If you wander through downtown Bigfork, you will spot the sign, Eva Gates Homemade Preserves and what appears to be a little cottage set back from the street with an inviting bench under a covered porch. Enter through the screen door and if you get there on a cooking day, you will be met with the sweet fragrance of fruit bubbling on the stovetop and a friendly greeting from one of the cooks, who might also be the person who offers you samples or helps you with your purchase. While tasting the preserves you might think to yourself, “It tastes just like grandma’s.” Not surprising, because the preserve recipes used today, are still hand made in small batches using the same recipe that was passed down to Eva Gates by her great grandmother.
The story of Eva Gates Homemade Preserves began 75 years ago with a huge crop of strawberries in George and Eva Gates’ garden patch. Eva set out to make sure none of these strawberries went to waste. Using her grandmother’s recipe, she began making preserves on a wood cookstove in their two-room log cabin in Bigfork. With more than she could use, she gave jars to her friends and neighbors. They couldn’t get enough and offered to pay for more. When Eva told George she wished she could make her preserve-making a business, he told her, “If something is good enough, people will buy it.” It was — and they did. Over a million jars of preserves and 75 years later, it is clear that George was right.
Encouraged by her husband’s words, Eva began producing strawberry preserves, five pints at a time. They sold them locally at first and then the couple took to the road to sell preserves out of a panel truck. The homemade preserves received national attention when their friend and ABC radio host Frank Hemingway mentioned Eva Gates Homemade Preserves on his morning show, which was broadcast throughout the West.
The business continued to grow as they expanded their product line to include six different preserves and three syrups. They were the first to commercially sell huckleberry preserves, which is their best seller today. In 1952, they hired their first employee and in 1954 they built a new log home and turned over their former log home to the thriving business.
Observing that the preserves were often purchased as gifts, they added gift boxes that were especially popular for Christmas holiday giving. Christmas remains one of their busiest times as they fill orders for a variety of gift packs available online that are shipped worldwide. Longtime employee Abbey Monroe recalls a customer who had given a gift pack to his sister every year and decided one year to get her something different. After receiving the alternative gift, his sister called him and said, “Where’s my preserves?” He immediately called the shop – and she got her preserves.
In 1966, the old wood cookstove needed replacing so they ordered a commercial Lang stove that was customized to simulate the old stove’s heating surface. Varying temperatures on the stovetop allowed the rotation of pots and staggered pouring during the canning process.
In 1973, after 24 years, 82-year-old Eva handed the business over to her son Lou and his wife Maxine. Another big change came in 1979 when the business was moved from the homestead to a building in downtown Bigfork.
Eva continued to be a presence in the shop until she passed away in 1985 at the age of 94.
The business was passed down to the third generation when Pam Gates-Siess took over the business in 1985 and was joined by her sister Gretchen Gates in 1991. The building was replaced in 1993 by the charming cottage-like store that exists today. Eva’s granddaughter Gretchen Gates explains, “We wanted it to look like a grandma house — welcoming and friendly.”
Gretchen stepped up to head the business when Pam passed away in 1999. As Eva Gates Homemade Preserves celebrates its 75th anniversary this year, Gretchen also observes a milestone with 25 years heading the family business. She grew up with Eva Gates Homemade Preserves, remembering the smell of warm preserves and also grandma Eva’s perfume as she wrapped her in a big hug. She helped out in the kitchen from a young age, washing fruit and helping her granddad fill trays with preserves. She is trying to step back now and her son Job Sun is stepping up to spend more time in the shop doing a variety of tasks including berry-washing and cooking. Job has nearly 30 years under his belt and remembers berry-washing and lawn-mowing when he was a teen.
Job puts in long hours in July and August with the arrival of the wild huckleberries gathered by local pickers. At the height of the season, he says they take in as much as 500 pounds in a day on the two days per week that they accept fruit. One major change is the price of huckleberries, revealed in an ad placed in the Daily Inter Lake in 1976, “Huckleberries Wanted. 75 cents clean. All you can bring.” This past summer, fruit was commonly advertised for $80 per gallon, which is approximately $16 per pound, almost 20 times as much as in 1976. The shop gets a better price as a retail buyer, but it is still a substantial amount, probably explaining the berry’s nickname of Montana gold.
They try and buy as much of their fruit locally as possible for the six different preserves (wild huckleberry, strawberry, blackcap, raspberry, spiced apple, and red cherry) and wild huckleberry, blackcap and chokecherry syrups.
As the fruit comes in, it is washed and sorted with a berry washing machine that George purchased years ago from an eastern Montana farmer who used the machine to clean buffaloberries, a native fruit used for jams and compotes. They found it to be much more efficient and time saving than the former method of cleaning by hand in a tub. Afterwards the fruit is frozen and kept in a large walk-in freezer allowing them to cook fresh preserves throughout the year.
On a good cooking day, two cooks are able to can 520 10-ounce jars of preserves. Cooking is done right in the shop where visitors can observe the process and relish the wonderful aroma of the fruit as it cooks. Six pans on the Lang stovetop are staggered so they can maintain a flow to the process of canning by hand. Abbey notes that cherry preserves require special treatment because the fruit floats. Flipping the jars as it cools keeps the fruit more evenly dispersed.
A self-sealing lid is used today, one of the few changes over the years. The preserves are placed on an original wooden roller conveyor to reach the labeling workplace, where labels are applied, also by hand. They recently came across an old handwritten recipe for the glue on a crinkled notebook paper. The recipe included the corrosive substance of lye, which explained the rubber gloves used by cooks as shown in some of the historical photos displayed on the walls of the shop. They use a less caustic and simple method today, sliding the label across a sponge soaked with Elmer’s glue. The glue pad rests on a one of the original enamelware trays, adding the feeling that you have stepped back in time into Eva’s kitchen.
The hominess of the business is also felt by employees. Two of them have been working there for decades. Peggy Atchley has worked there for 40 years and enjoys the camaraderie of a small business. She adds, “I am excited about selling a good product.” What is her favorite? “Whatever I am eating,” she says with a big smile. Her love for the preserves makes it easy to sell. While offering samples she shares comments such as, “The spiced apple tastes like apple pie in a jar.”
Abbey has worked at Eva Gates Homemade Preserves for 22 years. She covers a lot of ground including bookkeeping, cooking, shipping, and retail. She says, “I do it all.” Abbey bounces from the kitchen to the retail floor to the office throughout the day, adding a brightness to the place, much as a mother might in her household. She says, “It feels like family. We want to keep it small and quaint. We want to keep it exactly the same.”
Which is exactly as it should be. During a time when businesses value constant change and scramble to expand, Eva Gates Homemade Preserves has proven that change isn’t always good and bigger isn’t always better.
They use the same recipe and cooking methods used by Evan Gates 75 years ago. They offer the same original six preserves and three syrups created by Eva. Their product is found exclusively in the little cottage on Electric Avenue or on their website. They have kept the company in-house and in the family for four generations so when you open a jar of Eva Gates Preserves and take that first taste – you might feel like you are at grandma’s house. You might say the proof is in the preserves.