By Beth Christian
Broschart
The Parsons Advocate
DAVIS – It’s sticky and sweet, now here comes the heat! Once again, members of the Canaan Valley Woman’s Club of Davis gathered to chop, grind, measure cook and create their magic sauce – hot pepper jelly. The club utilizes the funds raised from their sweet and tangy jelly to help support many local causes.
Canaan Valley Woman’s Club of Davis President Joan Armbruster said the group gathers once a year to make the sweet heat concoction, and have been doing it for many years.
“I have no idea where the original recipe came from, but it has been handed down to our Woman’s Club member for years,” Armbruster said. “We get together and we use sweet green peppers, jalapenos, habaneros and other nice peppers. We make our jelly in the kitchen at the Canaan Valley Baptist Church and it is really great. They are really gracious to let us use their kitchen for jelly making.”
Armbruster said about nine of the members gathered this year and spend seven to eight hours making the jelly.
“We ended up making 23 cases (276 jars) of small jelly jars of pepper jelly,” Armbruster said. “We sell it for $5 a jar and the proceeds go to various local programs and donations such as TACTICs, art programs at the schools and other philanthropic needs in our community.”
She said they do not grow the peppers, but purchase them at a very good price. “We send thank you notes and send a jar of jelly to those who help us out. The labels we use on the jelly are donated, but we have to purchase all of our jars.”
Armbruster said when the group gathers they have lots of fun. “By in large, we have a great time making our pepper jelly,” Armbruster said. “Folks who buy our jelly can taste it on a block of cream cheese on crackers. We will be selling the jelly on Friday afternoons and Saturday mornings at the Shop n Save in Davis. They are gracious to allow us to sell our wares outside of their market.”
Armbruster said the Canaan Valley Woman’s Club of Davis will be selling their famous pepper jelly at the Davis Fire Department during the Leaf Peepers Festival Sept. 26. She said they enjoy the comments and stories they hear from folks who buy their jelly. “Last week, a woman pulled up and she acted as if she was in kind of a hurry,” Armbruster said. “She said that we would not believe what she was trying to buy – she said I want to buy a jar of pepper jelly and here you guys are sitting outside of the store selling just what I wanted, waiting for me to show up!”
“Another family had flown in from Texas, and they had tried to bring a couple of jars of pepper jelly along with them,” Armbruster said. “TSA would not allow them to bring their pepper jelly along because it was larger than three ounces, so they had to leave it behind. They were surprised to see us sitting outside the Shop n Save and they purchased a couple jars.” She said one of her friends uses the hot pepper jelly in her chili soup.
“Another individual uses it as a glaze on her pork roast,” Armbruster said. “At our picnic, someone brought the hot pepper jelly mixed with cream cheese as well as hot pepper jelly on top of a block of cream cheese as hors d’oeuvres.” Folks looking for some of the Canaan Valley Woman’s Club of Davis famous pepper jelly can call Armbruster at 304-866-8785.
