While beginning with working two day jobs and simultaneously kick starting a jam and marmalade company, now owner and founder Rachel Saunders has made her dream a full time reality.

The Blue Chair Fruit Company, located in Oakland, is just four years old, though Saunders has been making jams obsessively for the past 14 years.

She started off making pastries of all kinds, though the first time she tried her luck at jam-making it didn’t turn out as she had planned. In order to master her craft, she researched every aspect of fruit preserve and preserving techniques over the next ten years.

“Originally Rachel made her jams in the kitchen of Oakland’s Pizzaiolo and served them at the morning coffee and toast service she started there,” said web and sales manager Kate Shaughnessy. “As Blue Chair Fruit continued to grow, the company moved to our current location in a commercial kitchen owned by Grace Street Catering.”

Blue Chair Fruit is an exceptionally unique jam and marmalade company and, though only with a team of only five individuals, has grown significantly in a mere four years.

“Our aesthetic is very focused on combining the traditional, nostalgia of jam-making with modern technique and taste sensibilities,” said Shaughnessy. “We truly believe that the jams and marmalades we create are unparalleled – with an exciting approach, our kitchen team makes 50 flavors a year from California’s best and most interesting fruits.”

All of the approximately 1,000 jars of jams and marmalades the company whips up weekly are completely handmade and cooked in Mauviel copper jam pans, which they began selling to the public last year alongside other products.

According to the Blue Fruit Company, its mission includes “connecting farmers to the public through promoting heirloom and hybrid varieties.”

The company is widely known for its wide array of flavors and they continue to produce an average of 50 to 100 new flavors a year. Some of their unique flavors include Crabapple-Damson butter, White Cherry Marmalade, Apple-Meyer Lemon Marmalade and Earl Grey Tomato Jam.

“We like to experiment, whether it’s with exotic fruits, like bergamot, the orange used to flavor Earl Grey Tea, interesting accent flavorings, such as bourbon or traditional preserves with a new spin like our tomato jam,” said Shaughnessy. “We focus on using the absolute best local fruit we can find from sustainable fruits.”

In 2010, Saunders began teaching her own jam- and marmalade-making classes in her Oakland kitchen as well as nationwide. She offers a range of classes, from simple Jam Making 101 to the more advanced workshops.

Also in 2010, Saunders published her book titled “The Blue Chair Jam Cookbook,” which provides insight into the modern art of marmalade- and jam-making.

Equipped with over 120 recipes and roughly 400 pages, the book received recognition, including a nomination for the James Beard Foundation Award for best food photography.

Currently, Saunders is working on her second cookbook, which is set to be released late 2013.

In 2011, Williams-Sonoma asked Blue Chair to allow them to carry their jams. They have since expanded their relationship with them to the point where Williams-Sonoma currently carries Blue Chair Fruit preserves in 154 stores nationwide.

Blue Chair Fruit is available regularly at a few of Oakland’s Farmers Markets.

“We are looking forward to continuing our relationship with Williams-Sonoma and the new customers nationwide, who will find us as a result of that partnership,” said Shaughnessy. “Of course, we’re continuing to grow our online sales and continue to think of novel ways to communicate, to people what we do. I’m honestly so excited to see what 2012 brings for Blue Chair Fruit.”