Gigi's Jellies 9 oz.

An avid gardener and cook, Kit Petersen--- lovingly known as Gigi to her grandchildren--- planted a few grapevines in 1978, unaware she'd sown a seedy Concord variety that wasn't conducive to munching.  Not wanting to waste the fruit, Petersen dusted off her old cookbook, began making jelly---"it was a major pain in the neck," she says, "but it tasted good"---and gave away the surplus.

​Fast forward a few decades and, when she was gifted a juice steamer to make the process much easier, and Petersen began playing around with peaches and strawberries, rum and Grand Marnier.

​She and her husband, Les Doty, a retired Continental Airlines captain, moved to a 150-acre lot in rural Cleveland County, Oklahoma, built a commercial kitchen, and began harvesting pears from old trees they revived on the property.

​The jelly experiments got even more interesting as, one by one, Petersen added more flavors---from Prickly Pear to Basil Apple and Sand Plum.  In 2009, they started Gigi's Gourmet Goodies.

9.0oz

​"The jelly kitchen is my fortress of solitude," Gigi says. "It smells good, looks good, tastes good. What's the downside?!"