Sirois Family Farm - MN

09/18/2026

FOOD SCIENCE FRIDAY: Don’t do what I did.

See this jar of corn?

Notice anything missing?

Water. I forgot the water.

I packed the corn, loaded the pressure canner, processed it for the full time… and somehow completely skipped adding boiling water to the jars.

And before anyone asks: yes, I tasted it. It was bad. 😂

The corn was noticeably darker, dry, chewy, and had that overcooked flavor. Turns out the water isn’t just along for the ride.

The liquid helps transfer heat evenly throughout the jar while also protecting the quality of the corn during processing. Without it, you essentially have pockets of corn surrounded by air instead of hot liquid. Air transfers heat very differently than water, so you’ve changed the way heat moves through the jar.

And that’s where the food-safety issue comes in.

Pressure canning instructions aren’t based solely on the temperature and pressure inside the canner. The processing time is validated for a specific food, preparation method, packing method, jar size, and liquid level. Remove the liquid, and you’re outside that tested process.

So despite these jars sealing beautifully, they aren’t considered safely shelf-stable using the tested method.

Food Science Friday lesson:

A sealed lid doesn’t mean a food was safely processed.

And apparently water is also an important ingredient if you’d like your canned corn to taste like corn instead of corn jerky. Who knew right? 😩😒

Science was learned. Corn was sacrificed. 🤦‍♀️

09/15/2026

🍎 APPLE JELLY RESTOCK! 🍎

Apple Jelly is back in stock!

Made in small batches with locally sourced apples, which means each batch can have its own slightly different flavor depending on the varieties of apples that make their way into the pot. That’s part of the fun of making it with local fruit!

Sweet, bright, and perfect for toast, biscuits, pancakes, or adding to a cheese board.

Available sizes:
🍎 4 oz — $5
🍎 8 oz — $9

This one went quickly after the first launch, so I made another batch while the apples are still coming in!

Order here or send us a message!
https://app.smartsheet.com/b/form/019f8a2a1c3e7b4597e0c8b803947c75

09/14/2026

Yesterday, my kitchen officially became a tiny fruit-processing facility.

Yesterday’s completely reasonable and absolutely definitely-not-out-of-control preserving total:

92 × 4 oz jars
48 × 8 oz jars
9 QUARTS of fresh grape juice steam-juiced from grapes

That’s 140 jars of jam & apple butter, all water-bath canned, PLUS more than 2 gallons of fresh grape juice!

The lineup and restock:

🌶️ Raspberry Jalapeño Jam
🔥 Raspberry Habanero Jam
🍓 Raspberry Jam
🍎 Apple Butter

And now today’s job is checking seals, wiping down jars, labeling everything, and figuring out where exactly I’m going to put 140 jars.

At this point, “small-batch” is becoming a somewhat flexible term. 🤣

09/13/2026

🍎 NEW: Small-Batch Spiced Apple Butter! 🍎

Our newest product starts with locally grown apples that are slowly cooked down until thick and smooth, then finished with a warm blend of spices.

Because we make our Apple Butter in small batches using local apples, each batch may be a little different depending on the varieties available. Some apples are sweeter, some more tart, and the color and flavor may naturally vary throughout the season. That’s part of using the local harvest!

Perfect on toast, biscuits, pancakes, waffles, oatmeal, yogurt, or paired with pork and cheese.

Pricing:
🍎 4 oz — $5
🍎 8 oz — $9

Ingredients: Apples, sugar, cinnamon, vanilla, coriander, nutmeg, orange peel, cloves, ginger, cardamom, white pepper.

🍎 Locally grown apples
🥄 Small-batch
🌾 Minnesota-made

Order here:
https://app.smartsheet.com/b/form/019f8a2a1c3e7b4597e0c8b803947c75

You can also message us directly to order!

09/11/2026

🌶️ Better Late Than Never!

Our peppers apparently didn’t get the memo that they were planted way behind schedule this year!

We spent a huge part of the beginning of the growing season tackling the massive project of building our new raised beds, which meant our peppers didn’t make it into the garden until July.

For northern Minnesota, that’s a pretty late start for a crop that loves heat and a long growing season. We honestly weren’t sure how much we would get.

Turns out, they had other plans. We’re now harvesting bowls full of peppers, and there are still more growing!

This year we planted several varieties, including banana peppers, jalapeños, shish*to peppers, and longer Anaheim/New Mexico-type chiles. 🌶️

Now we have a new problem…

What should we do with all of them?!

