Clearbrook Farms has been in the business of making the finest fruit-based products for 85 years. At Clearbrook Farms we believe in only using Grade A fruit to make our preserves and fruit butters. Our fruits are grown by small, family-owned farms in the premium growing regions of the United States. Oregon Black Raspberries are one of the smallest and most unique berries grown in the United States. We use Michigan Red Tart Montmorency Cherries and hand-picked Wild Maine Blueberries. These fruits exemplify the types of regional fruits found in Clearbrook Farms preserves. Clearbrook Farms follows a four-generation family tradition of using the highest-quality ingredients combined with time-honored production methods.
The company started with Jacob Liscow and his father Abraham in 1924 making red raspberry fillings for Dolly Madison Bakeries. From there, the family expanded into making various fruit fillings for pastries, doughnuts, cookies and turnovers. The next generation made special batches of the family’s favorite preserves once a year during the holidays as gifts for family, friends and business associates. So prized were these gifts of old-fashioned preserves that their recipients would find a way to make them last throughout the year until the next batches were made! After more than 25 years the next generation of the family launched a full line of retail products at the International Fancy Food and Confection Show in 1979.
Today, the production is still carefully tended by family members. Each batch of Clearbrook Farms’ preserves and fruit butters has fruit as the Number 1 ingredient and is made with only pure cane sugar. We do not use high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, artificial colors, flavors, or preservatives. “We use our family’s technique of cooking our preserves under vacuum at low temperatures to maintain the fruits’ identity, naturally intense flavors and brilliant colors,” says Dan Cohen, vice president of Clearbrook Farms and grandson of Jacob Liscow.
For the past 25 years, OU Kosher certification has enhanced the quality perception of Clearbrook’s products. “The OU symbol is a perfect fit for our products because it is the universal sign for purity and is recognized throughout the world,” Mr. Cohen continues.
“It doesn’t matter whether you’re Jewish, Muslim or in Japan, the OU certification mark is a sign of purity in our industry,” he says.
Available to consumers in grocery and specialty stores as well as through mail and on line catalogs, the Clearbrook Farms line features 13 preserves, seven fruit butters, and five flavors of Fruit.Tart fruit fillings. A special reusable canning jar is available for many of the products, creating attractive packaging that is also an environmentally- friendly container to reuse. Clearbrook Farms has always identified on its labels the origin of the fruit in its preserves and fruit butters. Clearbrook Farms has been covered in numerous national magazines and newspapers and has received numerous industry awards.
Private labeling and selling ingredients to foodservice clients remain a tradition and a large part of the business. “If you want to do business with large companies like Krogers and Krispy Kreme, you have to be certified. It’s critical to them,” Dan Cohen says. Clearbrook Farms also sells its preserves in food service sizes to bakeries, hotels, restaurants and caterers.
“The OU symbol goes hand-in-hand with the high quality perception of specialty foods,” notes Cohen. Four generations of family expertise and an ongoing commitment to crafting the finest quality products — combined with kosher certification — guarantees consumers the purest product on the market. The company’s family adage still holds true: “Taste them once, be spoiled for life.”
Rabbi Chaim Loike serves as Orthodox Union rabbinic coordinator for Clearbrook Farms.