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Guilt free indulgence for a Nelson sweet tooth

A Nelson food lover takes her passion and creates tasty raw sweets.
52324westernstar03_15Enjoi
Enjoi Living Cuisine's Jana Hoeppner's raw truffles are one of the favourites sold at the Kootenay Co-op.

Most people love food, but for some that love goes beyond to passion bordering on obsession.

Creator of Enjoi Living Cuisine Jana Hoeppner knows this passion more than others.

“In the last year before the business started I was trying to figure out what I was doing with my life. It’s funny because it was right in front of me: I love food,” she said. “But I kept going after all these interruptions like ‘maybe I should be a yoga teacher,’ because I never really realized that there was a space that could be filled doing that.”

Enjoi takes baked goods that are typically baked and filled with ingredients like flour, eggs, dairy and white sugar and replaces them with raw food ingredients.

“The raw diet is technically not eating food that is cooked above 115 degrees,” said Hoeppner. “The other important thing about raw food is that it is free of refined processed sugar, flour, eggs, dairy, and many other things that can cause allergies and health issues. The primary ingredients in raw food (desserts) are nuts, seeds, fruit, vegetables, and sprouted grains. It’s about eating food in its natural state, with all the vitamins and enzymes intact. Essentially: vitality.”

Hoeppner chose raw desserts after adopting parts of the diet herself.

Eventually she realized for those who enjoy desserts and want to change their diet, sweets are a great place to make that change.

“It’s healthy. It’s nourishing. It’s totally decadent. It’s more decadent because you’re fully enjoying it,” she said

When Hoeppner officially decided to create Enjoi she approached the Kootenay Co-op.

“I kept bringing them more and more stuff and then I just knew what I was going to do,” she said. “I was a bit surprised by the response to my treats. I guess I had no thought of how it would actually be.”

Hoeppner recently provided cake for her first wedding which he hopes will be the beginning of more catering opportunities.

But she now has another big project on the horizon: by the summer she will be a mom.

“I’m so excited to have another person in the house to share food with,” she said. “I make too much. I want to make everything but it’s only my boyfriend and me.”

Her own love for baking and sweets began with her mother’s cakes and pies.

“Her specialties were a few German desserts — unhealthy German things,” she laughs.

Enjoi sweets like a variety of mini cheesecakes, macaroons, chocolates and truffles are available at the Co-op.

Hoeppner has also taken one decadently sweet classic Canadian dessert and made it raw.

“I’ve got a Nelson bar which is a Nanaimo bar and I’ve renamed it and made it healthy. It looks just like a Nanaimo bar.”