Our Story
 

Our mission is to delight your taste buds!

Sunchowder's Emporia was founded by Wendy Read.  She was born and grew up in New Jersey, and her corporate IT job brought her to Longwood Florida in 1991.  She always yearned to do something a bit more creative than engineering voice network capacity for a major telecom corporation, and thankfully she was freed from the bounds of corporate America in April of 2008!   She re-invented herself and pursued her passion.

She had always been drawn to cooking and baking, she collected hundreds of cookbooks over the years, and she had dabbled a bit in jam-making for a fundraiser she had done for her daughter Rachel a few years prior.  With Ball Canning Guide in hand and several YouTube videos later, she bought her first gorgeous copper jam pot in December of 2008 and the rest we shall say, is now history!  Bubbling and brewing and developing new flavors became her passion.

The jams pair both fresh fruits and vegetables with captivating flavors like boiled cider syrup from a 100-year-old Vermont press, Hawaiian crystallized ginger, the finest-quality vinegars and spirits, island Madagascar vanilla beans, local honey sourced from Geneva Florida, and both Callebaut and Valrhona bittersweet chocolates to name a few.

These jams take much longer to process than many store-bought jams, as they are processed in small batches and commercial pectin is not added to form the gel.  All the fruits are cut and processed by hand using only fresh, quality ingredients--never using corn syrup, pectin, preservatives or colors.  During the Florida growing seasons, we work directly with the growers to assure our fruits and vegetables are the freshest we can find.  During our off-peak growing seasons, we are proud to feature Driscolls berries in our luscious berry jams.

Her hope is that Sunchowder's Emporia  jams and chutneys will become pantry staples and wonderful time-savers in your kitchen, as they make fabulous glazes, dips and appetizers for mealtimes.  They can be added to quick breads and cookies for unique baked goods.

We truly want you to  "Spread the Luv!"