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Preserves, Pickles & Ferments across the UK

Jams and marmalades, chutneys and pickles, live sauerkraut and kimchi, preserving is how a maker catches fruit and veg at its ripe, in-season peak, when flavour and nutrition are fullest, and keeps it for the rest of the year. A jar of real jam is mostly fruit; a live ferment is quietly alive. Both come best from a maker near you.

We map 265 makers across the UK, 33 around Devon.

Search by postcode and buy direct: no commission between you and them.

Find preserves, pickles & ferments near you

We'll show the closest makers and where to buy from them.

The directory

Makers across the UK

Showing 24 of 265: the region links above and the postcode search reach every one.

Good to know

What to know about preserves, pickles & ferments

What local makers make

A preserving table covers a lot of ground:

  • Jams, marmalades and curds: summer berries, orchard fruit and citrus caught at their peak and set for the year.
  • Chutneys and relishes: the spiced, mellow preserves that make cheese and cold meat sing.
  • Pickles: crisp vegetables in a sharp vinegar brine, quick and bright.
  • Live ferments: sauerkraut, kimchi and properly fermented pickles, raw and full of live cultures.
  • Live drinks: kombucha and water kefir, tangy and fizzing.

Much of it starts as a local glut, the grower's surplus a maker turns into something that lasts.

How to choose it

With jams and chutneys, read the label: real ones are mostly fruit or veg with sugar, vinegar and spice, and little else, cheap supermarket jam is often more sugar and setting agent than fruit. With ferments, know the difference. A vinegar pickle is bright and delicious but not alive; a live ferment, sauerkraut, kimchi, a proper fermented pickle, has to be kept cold, and shows it: raw or unpasteurised on the label, a cloudy brine, sometimes a fizz. A shelf-stable jar in a warm aisle has been heat-treated, and the cultures are gone. When in doubt, ask the maker.

How to keep it

Sealed jars of jam, chutney and pickle keep for months in the cupboard, that's the whole point of preserving, then move to the fridge once opened, and use a clean spoon each time. Live ferments live in the fridge, where they keep slowly working; a little fizz or a bulging lid is the culture doing its job, not a fault. And heat kills the cultures, so if you want a ferment for its live bacteria, eat it cold or stir it in at the end.

Why buy it local

A jar of proper jam is summer caught and kept, real fruit, a little sugar, and a maker who cooked it in small batches when the fruit was at its best. Buy from them and you taste the season all year: the strawberry glut, the autumn chutney, a live ferment still quietly bubbling. Lovely too is where it starts, many preservers turn a nearby grower's surplus into jars, so one purchase cheers two small producers at once. The big brands crowd the shelves with sugar and setting agents, which only makes the real, small-batch stuff more worth finding. A jar of summer that keeps two local kitchens busy: the grower's and the maker's.

Written by Oliver Kellie, founder of Understead and owner of Grow Sow Greener, a UK seed and inputs supplier serving commercial microgreen growers. He grew commercially for four years, two years running aquaponics in Australia and two years producing microgreens at commercial scale in Spain, and built Understead to help people find and buy from the small local producers on pages like this one.

Oliver Kellie on LinkedIn

Quick answers

How many preserves makers are there in the UK?

265 preserves makers currently list on Understead, and more are added each week. Around 33 are near Devon. Search by postcode to find the makers closest to you and buy from them directly.

What's the difference between pickled and fermented?

A vinegar pickle is vegetables preserved in acid, quick, sharp and shelf-stable, but not alive. A ferment is made with just salt, water and time: natural bacteria turn the vegetable's sugars into lactic acid, which sours and preserves it and leaves the food full of live cultures. Both are good; only the live ferment carries the bacteria people eat for their gut.

Are fermented foods actually good for you?

Live ferments contain live bacteria, probiotics, and many people eat a little each day as part of looking after their gut. The science is promising but still developing, and it's food, not medicine: enjoy it as a tangy, living addition to a varied diet rather than a cure for anything. Heat kills the cultures, so eat it cold to get them.

How can I tell if a ferment is really alive?

Three tells. It's kept in the fridge, not on a warm shelf. The label says "raw", "unpasteurised" or "live cultures", and lists little more than vegetables and salt, no vinegar if it's a true lacto-ferment. And it looks alive: a cloudy brine, sometimes a gentle fizz. A crystal-clear, shelf-stable jar has almost certainly been heat-treated.

How is small-batch jam different from supermarket jam?

Fruit content, mostly. A good small-batch jam is mostly fruit, set with sugar and little else, so it tastes of the fruit it's made from. Cheaper mass-market jam often cuts the fruit with extra sugar, water and setting agents, and leans on colours and preservatives. Read the labels side by side and the difference is right there.

Can I cook with sauerkraut or kimchi?

Yes, and cooked kimchi is delicious, but heat kills the live bacteria, so a cooked ferment is about flavour, not gut cultures. If you want both, keep some back to add raw and cold at the end. Either way, a spoonful of ferment lifts rich, fatty or heavy dishes with its sourness.

For producers

Make jam, pickles or ferments?

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Updated 4 Nov 2026, counts refresh from live listings.