jam was the jar saved for Sunday breakfast, sweeter and a little more special than the everyday one. This is Mühlhäuser raspberry jam, a ...

A jar of plum preserve on the breakfast table was the quiet start to the morning, spread thick on bread. Marco Polo's Plum Preserve comes from Marc...

Bosnian šljiva, home set. Extra's plum jam — orchard fruit cooked the home way, sweeter than pekmez and easier to spread. Fills buhtle, layers krem...

Bosnian winter tonic. Spektar's rosehip marmalade — wild šipak cooked to a glowing amber set, carrying the vitamin-C reputation Bosnian grandmother...

Russia's plum confiture from Traditsii Vkusa — slow-cooked plum preserve, dark-rich and lacquer-glossy. Thick-spreadable, plum-deep, the diaspora-R...

Mixed fruit marmalade on morning toast was a taste straight from grandmother's pantry shelf. Vitaminka 1947 makes this Miješana Marmelada (mixed ma...

Jars of homemade jam lined grandmother's pantry shelf every autumn, drenjak (cornelian cherry) among the tartest and most prized. This is Vitaminka...

Va-Va's green cocktail — Macedonia's gherkin-forward mixed pickle, all green peppers and small cucumbers in a sharp vinegar brine. Snap-firm, brine...

Magiun simmering for hours in a copper pot until it turned almost black was how grandmothers stretched a plum harvest into a whole winter of breakf...

Gem de gutui, slow-cooked. Livada's quince jam — Romanian orchard fruit reduced to a deep amber set, 100% gutui with no apple or grape filler. The ...

Marco Polo fig preserve — slow-cooked fig in syrup, honey-amber and fruit-soft. Glossy-tender, fig-deep, the diaspora-pantry sweet-jar standard. Sp...

Marco Polo jars have sat on diaspora pantry shelves since around 1980, an American company that kept making preserves the old way. This is their So...

Chef K Artisan Spicy — Macedonian small-jar heat register. The Artisan line of Chef K — kapija-pepper roast with chili-warmth in the starter format...

Chef K Macedonian Ajvar — small-format mild register. Chef K's mild kapija-pepper Macedonian recipe in the starter pour — oil-finished, sweet-smoky...

Va-Va Malijano — Macedonia's eggplant-forward spread. Roasted eggplant carries the body, kapija pepper rides minority, oil finishes the gloss. Ajva...

Every Romanian pantry has a shelf of zacusca jars put up in the fall, a whole garden's worth of vegetables cooked down for the winter ahead. This i...

Ajvar spread thick on fresh bread is the taste of Balkan autumns, when the peppers came in and every family made a batch. This is Va-Va's Mild Ajva...

Va-Va's somborka fillets — Macedonia's long red somborka pepper sliced into ribbons, brined sharp, snap-firm. Bright vinegar, sweet-pepper undernea...

The kick of hot ajvar on a slice of bread is a taste that instantly brings back late-summer pepper season back home. Zimnica's Premium Ajvar is a h...

Pickled beets on the table are a quiet fixture of Balkan and Slavic meals, the deep red jar always within reach. This is Va-Va Premium Foods' Red B...

Macedonia's baby gherkins in Va-Va's holiday-host jar — the largest pour for the family dinner that draws cousins. Small whole cucumbers, snap-firm...

A jar of dill pickles always sat on the table growing up, sharp and cold next to whatever was on the grill. These are ZerGüt Dill Pickle Spears, Po...

A jar of Podravka peppers on the shelf is as familiar in Croatian kitchens as the brand's own Vegeta seasoning. This is Podravka's Mild Peppers, ma...