Many years ago, when Ron Leeman was a little boy, he enjoyed the jams his mother and grandmother would make. Little did he know that later in life he would be cooking and canning 12,000 jars of jam and relishes each year for sale throughout Maine and in Connecticut and Colorado.
For the past few years, Leeman’s Forgotten Recipes have been available at Wiscasset’s Main Street Pier, offering 21 varieties of homemade jams and relishes from his family recipes.
Although Leeman has been offered thousands of dollars for his wild blueberry jam recipes from large jam producers, he has declined the offers. “I want the Forgotten Recipes business to remain a family business. I only want it to grow as much as I can handle. I have always sold quality and I want to maintain control of that quality,” Leeman said. “I would much rather explain the price of my product, than to apologize for its quality.”
Leeman said he has been asked several times to share his wild blueberry jam recipes, but as with his grandmother and mother before him, the recipes remain a secret.
A lady once demanded that he give her the recipe, and he asked her if she would sign her monthly retirement check over to him. The lady said, “Why would I do that?” He told her, “That is exactly what you are asking me to do.”
According to Leeman, when his mother passed the wild blueberry jam recipe on to him, he wrote it down on a piece of paper, folded it, and was about to put it in his pocket. His mother said, “If you decide to make the jam, I will tell you the rest of the recipe.” The complete recipe was never written on paper.
Leeman, a Maine native, is a graduate of the University of Maine Orono with a degree in agricultural sciences. He worked for many years traveling throughout the country as a poultry specialist and sales representative for a large poultry company.
In the mid-1980s, Leeman said he read an article in Reader’s Digest about a Russian immigrant who could not keep a job, he would either get fired or quit his job. As his mother lay dying, he sat by her bedside wondering how he was going to make it in life.
She whispered in his ear, “Don’t forget recipe,” referring to a sauce used in Russia. That Russian immigrant became a millionaire, according to the article. Leeman said that article got him thinking of his own family recipes, and he decided to see where they would take him.
In 1995 he began making relishes, and sold them at the Montsweag Flea Market in Woolwich. In 1996 he made some wild blueberry jam and entered it into a contest against 10 other jams made in Maine. His jam came out the winner.
After the contest, several people came up to him and said, “We used to have something like that in our family but my grandmother died and we forgot the recipe.” Leeman said that is when he came up with the name for his business, Forgotten Recipes.
In 2008, Leeman began his Forgotten Recipes business at the Heritage Village. Before that he had sold his jam at craft shows and flea markets.
During the interview with Leeman at his kiosk on the Main Street Pier, a lady came in and said her mother used to make the best raspberry jam. Leeman, who offers samples of all his jams and relishes, suggested she try his raspberry jam. She took a sample on a cracker and said, “That is good, I will take a jar.”
Leeman offers serving suggestions for his jams and relishes. For example, to make a chip dip, combine one part of his hot relish with two parts fat-free cream cheese. For milkshakes and smoothies, combine 1/2 a blender full of vanilla ice cream, with 1/2 cup milk and two heaping teaspoons of Forgotten jam, blend and serve. He also has a recipe for sweet honey mustard chicken pork chops.
Leeman has survived two bouts with cancer, and two years ago suffered a heart attack. He said he is very thankful to have his health back, and now works at his own pace. He admits he has slowed down some, but retirement is not in the near future. “I told my wife I might consider it at 97, but I may never retire,” he said. Leeman and his wife Sharon live in Wiscasset.
The Forgotten Recipes will live on for generations, according to Leeman, “I have a son and two grandsons that I will share the recipes with someday,” he said.
His products include: wild blueberry syrup, wild blueberry jam, strawberry jam, triple berry jam, raspberry jam, blackberry jam, apple butter, rhubarb jam, wild Maine blueberry-rhubarb jam, strawberry-rhubarb jam, and raspberry-rhubarb jam. He also has sugarless jams. Other products include sweet honey mustard, hot relish, onion-cucumber relish, and green tomato piccalilli.
Leeman’s jams and relishes are available at his kiosk on the pier seven days a week from 11 a.m until evening. They are also available at Judi’s Country Store at the Heritage Village, Papa Geppetto’s, next door to Red’s Eats; The Pantry in Boothbay, Yellowfront Grocery in Damariscotta, Moody’s Gift Shop in Waldoboro, and several other locations throughout Maine.
“I don’t want to be the largest company, I want to be the best,” Leeman said.
