| It was a warm summer evening in 1982 when my husband-at-the-time brought home a couple bushels of ripe peaches, exclaiming what "'a good deal"' he got on them. "'That"'s great, Honey,"' I replied, discretely biting my tongue, having visions of how two people were going to use this enormous quantity of fruit within its short life span.
And so it was peach cobbler, brandied peaches, frozen peaches, peach melba, peaches and cereal, and peaches galore before I discovered what would be the steppingstone to a new business"'peach conserve.
Cooking was a hobby at the time, and my natural spirit of adventure led me to experiment with other fruit and combinations in my new jam-making quest, resulting in flavors such as strawberry amaretto, blueberry bourbon, brandied peach and apple cranberry maple.
My unique creations began making appearances in the baskets and Christmas stockings of various friends and relatives and were met with rave reviews. On morning over breakfast my husband-at-the-time said to me "'Gee, Patty, this stuff is really good, why don"'t you do something with it?"'
Good question"'and the answer came not so gradually. At the time, I was new to the sport of running and was discovering what wonderful, creative ideas could appear in my mind as I traversed the Vermont countryside, conquering one hill after another, gradually believing anything was possible. I can do this , I discovered, why not a business? My business plan evolved on my runs and the next thing I knew I was at the bank securing start-up capital for my new venture.
And that was almost 20 years ago. Over the years our line increased from four flavors to over 28 under the Vermont Harvest and Stowe Hollow Kitchens trademarks. In 2001 the company began a consolidation process to eliminate some flavors, change packaging, add new sizes, and form an LLC. Thus Pan Handler Products and Stowe Hollow Kitchens combined with Vermont Harvest to form Vermont Harvest Specialty Foods, LLC.
Part of the success and staying power of the company comes from its unique offerings. From the start I know I couldn"'t compete with Smucker"'s, so I knew the road to my success would lie in items that couldn"'t be found on the supermarket shelves. So instead of making plain jam, we chose to make conserves, an old-fashioned term describing a type of jam that usually used more than one fruit and has raisins and nuts in it, and often liqueurs. That strategy has paid off as witnessed by the company"'s growth. In addition to the conserve line, we also have a bananaberry jam, pepper jellies and appetizer spreads, and our chutney line formerly packaged under the Stowe Hollow Kitchens label.
Our best selling conserve is Apple Rum Walnut, which taste just like the insides of Mom"'s best apple pie. It taste terrific with a piece of Vermont cheddar cheese on top! And it is great over ice cream, too. And a brand new product is a tremendous success, too. It is our Smokin"' Garlic Tomato Spread, which is an appetizer jelly (great over cream cheese) made with no refined sugar.
Vermont Harvest products are available at select gift and specialty food stores in New England and through mail order. For more information call 1-800-338-5354.
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