By DOUG GRAVES
Ohio Correspondent

LEBANON, Ohio — In 1994 Sonya Staffan started something that has gotten her into a huge jam; in fact, many jams.

Right after her firstborn arrived, she found a way to make use of the many peaches she has on her five-acre farm – she decided to can baby food. Seventeen years later she has a kitchen (separate from the house) where she produces 10,000 jars of jams, jellies, preserves and syrup.

“I ruined the kitchen in my house,” Staffan said. “I melted all the enamel off the oven. So my husband, Pete, built me a new kitchen.”

She was producing 3,000 jars of canned fruit in her old kitchen. With the added space of her new 1,000 square-foot kitchen she now produces 10,000 jars annually.

Staffan holds a degree in technical communications and technical writing was her key source of income. “I was tired of the corporate world and I traveled constantly,” she said. “I was at home with my firstborn and was bored. I’m a social person, not used to all the quiet.

“At that time a friend introduced me to the idea of making baby food from a processor. From there I started canning my own fruit to use as baby food. I started out using peaches, but as the baby grew older I needed solid foods, so then I started canning peach preserves.”

Realizing she had produced much more than her toddler could consume, she sold her canned concoction at the annual Apple Fest in nearby Lebanon, Ohio. She sold out of 200 jars in just two hours. Right then she knew she was on to something big.

“My grandmother and great-grandmother were incredible cooks,” Staffan said. “I learned it all from them. By the time I was eight years old I could cook a turkey and can my own food. I never thought I’d be doing this for a living.”
Rather than refurbish the old kitchen, Pete built her a 1,000 square-foot kitchen, separate from the house. And rather than take out a loan to purchase new appliances, the couple bought refurbished or discarded items.

Her cutting board was once in a local junior high kitchen. She had a welder extend the size of her stove top. Burners on the stove were fabricated to size and her coolers were purchased from a business that was discarding them.
Calling it her “summer kitchen,” Staffan’s new structure became a small-batch cannery in her own backyard. The kitchen is complete with a stainless steel four-door cooler, a custom-built canning stove, plenty of counter space and many inventory shelves. Just outside the rear door rests a pallet of 10,000 half-pint jars waiting to be filled with the best of summer’s bounty.

Most of the supplied produce comes from many local farmers who grow the berries, peaches, apples, tomatoes, zucchini and peppers for her concoctions. Last year alone she used 4,000 pounds of strawberries from area growers.
“We don’t grow many crops like we used to, but in our garden we grow salsa ingredients, tend to our pear trees, apple trees and blackberries,” she said.
If there ever was a canning authority in southwestern Ohio, Staffan may be that person. She is a processed authority as certified by the School of Thermal Pressure Control out of The Ohio State University. The school is run by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration each year in Columbus.

“Most people don’t do the proper processing,” she said. “A lot of people think you just heat the food hot, fill it and turn it over. The heating must be done at proper temperature and you have to create the proper vacuum with the processing.

“I’m just trying to teach the next generation the proper canning processes. Plaguing many canners is mold. Sterilization, proper cooking and airtight sealing are vital in this line of work.”

Staffan sends her recipes to an independent laboratory for analysis each year. There her food is checked for mold, pollen count and yeast. She receives an excellent rating every time.

She also teaches a canning “boot camp” class once a year. The class lasts six hours and normally 12 students attend each class. Those who graduate then attend her “masters’ classes,” where she teaches about curds, relishes, chutneys, salsa, pickles and new jams.

“I teach a very comprehensive canning class, from water bath to pressure canning, including all the safety regulations required by the USDA,” she said. “Once you know what you’re doing, it’s a basic step-by-step process.
“I want my students to troubleshoot themselves at home. They often still call me or e-mail me with their questions. You can’t just be a cook and do this sort of thing, you have to understand the process.”

And there is no end to her concoctions, from jam to jellies, from preserves to conserves. All have original names. Staffan’s children have a favorite called Traffic Jam.

“Traffic Jam is the color of a traffic light,” she explained. “The red comes from raspberries, the yellow is represented by apricots and the green comes from roasted peppers.”

And how big does she want her business to be?

“Large enough to feel like I’m earning a real income,” she laughed. “On a serious note, I’d like to eventually produce 50,000 jars each year.

I started out small with this. Now my goal is to get all the business between Dayton and Cincinnati, as well as from the Indiana state line to Clinton County. My goal is to reach gift shops and meat stores.”

In two years she earned enough from her canning sales to pay for her new kitchen, structure and all.