Pascale Troupin-Castania displays her gourmet product line at the Delray Beach Green Market.
Photos by Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star
By Jane Smith
Pascale Troupin-Castania lives in a jam-filled world in Delray Beach.
From the bounty of her backyard mango trees, she created a company, Pascale’s Confitures Artisanales, that sells jams and chutneys online, in 27 stores and at the Delray Beach Green Market and the West Palm Beach GreenMarket. Her company’s slogan is “The Delray Beach Jam Company.”
“All of our neighbors know us as the Mango House,” she said. After she and her husband, Michael, bought the home in April 2000, they were overwhelmed with the fruit produced by their two large mango trees. They shared the mangoes with their neighbors.
Troupin-Castania, 57, makes all the products with the prep help of a part-time worker who cleans and chops produce for four hours daily. Her husband does the sales and deliveries. He staffs the West Palm Beach booth, while she runs the Delray Beach stand.
Her company produces about 1,000 jars monthly of jams, preserves, chutneys, hot sauces and fruit syrups.
She comes from a long line of chefs and became a private chef at age 18 while still living in France. She later worked on private yachts as a chef, including one that docked in the Caribbean during the winter months and in the Mediterranean during the summer. She enjoyed buying fresh produce at the ports and fell in love with the variety of spices.
“I always made jam since I was young,” she said.
In 2010, she took three cases of her jam to the West Palm Beach GreenMarket and was surprised when everything sold in a matter of hours.
From that start, another friend who was a baker asked if she wanted to share a professional kitchen. She later took over the kitchen, switching out the electric stove for a gas one to better control the heat. “It’s more efficient,” she said.
To make the jams, she selected French copper pots because they heat more quickly. The chutneys, which contain vinegar and would react with copper, are made in stainless steel pots.
She now brings only five or six different products to the green markets because she found that customers were overwhelmed when they had more choices.
“People in Delray have a sweeter tooth,” she said, making her Pear Vanilla Cardamom and Apricot Lavender preserves top sellers.
Her biggest challenge is finding good quality fruits at reasonable prices.
Pascale’s Confitures Artisanales, 706-2646; www.Mangohouse.net
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