Homegrown business
Jacko’s Pepper Jelly adds some sweet heat to your plate
“Fig and honey (pepper jelly) is in the experimentation stage right now. I’ll start making the cranberry pepper jelly for the holidays any day now.”
For more than 50 years, Lela Gerald’s father has made pepper jelly to give as Christmas presents to his friends. It’s a tradition his friends have looked forward to each year, and one that Gerald decided to take on as a business just this past year.
“My dad taught me how to make it for the first time about five years ago,” Gerald said.
Following in her dad’s footsteps, Gerald started making pepper jelly for her friends.
“Well, my friends started telling me I should sell my pepper jelly,” Gerald said of how she launched her business. “I gave it a try last year and, before I knew it, I had sold 600 jars.”
Lela Gerald
Gerald named her pepper jelly business after her father, Jack Bellows. “My kids call him ‘Jacko’ so that’s how we came up with the name Jacko’s Pepper Jelly.”
During the course of the year, Gerald’s business has grown at a swift pace. This year she is on track to sell more than 3,000 jars.
“I went to market this past July, and now I am also selling my jelly in stores outside of Memphis, too,” she said. In Memphis, Me & Mrs. Jones, Pickering Boxwood, Social and Buster’s Liquors & Wines carry her jellies.
“My customers just love it. They buy it for themselves and to give to friends,” said Stephanie Jones, owner of Me & Mrs. Jones.
Gerald makes each batch by hand, calling it her “small-batch” pepper jelly.
“My dad perfected the mango pepper jelly over the years,” Gerald said of her original recipe. It’s an orange-hued jelly that is sweet and spicy at the same time.
After mastering her father’s recipe, Gerald started experimenting with different flavors using seasonal fruits.
“Tart cherry-apricot quickly became a favorite,” she said. “I think part of it is because it’s the red color most people expect of a pepper jelly.”
That particular flavor is made with fresh cherries and dried apricots. Gerald stopped production of it once cherry season was over. Luckily, she still has jars available. But once it is sold out, it’s gone until next year’s cherry season.
Blackberry-pineapple and cranberry with orange zest are a couple other flavors she has made.
“Fig and honey is in the experimentation stage right now,” she said. “I’ll start making the cranberry pepper jelly for the holidays any day now.”
As her business launched, Gerald had to move her production to a commercial kitchen. She found a home for her business in the Church Health Nutrition Hub.
“Church Health has such a great space,” she said. “I can keep my ingredients there plus I get to use their top-ofthe-line equipment.”
Because she works a full-time “real job,” production is a weekend affair.
“I can cook two batches at a time,” she said. “Each batch yields about 14 jars. I just time each batch six minutes apart so they can be jarred at just the right temperature.”
If everything is prepped and ready, Gerald said she can have a batch of jelly processed in jars in about 40 minutes. She spends the bulk of each weekend watching over pots of boiling jelly.
“I still make every batch of jelly, but I have had to bring on people to help with labeling, packing and shipping,” she said of the changes she has had to make as her business has grown.
Her business is truly homegrown, in the most literal sense of the word.
“I grow all my own peppers,” Gerald said. “I can’t tell you what variety — that’s a secret. But I can tell you it’s a type of chili pepper that is not available in stores.”
Gerald has several plants in her own yard and has an additional 40 plants in her neighbor’s garden. In the heart of town, she has enough peppers growing to make close to 10,000 jars of pepper jelly.
“I grew all these peppers from seed and have hand-picked each one. It is really satisfying,” Gerald said as she held up a large Mason jar of spicy pepper puree that she said could probably make 250 jars of pepper jelly. “You just use a little bit in a batch.”
Pepper jelly is most commonly used as a garnish, but there are many uses for this versatile Southern condiment.
“It’s always good on a cheese plate,” Gerald suggested. “I like it with white cheddar, brie or goat cheese. Be sure to find crackers with a good texture to go with it.”
Gerald likes to use the tart cherryapricot pepper jelly as a glaze for meats like pork tenderloin, venison, lamb and duck. “Just brush it over the meat right when it’s hot out of the oven or off the grill,” she said.
Virginia Sharp was one of Gerald’s friends who originally received a jar as a gift. Virginia said she now keeps several jars on hand for a quick appetizer or to give as a hostess gift.
“My husband Will uses the mango pepper jelly on grilled salmon. He just brushes a thin layer over the top of the fish right before he pulls it off the grill,” she said of an additional way to use the jelly.
Gerald recounted a story of a friend who uses her pepper jelly to make what she calls “the” sandwich. Tart cherryapricot pepper jelly is the spread that takes a white cheddar and bacon grilled cheese sandwich over the top.
“I make this jelly to see people enjoying it,” she said. “I think that is the reason to start a business like this.”
For more information, visit jackospepperjelly.com.