When Michelle Scott started making pepper jellies eight years ago, she had no idea the spicy jars would take her so far. Thanks to a bumper crop of peppers from the garden one year, she began experimenting with jellies to save the peppers from going to waste.
Apart from helping her mother to can tomatoes and other foods over several summers, Michelle had never before canned on her own or made any kind of jelly. But that didn’t stop her from jumping in with both feet! Armed with a solid recipe and a crop of peppers, she thoroughly enjoyed the first steps on a journey she didn’t even know was before her.
“It was fun,” says Michelle, “and a really great stress reliever!” But that first batch barely scraped the surface of what her garden was producing. She kept experimenting, and eventually created her famous Blackberry Pecan jelly. But that wasn’t the end of the story. It was just the beginning.
By the end of that summer, Michelle took her jellies from the isolated experiments of her own kitchen to debut them at their very first craft show. She enjoyed a spicy-sweet victory as the jars sold beyond her expectations! Later that year, she gifted her jellies to friends and family during Christmas. Much to her surprise, they came back and asked for more! She knew she was on to something.
With Christmas 2013 just months behind her, Michelle got her business license and waited for her 2014 garden to produce. She made as much jelly as she could that summer and found lots of eager customers at multiple craft shows. By 2015, she realized she would need to make jelly year-round to keep up with the increasing demand.
In addition to the jellies themselves, folks also began asking Michelle for suggestions on how to use the jellies and cook with them at home. To help them out, she wrote a cookbook which is now available for purchase at Jonesburg Pepper Company in Floyd. It’s full of great recipes that use many of the pepper jellies also available at that location.
It had only been two years since that first summer of experimentation, but jelly-making for Michelle Scott was fast becoming more than just a hobby. She started looking into how she could get her jellies into stores. She also wanted to reach out to customers in her immediate area.
Michelle began classes that taught her how to get ready to sell at retail locations. Through this process, her products were tested at Virginia Tech. She also had her kitchen certified by the Department of Agriculture.
In April of 2019, she was finally approved to begin distribution of her jelly products to retail stores. First up was Draper Merchantile in Draper, quickly followed by Wildwood Farms General Store in Floyd, ES Ramey Firearms in Dublin, Buffalo and More in Riner, and Reclaimed in Smith Mountain Lake. With five stores already on the roster, Michelle tells us there are even more locations coming soon, and she hopes to continue expanding distribution into next year and beyond. Not wanting everyone else to have all the fun, however, Michelle opened her own location in Floyd. The Jonesburg Pepper Company restaurant and retail store opened its doors in June of 2020.
Since the pepper jellies started it all, Michelle wanted very much to keep them at the heart of the new location. She began incorporating them into recipes for a collection of truly unique and flavorful wing sauces. ‘Eye of the Storm’, for example, is full of fruit and habaneros, which creates the perfect storm of sweet and spicy.
In a very short time, Jonesburg Pepper Company has become well known for its chicken wings and wing sauces. Michelle tells us that some sauces will be available year-round, but there are a few special sauces that will be featured only when seasonal. They have also started adding new sandwiches that incorporate Michelle’s hot pepper jelly.
Looking forward, they hope to continue adding more new items that feature the famous jellies, as well as new sauces for the hot wings, new jellies, and new hot sauces. Though all the menu items do feature peppers in some capacity, Michelle assures us that the dishes can be altered for those who prefer to eat without the heat.
Enjoy special offers on food and retail items throughout the week and on holidays. ‘Got a hungry crowd coming over for the game? Having movie night and want something different? We have you covered!!’
Jonesburg Pepper Company • 540-745-7377
110b North Locust St. Floyd, VA 24091
https://www.facebook.com/Jonesburgpepperco/
www.jonesburgpepco.com
ordersjonesburgpepco@gmail.com
Hours of operation:
Monday through Wednesday: 11:00am – 8:00pm
Thursday through Saturday: 7:00am – 8:00pm