E Waldo Ward and Son UYE

O.M.G. All of the jams rock! Everybody is so nice and kind. When me and my mom first walked in, they gave us a free tour of where they make and grow everything. The business is passed down the family and they grow everything except the olives. They have free samples out and is a nice and cozy area. Get the apple butter. Wonderful place to go and I highly recommend it.

Came here for a mini Saturday tour with Michael W. and it was fantastic!
The property is situated on a residential street, which was cool to see, it just shows you how long they’ve been around.
We took a tour with Jeff, the 4^th generation of the jam/​jelly/​marmalade dynasty, through their old and new bottling room, spice room, kitchen (where the magic happens), other antiques and the gift shop. Nothing was in process, but you could just imagine.
Jeff even told us that they’ll bottle and label your own products too or put your label on their products! That’s pretty cool, and slightly odd.
At the end of the tour, we had samples of their labor and it was just amazingly delicious. I didn’t purchase anything from the gift shop that day and I regret it. If you do come to the tour, you just have to buy a jar of something, or anything to support a business that’s been here longer than you.
Awesome tour! Check it out!
Jeff is also a UC Davis alumnus from the Food Science Department. GO AGS! =]

Another cool event organized my Michael W
E Waldo Ward & Son it’s a really interesting factory of fruit preserves, marinades and olives. They have tons of history, that comes from over 100 years of operations in the same house where we had the tour
The family has done an awesome job preserving it, even the bathrooms are from that period of time!
It was pretty neat to have one of the owners giving us the tour around the factory
the process is complex enough, seeing the machines is interesting but I’d really like to see them operating during the actual process
What I liked best about this factory is the variety of olives that they have. Well… the olives are all the same, all come from Spain in a container like this
but they stuff them with the traditional bell pepper, or with garlic, almonds or jalapeños (well not for me, but they have it)
The tour was really fun, at the end we tried their jams and jellies soooo tasty! then we went to their retail store, the prices are ok considering that they are specialty/​gourmet
I ended up getting jellies, marinades and stuffed olives
They have some exotic flavors: blood orange, ginger, rhubarb… YUMMMM!
they told me their products can be ordered online :)
Interesting tour, tasty products!
Recommended!

Michael W. hosted an interesting visit to the oldest family run business in Sierra Madre, maybe the oldest in all of the San Gabriel Valley.
They bottle right there in the old family fruit groves. They use a mixture of modern equipment and some pieces that are 100 years old and still very useful.

This place just screams, «real family values». It is important that this kind of enterprise is not lost in the maze of businesses today.
They have a store on the premises and on the web.
Could be hard to find from the street, since the main house is in front of the store and bottling operations.

One Saturday morning, Michael W. (
) hosted one of his reoccurring UYE’s at E. Waldo Ward & Son in Sierra Madre. The number of people who attended was so large at this particular event, we were split into two different groups in order to tour the facility.
Fair warning: This is a farm-​based business in the middle of a residential area and not a large scale manufacturer. The parking in on the street, so mind your manners about their neighbors. The dirt roads on either side of the property are not meant for fancy dress shoes nor strollers. The main house, which has a beautiful wisteria tree in the front yard, is not a part of the tour. The tour is also not ADA friendly because of the stairs on most buildings there.
The tour does include a history lesson of the company, a survey of some of the old and new equipment used in the manufacturing process, a review of the business end of things like co-​packing and private labeling and an explanation of the remaining fruit trees in the orchard as well as all of the buildings utilized to make and store their products. Oh, and I cannot forget their original truck which was lovingly restored — bonus points for that as I love to see old vehicles being taken care of.
The tour takes about 20 – 30 minutes and then you have the opportunity to sample a few of their products before being lead into the gift shop where they have much of what is on their website for sale. I ended up buying three jars: Kadota fig jam, seedless blackberry jam and a three fruit preserves blend of apricot, peaches and plums.
I would recommend this tour for teens and adults who enjoy jams, jelly and preserves.

