Sometimes you just want to go home. Liz Cowan had traveled the world for 15 years as a fashion stylist. Looking back on all the cities she’d visited, she realized that the best memories revolved around food. Liz was determined to find a way to turn this first love into a job.
A frequent entertainer, she liked to serve cheese and charcuterie, but noticed it was difficult to find good accompaniments made in the United States. So she started making her own, using local ingredients from Oregon’s Willamette Valley (near her home in Portland) combined with global flavors from her travels.
French Onion Confit is a tasty mashup of Oregon’s famous Walla Walla onions with the flavors of the perfect bowl of French onion soup. Cabernet Cracked Pepper pays homage to the Willamette Valley wine industry and Tomato Tapas Jam takes its inspiration from Liz’s memory of the ripest tomatoes from Spain.
Each jam-tastic creation is dressed up in a jar with a stunning label—no surprise that Liz understands the power of a great brand. But she also knows that true beauty lies within. She's all about producing jams of the highest possible quality.
Three Little Figs truly takes small-batch to a new level. A team of skilled jam-makers first hand-cut organic fruits and vegetables then cooks them down in copper pots. Each batch produces fewer than 15 jars!
Owning a small business means doing a bit of everything (just like on a fashion shoot), but Liz is happiest when she’s in the kitchen, and her favorite part of the process is creating a new flavor. Her goal is to create spreads with complex flavors and just the right texture, and to show people that jam isn’t just for breakfast.
Now, whether she’s throwing a party or attending one, she knows exactly what she wants to bring.
Name one tough part of your day:
Deciding which flavors to cut from our line. If we produced everything I love, we would fill a shelf!
What do you think the secret is to great preserves?
We love our farmers. They are as obsessive as we are about doing things the “right” way. Sourcing our ingredients so close to our kitchen allows for fruit to fully ripen on the vine or tree as it should. We also search high and low for the best spices, vinegars and, of course, booze. We cook with love, and it shows.