Maraelia Romine (from left), Stefanie Samson and John Samson staff the Pyke’s Pantry booth at the Scripps Ranch Farmer’s Market. (photos by John Gregory)
Craft foods at the Market
Shoppers visiting the Scripps Ranch Farmer’s Market might be surprised by the many lines of homemade craft foods found at the Pyke’s Pantry booth. This family-owned business produces and sells a unique selection of apple sauces, salsas, dry rubs, nut milks and homemade ice cream. They have created a new version of many old favorites.
“We do gourmet craft foods on the local level. All of our products, for the most part, are all natural,” said Stefanie Samson, who, along with John Samson, runs this small company.
“One of the reasons we wanted to do this: this is kind of old fashioned, kind of back to the source,” she added.
Pyke’s Pantry has a line of salsas ranging from mild to “inferno.” Their apple sauces are very popular, especially the cinnamon apple sauce that features Red Hots that are melted into the apples.
Stefanie suggests warming up the wild blueberry apple sauce or the cinnamon apple sauce and serving them over ice cream for a phenomenal dessert topping.
“It’s like an apple pie in a jar,” Stefanie said.
Their line of spreads is some of their most popular products. These include a jalamango spread made of mango and jalapenos, a raspberry-chipotle spread and a bacon-jalapeno spread.
“Our jalamango spread is our top seller, but the raspberry-chipotle is a brand-new product … and it is giving that one a run for its money,” Stefanie explained.
“Our spreads, I put them on everything. … They’re really super good with any kind of cheese,” she said. “They’re great on a grilled cheese sandwich. We put them on sweet potatoes, cornbread, a baked brie, bagels and cream cheese. The chipotle one is super good if you cook it with chicken. The jalapeno spread is amazing on fish tacos.”
They offer all-organic cashew milk and almond milk, all available in glass bottles. These are “super fresh and super good,” according to Stefanie.
The homemade ice cream is sometimes offered with Ghirardelli chocolate or caramel, but their white chocolate-blackberry ice cream seems to be their best seller.
These products, with the exception of the bacon jalapeno spread, are vegan and there are no animal products or byproducts in any of them.
“Everything we do is natural. We don’t add any additives or preservatives or sugar to anything other than our cinnamon apple sauce and our ice cream,” she said.
The couple processes their foods at a commercial kitchen and sell them at several farmer’s markets. Many of the items are available in glass canning jars, something that might remind shoppers of something their grandmother might have made.
“We just enjoy making good, natural foods that we enjoy eating, and decided to go ahead and start producing them and sell them to the community,” Stefanie explained.
The products last about a year on the shelf and about two to four weeks once opened.
“You can give them to teachers or coaches or as a housewarming gift, birthdays, anniversaries,” Stefanie said.
Learn more at pykespantry.com.
Look for the Pyke’s Pantry booth at the Scripps Ranch Farmer’s Market, which is open for shoppers from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. every single Saturday at 10380 Spring Canyon Road, in the Innovations Academy parking lot. Visit srfm.org.