E. Waldo Ward & Son is a family owned business that’s been around since 1891 and still values history, tradition, and quality in its products. All of the marmalades are made with fresh oranges grown at the ranch. You may pass by here several times and never realize there’s a canning factory behind the house. This is in a residential area so just look for the street number rather than looking for the sign. There is one but it’s difficult to see when you’re driving by. I only found it through Michael W’s UYE.
There’s a gift shop to the left of the house where you can purchase lot of their fine products such as jams, preserves, marmalades, hand-​stuffed Spanish olives, and sauces. They also have nice gift baskets and crates. I really like their blood orange marmalade which is currently in shortly supply
Call for an appointment to get a tour of the factory. It’s definitely worth a visit. It’s always more interesting when you get the story behind the product.

What a treat that we get to tour the oldest business in Sierra Madre. Came for a short tour of the business facility, and learned about their history. Got to tour the Barn where they kept all the antiques. Hiding behind a residential street and a residential house, behind are acre of land where they make their business. The Kitchen and the warehouse are kept and maintain clean and neat!
We got to sampled the Kumquats from the tree in the back! It was the best Kumquats I’ve ever tasted! sweet, sour and juicy! (Kumquats are like tiny little oranges the size of larger sized grapes! They are from the citrus family)
They have preserved jams that are made with real sugar rather then corn syrups and olives, BBQ sauces, etc! Their Olives are so darn good! I finished the entire bottle by myself! lol
They also do private labeling which they make the stuff and sell them with other company’s label. Example, Whole Foods has their jams made by them.
Thanks to Michael W. I got a chance to go on this tour since I missed his first one!

It is so nice to have met a family who is protecting small business and a piece of LA history. The family are historians, agriculturists, food scientists, jam and marmalade makers and protectors of everything that their family started so many years ago.
If you have the opportunity to take this tour or try their products — you will feel as blessed as I do. It is a gentle reminder of why people moved to Los Angeles, of the grace and beauty that is the San Gabriel Valley — the vast gifts that mother nature provides to us lucky angeleno’s. We all have to remember to stop and protect this beautiful land — it doesn’t all need to be concrete and condos.
Thank you to the Ward family for opening up your facility for a tour, thank you for protecting the family business, employing locals and keeping a small patch of Southern California Agricultural history alive.
Thank you Michael W. for arranging this UYE and tour at E Waldo Ward and Son.

OH MY JAAAM!!!
Saw a UYE for this place on Events and decided to go.
I mean, how could you pass up a «jam and jelly tour» right?
First off, do not be shock that it’s in a residential area.
It’s that big yellow house with lots of fruit-​bearing trees surrounding it.
Behind the house is the actual store with walls filled with different kinds of marmalade, jams, jellies, syrups, olives, and even grilling sauce!
Small bottles are about $ 3 and change while larger bottles are $ 5.90 or so.
There’s also a bargain bin and during this visit they had large bottle of Habanero marmalade for less than $ 3.
The store is open Monday through Fridays and offers tours on Saturdays by appointment.
Credit cards welcome!

E Waldo Ward & Son has been up and running since the late 1800’s …
perfecting the art of jamming and bottling. Those wonderful little antique
jam bottles? Probably from Ward & Son when they sold to passengers
aboard passing trains.
Originally, they had ~20 acres of land which has since whittled down to
~2 acres of fruit — but still preserving the unique Sevilla (Spanish) oranges first brought over in its heyday. These oranges are reserved for their house secret
recipe of marmalade jam. It’s the type of orange you can’t eat raw, but is wonderful
for jam. Pickers, beware! ;)
We were treated to a simple tour of the land and their operations which occurs
in the original home stead. so it LOOKS like a regular residential home on the outside — but it is not only that. :)
They now service their own jams, olives as well as package for small label
«up and coming» local brands … think special goods for Whole Foods, Trader Joes, Sprouts.
The tour was very informative and it was clear our guide was passionate
about his work (still family owned!). The sample jams were a nice touch.
We ended the tour in their gift shop (of course).
Jams ranged from $ 5 — $ 11 and large baskets cost more.
Overall, a very informative and fun experience. I love learning about
the history of any city… Sierra Madre is no different! :) Thanks for arranging the UYE, Michael W!

