The current generation operating Pear Blossom Farms is blessed by a very rich legacy of good taste. It descends from grandparents born in the late 1800’s, and from grandparents before them, who devoted themselves to things that seem like art forms today. They became amazingly skilled with beekeeping and the extremely difficult honey business, as professional candy-makers running popular candy stores, and as accomplished food processors with tremendous expertise.
Like most out here in the West, our family farmed the land and filled cellars with Mason jars to supplement the lean winters with whole fruits, preserves and jellies, sweet and spicy relishes and delicious pickled vegetables. They became tasty compliments to legendary home-cooked meals, like the ones we grew up eating (and learning about), prepared by a grandmother who at the age of 14 was cooking for crews that built the first road over Wolf Creek Pass.
Many others, among those generations of our family, prepared huge meals for haying crews, sawmill workers, and other large groups of people hungry from the hard labor common to life in their day. It took lots of people to get the work done, and lots of people to feed them. They fed many others in need too because in their day, whether to connect with loved ones or to find a better life, traveling was done from the back of a horse or the seat of a wagon. Long before popular restaurants and neighborhood grocery stores were everywhere, it was common for people to graciously welcome a hungry traveler in for a well-cooked and much needed meal – even a complete stranger.
Today we see the traveler more as someone who searches the countryside not just for something to eat, but for something good to eat. We are very proud of our heirloom products and in our heritage of good food. We still place great value on preserving the exceptional quality of the things we grow, the way our ancestors taught us. We also feel a strong sense of charity toward those in need – which they also taught us. As much as any, these things define the Pear Blossom Farms legacy of good taste.
In the 1950’s, our family started a peach orchard in the heart of Palisade peach country. Memories of mothers working together to process row upon row of home-canned goods are vivid and sweet. Their group efforts lined family cellars with the wholesome abundance of good farm fresh produce. We still make things much the same way; we still make things to the same high standards our legacy demands of us.
Our legacy now of course includes Dad’s Jalapeno Sauce, made to those very same standards. Dad had a unique reverence for the family traditions, and a determination to find the perfect ingredients. His popular sauces are made only from specific varieties of fresh jalapeno peppers grown right here in the Grand Valley of Western Colorado; it is a sauce like no other. And like everything we make, Dad didn’t create it to leave a mark on the world; he did it to bring great food to his family, friends, and anyone who stopped by looking for something good to eat. To all of them, he wanted to serve his very best. He liked to say, ‘’you can’t get anything out of a jar that’s better than what you put in it.” It is a very accurate description of how our family has gone about food preservation for generations.
It is a cherished tradition we carry on at Pear Blossom Farms, a tradition we will always respect in every sense. It is a tradition that brings out the very best we have to share with the hungry travelers of the world . . . “A Legacy of Good Taste”