Cathy's Cajun Cuisines: Orlando, Florida Style

Cathy Boullosa says Cajun cooking is more about flavor than heat. And she should know, she was born and raised in New Orleans, and is now the owner of Cathy's Cajun Cuisines.

Cathy Boullosa and Donna Moore at Chateau
Confections Commissary Kitchen, Winter
Park, Fla.

Her interest in Cajun style home cooking and preserving blossomed in Mississippi where she had a garden. Her first jam was made with home grown figs. At the time she sold five types of jam and B.L.T. muffins at local farmers markets.

Cathy moved to Florida eight years ago. She was so disappointed by the Cajun restaurant food that she stopped eating out. Eventually she developed her own T.N.T spice mix to carry with her to restaurants to season her food.

I met her at the Chateau Confections commissary kitchen in Winter Park, Florida. Where she makes and bottles all her recipes.

“I will create a recipe with just about anything, I don’t like to do just strawberry jam. I like to be different and unusual,” Cathy says, handing me a slice of her Fire and Ice pickles, made with vinegar, pepper, and sugar.

We are standing at a counter in the kitchen. There is colorful plate set out before us with multiple spoons filled with different types of jam.

“I’m not afraid to use chocolate in my jams,” She says referring to a best seller called “Red, White, and Blue jam,” that has strawberry jam, raspberry jam, white chocolate, and blueberry jam. “I get a lot of people saying they can’t taste the chocolate but what they don’t realize is the chocolate smooths out the tartness of the raspberries.”

The white chocolate also adds to the eye appeal of her jam. “You eat with your eyes, your nose, and your mouth. So it has to be delectable and look good,” Cathy says with a smile.

She uses Florida ingredients whenever she can especially when they are in season.

Now, she has over 70 Cajun spiced items that she sells at farmers markets, online ,and at Raindancer Carwash in Winter Park. You can find out which Farmers Market she is at by going to her website www.cathyscajuncuisines.com