To quote Old School Black Eyed Peas
«Thats the joint and thats the Jam»!
Nicely hidden mom and pop store located in the heart of small town Sierra Madre. Honestly I was walking around here and I felt I was in a Norman Rockwell painting since I was lucky enough to get a tour of the place.
They specialize in Jams, Jelly, Olives and other types of preserves even chili. They use specially grown kumquats and seville oranges located in their very backyard. Yu can actually walk by their grove and take a fruit, but you may not enjoy it since its quite sour.
Tried the Tomato preserve, Mango Jalapeño and some other which I cant remember but they were quite tasty and tangy. Wound up buying a jar of the tomato preserve so I can bring the E Waldo and son experience home.
On a side note the staff is quite nice and will answer all your preserve questions, since they truly enjoy doing this.
Thanks Michael W for setting up this Unilocal event for a tour of E Waldo Ward & son

Jams and jellies
Sierra Madre is a very charming town. Having an artisan jams and jellies maker, packer and distributor since 1891 hidden quietly in this old town was a treasure found; and not to say the least that we saw immigrated citrus trees — from Spain more than 100 years ago — were still bushy and healthy, and to taste freshly picked kimquats were definitely a pleasure.
Yesterday I had previewed the company’s website before joining the tour with Unilocaler friends. So, after the tour I was ready to visit the gift shop.
I bought 4 different flavors of jams and jellies and a jar of almond stuffed spanish olives.
Considering for future purchase for gifts, this morning I opened all jars and tasted each one.
The result:
Four Berry Preserves: boyberries, blackberries, redberries and straberries –5 star — 5 oz $ 3.25
Mango flavor — 5 star — 5 oz $ 3.00
Tangerine — 5 star — 5 oz $ 3.00
Blackberry — 3 star — 5 oz $ 3.00
Almond Stuffed Olive — 2 star — drained wt. 2 ½ oz — $ 5.50
Therefore for my next gift baskets picks, I will select jams and jellies — the E. Waldo Ward & Son from Sierra Madre, Southern California

Fruit preserves are absolutely delicious. Unique fruit preserves are even more delicious. How does seville orange marmalade and some jalapeño and peach sound? Some prickly pear cactus or Kadota fig preserves maybe? Heck, E. Waldo Ward and Son even have some great Spanish olives stuffed with blue cheese!
The prices are a bit high. A small jar can cost about $ 3 and the larger ones up to $ 10 but this is artisan food folks! More importantly it is Californian artisan food! They have been around since the late 1800’s so they really know what they are doing!
The labels on the jars are really colorful and nice and make great gifts. My BF got the Kadota fig and prickly pear preserves and said they were absolutely delicious. I got to try some of the cherry preserves and they were good.
Seeing where they are prepared is awesome. Seeing a present company’s ties to the past is even more awesome. We got a great tour of their whole base of operations and I was impressed by it all. The best things were the red barn and a room in that barn where they had all kinds of antique jars, tools and even pans. This company used to make preserve jars for some railroad lines.
They have orange and kumquat groves. We got to taste some of their delcious kumquats.
This place is great. It’s like finding a food place deep in the countryside. It’s like a secret that few know about here in our very own city. In front there is a beautiful large yellow house. Behind and to the side is the red barn. There is a sign on the lawn which directs you to the gift shop. Do yourself a favor if you love fruit preserves and come here. The owners are really nice people and the surrounding area is just beautiful!
Thanks Michael W. for letting us in on this great Los Angeles secret!