Southern Specialty Foods LLC

Once upon a springtime, in the middle of nowhere USA, a young man of about 20 years of age and his new bride were pulling weeds in their garden. Shadows were falling while Phil and Wanita rescued the sprouting garden vegetables from the onslaught of persistent weeds. The thought of saving a few dollars on grocery bills spurred them on. It was the summer of 1988.

Eventually, the harvest came. And with it, the hot, steamy task of canning jar after jar to preserve their winter supply. Phil and Wanita had spent hours together planting, weeding, picking, and finally putting up the harvest.

Life spun on and, as so often happens with truly diligent people, the rewards began to flow. More and more often Phil had 2 nickels to rub together in his pocket. More and more often Wanita brought a little something extra home in the grocery bag. And the garden got smaller and smaller. The canning shelves mourned the company of their glass friends bursting with flavor that used to join them each fall.

Phil began to miss the flavorful variety of home canned goods, too. This sparked an idea! Phil thought, “Wouldn’t there be other people who missed them, too? Maybe we could use our old recipes and can for ourselves and others.” And that is just what Phil and Wanita did.

In July 2000 Phil and Wanita poured their energy into cooking up a home business making jam just like they did in their early years together. At first, they cooked on a stovetop, stirring by hand and filling their jars by pouring from a 1-gallon pitcher. The community loved the fresh homemade taste of their jam. Orders flowed. It was a day to celebrate when they installed a 40-gallon steam kettle and a single-head filling machine. Years have passed. Phil and Wanita’s children have grown and now help in the special commercial kitchen at home. Their business has continued to grow as well. They now cook in a 275-gallon and a 550-gallon steam kettle and fill with rotary piston fillers.

Though the equipment is larger, the basics are still the same. Corn syrup and preservatives are banned from the kitchen. Only choice ingredients with ripe fruits and vegetables fill the jars. This has allowed their salsa recipes to win first place in a national food contest.

In 2008 Phil and Wanita began to feel the call of the sunny south. They sold their business and moved to Georgia. Here, they are still pursuing their family passion for canning flavor-packed jams, salsas, and pickled products. The family business is now Southern Specialty Foods, LLC, established in 2010.

This is your opportunity to bring back some of that early goodness into your own hometown USA.