We’re looking for ideas! Canning, sauces, pepper jelly, roasting, smoking, drying, freeze-drying, recipes… tell us your favorite way to use a big pepper harvest!

This season has definitely been an experiment, but it’s pretty incredible to see what these plants managed to produce despite such a late start. Next year, with the raised beds already finished and an earlier planting date, we’re very curious to see what they can do.

09/11/2026

Apple Butter is almost done!!!

09/06/2026

🌶️ NEW JAM FLAVORS! Raspberry is bringing the heat. 🔥

Our raspberry jam has two spicy new siblings!

❤️ Raspberry Jalapeño Jam
Sweet, bright raspberry with the fresh flavor and gentle heat of jalapeño. A little sweet, a little savory, with just enough kick to make things interesting.

🔥 Raspberry Habanero Jam
Same raspberry-forward jam, but this one turns up the heat! Habanero brings a noticeably hotter finish while still letting that raspberry flavor shine.

Perfect with cream cheese and crackers, on a charcuterie board, glazed over chicken or pork, paired with cheese, or anywhere you want that sweet + heat combination.

Available in both flavors:
4 oz • $6
8 oz • $10

📩 Ready to order?
Send us a message or order anytime through our order form:

https://app.smartsheet.com/b/form/019f8a2a1c3e7b4597e0c8b803947c75

Which one are you trying first: Jalapeño 🌶️ or Habanero 🔥?

09/04/2026

If you're wondering why we've been so quiet, Harvest season is upon us!

🍎 FOOD SCIENCE FRIDAY: Preserving Our Northern Harvest

Here in Northern Minnesota, our growing season is short, but we can grow an incredible variety of fruit: apples, pears, plums, apricots, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, chokecherries, currants and more.

The challenge is that fresh fruit doesn’t last nearly as long as a Minnesota winter.

That’s where food science and preservation come in.

🍓 Jams, jellies & preserves use combinations of fruit, sugar, acid and pectin to create their characteristic flavors and textures. When properly prepared and heat processed, they allow us to enjoy seasonal fruit long after harvest.

❄️ Freeze-drying takes a completely different approach. By freezing fruit and removing its water through sublimation, we can dramatically reduce the available moisture that contributes to spoilage while preserving the fruit in a lightweight, crunchy form.

That’s also why we try to source as much of our fruit locally as we possibly can.

We use fruit from local growers, nearby gardens and trees, and responsibly foraged sources whenever they’re available. This allows us to use fruit during its natural season, support our local community, and know more about where our ingredients came from and how they were grown.

Local doesn’t automatically mean pesticide-free, but buying directly from growers or harvesting locally gives us the opportunity to know whether pesticides were used and how the fruit was cared for.

Then we use food science to turn those short Minnesota harvests into our jams, jellies, preserves and freeze-dried fruits.

Our growing season may be short, but preservation lets us enjoy a little piece of Northern Minnesota long after the harvest is over. ❤️

09/04/2026

🍎 FOOD SCIENCE FRIDAY: Preserving Our Northern Harvest

Here in Northern Minnesota, our growing season is short, but we can grow an incredible variety of fruit: apples, pears, plums, apricots, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, chokecherries, currants and more.

The challenge is that fresh fruit doesn’t last nearly as long as a Minnesota winter.

That’s where food science and preservation come in.

🍓 Jams, jellies & preserves use combinations of fruit, sugar, acid and pectin to create their characteristic flavors and textures. When properly prepared and heat processed, they allow us to enjoy seasonal fruit long after harvest.

❄️ Freeze-drying takes a completely different approach. By freezing fruit and removing its water through sublimation, we can dramatically reduce the available moisture that contributes to spoilage while preserving the fruit in a lightweight, crunchy form.

That’s also why we try to source as much of our fruit locally as we possibly can.

We use fruit from local growers, nearby gardens and trees, and responsibly foraged sources whenever they’re available. This allows us to use fruit during its natural season, support our local community, and know more about where our ingredients came from and how they were grown.

Local doesn’t automatically mean pesticide-free, but buying directly from growers or harvesting locally gives us the opportunity to know whether pesticides were used and how the fruit was cared for.

Then we use food science to turn those short Minnesota harvests into our jams, jellies, preserves and freeze-dried fruits.

Our growing season may be short, but preservation lets us enjoy a little piece of Northern Minnesota long after the harvest is over. ❤️

09/01/2026

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