A Passion for Peppers

Her homegrown products pack a punch!

When Kristen Cummins met her husband, Steve, she suspected they’d end up in a pickle. Together, they’ve launched a pickled pepper business that’s hot with chili lovers all over.

“Our peppers are different because they’re cold-packed, which makes them extra flavorful and crunchy,” Kristen explains from her family’s acreage near Rootstown, OH. “People appreciate that we plant and pick our all-natural peppers on the same farm where my father, my children and I were all raised.

“We have Steve’s Grandma Mildred to thank for teaching him much of what he knows about gardening. He helped her tend her vegetables from the time he was small. Eventually, he began experimenting with canning, using her ‘secret’ recipe for refrigerated pickled peppers.

“On one of our early dates, he asked me to process peppers with him. The night he met my parents, he brought them a jarful as a gift. One taste, and they agreed he was a keeper!”

Business Is a “Kick”
Friends and relatives nicknamed Steve’s zesty specialty Stevereno’s Peppers. “I was convinced the public would buy them—so we went into business producing both a hot and mild variety,” says Kristen.

“We rent a commercial kitchen in town. This time of year, we’re there most evenings and weekends up to our elbows in peppers.”

Their success is rooted in family, she adds. “Our teenagers, Craig, Dana and Clark, are a huge help with planting, picking and delivering. I designed the Stevereno’s logo—three colorful peppers—as a salute to them.

“Aunts, uncles, cousins, parents and friends form our pepper assembly line. One person washes the peppers, another takes the tops off, and three people slice. Another helper adds dill and garlic, pours the brine and seals the lids. I finish up with the labeling and boxing.

“In the beginning, my Aunt Martha and I visited area grocers to see if they’d carry our peppers,” Kristen recalls. “One shopkeeper told me she’d take 10. I was thinking jars—but when I realized she meant 10 cases of a dozen jars each, I was ecstatic!”

Heat of the Moment
Nowadays, pepper fans buy Stevereno’s at specialty food stores, farmers markets and on-line from their Web site. “I keep busy doing store demonstrations, showing shoppers ways to incorporate peppers into just about anything—including pepper ice cream,” Kristen says.

“Both Steve and I enjoy cooking and love to invent recipes to share with our customers. One day, I wanted something different to put on hot dogs. We came up with pepper slaw, one of our most popular products.

“It’s humbling when folks come to our taste-testing table and tell us how much they like our peppers. Many who are trying to eat healthy are pleased our products are locally grown and hand-processed using fresh ingredients.”

A firm believer in the power of peppers, Kristen is calling on them to help conquer a disease that deeply touches her life. “My father, sister and I all have multiple sclerosis,” she says. “We give a portion of our business profits to research to find a cure—it’s only right, because we’ve been so blessed.”

In the meantime, she’ll keep right on pickling those peppers, spicing up her life and bringing smiles to the faces of pepper fans everywhere.

Red-Hot Trivia to pepper your dinner conversation:
* One fresh medium-size green chili pod has as much vitamin C as six oranges.
* Chili peppers originated in South America and spread to Central and North America.
* The color extracted from very red chili pepper pods is used in everything from processed foods to lipstick.
* A good way to ease the burning sensation caused by eating hot peppers is to drink milk or eat a dairy product.
* Hanging a ristra—a decorative string of dried red chili pods—outside the door is said to bring good luck to a home.

Editor’s Note: For more on Stevereno’s Peppers, go to their Web site through countrywomanmagazine.com/links

Photography by: Jim Wieland; Eldreth Photography