April 19, 2024

Woody has growing fan base for jams, jellies

Colfax woman has developed line of off-beat, surprising varieties

By Matthew Nosco

Nancy Woody (right) rings up a customer’s order at the Iowa State Fairgrounds Flea Market on Saturday, April 6. Woody regularly attends the flea market, the first Saturday and Sunday of each month, as well as a number of other markets in Iowa. (Matthew Nosco)

If you’ve ever woke up in the morning with a hankering for Mountain Dew, but you’ve had to pass because you can’t do pop in the morning, Nancy Woody’s jams, jellies, fruit butters and preserves might be perfect for you.

Mountain Dew is just one of many flavors that Woody keeps on hand. Other notable picks include flavors such as Mimosa, Chocolate Rasberry, Sangria and Blueberry Rhubarb among others. The Colfax resident and owner of Nancy’s Jam and Jellies, usually tries to keep a variety of around 90 to 95 flavors in stock at most times.

Not only does she have a vast selection, but she tries to keep most of her business local when she is sourcing her produce, a practice that she has tried to maintain since opening shop in Colfax in 1995.

“I like to buy what I can from local farmers. What you get at the farmers’ markets is a lot more fresh usually than something in the store, and I know the person who I’m buying it from,” Woody said.

While she might source locally, her business is hardly limited to Iowa. Woody has several customers across the country who place regular orders. One gentleman from the south lamented to her that there just wasn’t anywhere closer for him to get his selection of hot peppered jams, one of her specialties.

Woody had been making jams and jellies for a number of years before she went into business. She joked that she ultimately had to make the choice to start selling her products because she was no longer able to send all of it home with her son’s friends.

“They had too much of it!,” Woody said. “I was making too much and I knew that people were interested, so we just started to sell it.”

Woody’s products can be purchased at Wishes consignment store in Colfax, through her website at nancysjamsandjellies.com or at a number of markets, including the Baxter farmers’ market, the Newton farmers’ market and the Ankeny farmers’ market.

While her long list of available jams, jellies and butters might be difficult to wade through, customers can cut straight to the creator’s personal recommendation:

“Anything with rhubarb will always be my favorite.”