By JIM WORKMAN
Wood County-based jam and jelly company, IN A JAM!, is rapidly growing from being a small business with an owner who hand-makes goods and even ships them herself to expanding throughout the state and beyond — without losing the “personal touch” that sets her business apart.
IN A JAM! owner Andrea Duke says keeping it real is the only way she knows how.
“The pride of the business and what I think makes IN A JAM! different is keeping it local,” she said. “I will always keep it local and artisan.”
Friends let her pick from their blackberry and elderberry patches. Her 12-year-old son often lends a hand by helping to label her 4-ounce jars.
Her grandmother, Clara Wilson, picks a lot of the fruit.
“It’s fortunate that she lives near a farm that freezes fruit for us,” Duke said. “There’s no other way to do it for me. I don’t know of anyone else that actually goes out and forages and picks their own fruit for their product.”
Doing business and making jams the way it was done years ago resonates with Duke, she said.
“I have always gravitated towards connecting with older people and history,” she said. “So doing this has been nice because it has helped people remember something from when they were younger.”
More Than a Hobby
What started as a hobby a few years ago has grown into a significant business with customers across several states.
“I would have never dreamed what has come of it all,” Duke said.
Jars of her jams quickly became popular items at the Bridgeport Farmers Market.
That success helped Duke realize she had something people liked.
“I contacted the (West Virginia) Department of Agriculture to be a part of West Virginia Grown program,” Duke said.
The West Virginia Grown logo program identifies products that “are of the highest quality and meet the requirements of being a value-added product,” according to the Department of Agriculture.
Value-added products may be totally grown or produced in West Virginia or may have at least 51 percent of the total value added by further processing. Farmers and producers in the program can put West Virginia Grown logo stickers on the product label to give their customers an added assurance of quality, local goods.
IN A JAM! was juried and accepted into Tamarack.
“Then I did collaboration with JQ Dickinson Salt-Works, and it goes on and on,” Duke said.
Have a Taste
You can’t just pick up her jams anywhere. Duke remains selective about where her products are carried.“I love the places that have it, such as the Farmer’s Daughter Butcher Shop in Capon Bridge,” Duke said.
Her jams also are available at the West Virginia Marketplace at Capitol Market in Charleston and three Parkersburg-area locations – Point Park Marketplace, Mother Earth Foods and Crown Floral gift shop.
The local farm that serves as her main fruit source is reaping benefits as well.
“When I was picking up an order a few weeks ago, they mentioned that IN A JAM! is their biggest purchaser of fruit,” Duke said. “Hearing that was so surreal — that what I’m doing, which is just making these little jars of jam, is in turn helping them and being noticed is amazing to me.”
That’s My Jam
To say that IN A JAM! has been a hit would be an understatement.One customer recently posted a picture of his jar of Elderberry jam made by IN A JAM! on Facebook.
“He said that he hadn’t had (Elderberry jam) since he was in high school and this was better than he remembered,” Duke said. “I hear that at farmers markets 100 times every summer. It never gets old and I love hearing these stories.”
Some of her most popular items are: Sour Cherry Almond jam, Purple Raspberry jam, Red Raspberry jam, Rhubarb jam, Strawberry jam or jelly, Blackberry jam or jelly, Elderberry jam or jelly, Black Raspberry jam or jelly, Apple jelly, Apple Pie jam and Concord Grape jelly.
There have been about 25 varieties, depending on season and availability.
Two items are made only around the holidays — Cranberry jelly and Mission Fig jam. Duke said she’d invite even more growth, as long as it’s careful and done right.
“I’ve had a block for how much larger this can become, but this Christmas was an eye-opener for me,” Duke said. “But it’s a huge goal for me to stay local and make small batches.
“I enjoy doing it.”
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