Made five pints per batch and no additives or preservatives for nearly 50 years, the Gates family has helped define the taste of Northwest Montana.
In 1949 Eva used her grandmother's recipe and her wood cook stove to make preserves from the excess yield of her strawberry patch.
Today Eva's grandchildren and great grandchildren produce more than just strawberry preserves. Six kinds of preserves and three syrups, added by Eva between 1950 & 1956, capture the most distinctive flavors native to the Flathead Valley.
The family hasn't forgotten what made that first batch sell so well in 1949. The product is still truly "homemade" - made from the same recipe, cooked on a stove top custom designed to reproduce the heating surface of Eva's wood range, and made in five pint batches without additives or preservatives.
Visit our cookhouse in the village of Bigfork, open seven days a week and evenings from mid June until the end of August and from 9:00 to 5:00 the rest of the year and take home the taste of Montana.
Made five pints per batch and no additives or preservatives for nearly 50 years, the Gates family has helped define the taste of Northwest Montana.