Ohio Farm Diversifies With On-farm Cannery

By Dee Goerge

When Amber Kuemerle places a label on a jar of her Starfire Farms Hot Pepper Butter, she knows it meets her quality standards because she has done it all – from cleaning and grinding the peppers, to adding a few real food ingredients, cooking it to the right temperature, and filling jars. Unlike many private-label products often made in mass production by others, the Starfire Farm label means that whatever is in the jar was made in the certified kitchen/shop on the Kuemerles’ Sugarcreek, Ohio, property. When it’s time, Kuemerle loads cases of product in her Suburban to personally deliver them to wholesale buyers, area stores, or the post office to fulfill online orders.

“I love to cook. That is my pastime, my chill time,” Kuemerle says. Canning her own recipes is her preferred vocation, following the goal to be her own boss.