NATURE'S CANDY (back) Cover Reveal!

& Welcome to the new Camilla Wynne Missive

First of all, WELCOME.

Longtime subscribers to my newsletter might notice that the format has changed. I’ve finally made the leap to Substack, which just made sense as I’m already a columnist here for Nicola Lamb’s fantastic Kitchen Projects (with many exciting columns to come this year!). Moving to this platform means all posts will be archived and searchable, so it’s easy to find a recipe like today’s Candied Seville Margarita.

To all my new subscribers, welcome! This is a free newsletter (at least for the foreseeable future), irregularly scheduled, and usually contains a round up of my recent work, news about upcoming workshops and books, and often a recipe. I’m always happy to hear what you’d like to see more of. If you’re anything like me, you love newsletters but rarely have time to read them, so I’m mostly in touch when there’s big news. Speaking of…

photo: Mickael Bandassak

NATURE’S CANDY is now available for PRE-ORDER!!!

My new cookbook, Nature’s Candy, comes out on October 22nd and is now available for pre-order!!! If you’ve taken my candied fruit workshop, you’ll have a pretty good idea of what’s inside— myriad techniques for transforming fruits (as well as vegetables, nuts, flowers & herbs) into glistening candied jewels, altering their state and preserving their lifespan. That’s the first half. Then, because you’ll probably go wild candying everything in sight, the second half is full of recipes for incorporating that candied fruit into cakes, cookies, confections and more (—& they all work well with store-bought candied fruit as well).

In the coming months, I’ll be back with more stories about the process of writing a book with a new baby and photo shoots in Montreal (with Covid!) and Paris. The most important part about the latter is that I got to do it all again with my Jam Bake dream team, photographer Mickael Bandassak and stylist Michelle Marek.

Tomorrow I’ll be doing the big cover reveal on my Instagram, but I wanted to give my newsletter subscribers something exclusive, so for you I have the BACK cover reveal!!!

That right there is a perfect bowl of glacé fruits and fruits déguisés, folks! Shot in Paris in February 2023. As you can see, some very talented people have said some very nice things about this book.

I know you’ve almost definitely heard it before, but I cannot possibly understate how crucial pre-orders are to the success of a cookbook! More pre-orders means more stores will take notice and order the book. It means more money will be invested by the publishing company to promote the book. Basically it’s everything right now. I cannot tell you how much I would appreciate the support! (And you can always return it if, for some unfathomable reason, you don’t like it when you receive it.)

WORKSHOPS

In my lair

While I await the actual pub day for Nature’s Candy, I’ll be teaching some workshops, including one on candying fruit! I have 3 coming up before pausing for the summer.

My online workshops are 1.5 hours of lots and lots of knowledge to impart, so they’re generally not cook alongs, but they do come with notes and recipes, as well as a download of the recording to revisit in perpetuity (or to watch after the fact if you can’t make the date and time! in that case, I’m happy to answer questions via email after you watch). As always, the focus is on understanding the science behind the most streamlined possible method so you can be creative while making safe, shelf stable, delicious preserves.

CANNED FRUITS & COMPOTES / SUNDAY, MAY 5th at 1pm EST

For the lovers of canned peaches and heirloom applesauce! Stock your pantry with instant breakfast accompaniments or desserts-in-a-jar.

PICKLING / THURSDAY, MAY 9th at 7:30pm EST

For the lovers of sour and salty, learn to make perfect, CRUNCHY pickles from just about any vegetables.

CANDIED FRUIT / THURSDAY, MAY 30th at 7:30pm EST

Learn the candying techniques from Nature’s Candy so you can spend the summer transforming fruit into candy, then start baking with it once the book arrives!

photo: Mickael Bandassak

Finally, a toast!

I’d like to propose a toast to you—for being here! Thanks so very much. Stay tuned for more recipes and behind the scenes tales of how my latest cookbook came together—such as how Tim Mazurek agreed to write the foreword the first time we met over Chicago dogs at a hot dog shack across from a Sunset Rubdown concert.

I came up with this Seville orange margarita a few months ago but seem not to have photographed it, so I offer you a giant pile of Parisian market oranges instead. I hope you happen to have some candied Seville in syrup on hand, but if not never fear—it’s quite customizable. You just need a sour juice and a sweet syrup— could be lemon juice and candied stem ginger syrup for a lemon-ginger marg! Could be lime juice and the syrup from a jar of Fabbri candied strawberries. You could swap out some tequila for mezcal for smokiness. Or you could omit the booze entirely and top up with tonic.

Candied Seville Margarita

Makes 1

• 2 oz silver tequila

• 2 oz Seville orange juice

• 1 oz candied Seville orange syrup

In a ice-filled cocktail shaker, combine tequila, juice and syrup. Shake until chilled, about 30 seconds, then strain into a chilled rocks glass filled with ice. Garnish with a piece of candied Seville orange, if desired.

Until next time!

xo Camilla

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