Chugiak-Eagle River Chamber highlights a jamming business

It started as an experiment – as a mixing of food materials never before joined together. It was a culinary concocting in search of an answer to a curiosity: How would this taste if some bourbon was added to the contents already in the boiling pot?

That is the question Kim Kovol asked herself a couple years ago as she stirred a pot of boiling jam and sipped a bit of bourbon in her South Anchorage kitchen.

Little did she know that one pour of alcohol in to a pot of berries quickly transforming to a delectable spreadable via the force of heat would be the catalyst of a new adventure for herself and her best friend and business partner, Noelle Hardt.

Together the pair is VooDoo Jams – an Alaskan-owned food sensation taking Anchorage by its taste buds with its combination of locally-produced alcohols and locally-harvested fruits.

The pair of culinary experimenters shared their creations that go well beyond alcohol infusion with attendees at the Chugiak-Eagle River Chamber of Commerce membership luncheon last week.

Dana Thorp Patterson, the chamber’s executive director, was delighted to highlight the type of small business venture VooDoo Jams represents even if they aren’t from the direct local area but instead hail from South Anchorage.

“These two gals are terrific and what they have come up with represents exactly what the chamber is all about – encouraging new business,” she said.

The VooDoo Jams slogan of “handcrafted foods with spirit” is one the two owners take seriously - literally.

“Every single pot of our jam is hand-stirred – by one of us,” Kovol said.

VooDoo Jams is a bit of the previously forbidden – a little extra “sauciness” in what certainly is not your grandmother’s breakfast jam. Well, that is unless grandma added a little kick to hers as well.

In partnership with several local breweries, VooDoo Jams has created combinations of beer and fruit and distilled spirits and fruit that go well beyond just adding zest to the morning toast.

Packaged in eight-ounce glass jars lending to a gorgeous display of the color in each creation, the limited editions of each concoction formulated by Hardt and Kovol provide local food aficionados with a variety of flavors not before found in Anchorage kitchens.

“Elevation 1342” – a combination of blackberries and the Smoked Marzen, the gold medal winner of the 2015 Great American Beer Festival produced by the 49th State Brewing Company – is Kovol’s go-to addition for steaks on the barbecue.

Her three teens enjoy it on their marshmallows as part of a smores – the classic campfire treat.

Before any readers get worked up about kids consuming booze via jam, Hardt and Kovol remind us that while yes, their creations contain alcohol but are boiled well below the federal Food and Drug Administration’s requirements for general consumption.

Ah, but not enough to detract from the taste. And that is indeed the point.

“We want the flavors of the alcohols to come through in their purest form,” Hardt explained.

The pair has more than just a little cheeky fun with naming their various products.

Reading the labels gives more than a subtle hint of the unlikely bedfellows – or um, jam companions – brought together as described in VooDoo Jam’s promotional literature.

“Bootleggers and Baptists” combines the Arctic Ice Moonshine Whiskey from the Anchorage Distillery with the sweetness of peaches topped with cinnamon and cloves. The “Buxom Beauty” features the Portage Porter from the 49th State Brewing Company paired with dark cherries for a spreadable unashamedly advertised as “a savor-it-slow” jam. Raspberry Haux – a VooDoo Jams signature creation with the Anchorage Distillery’s raspberry vodka and of course, raspberries – does intentionally sound similar to that unsavory name for a prostitute, but the gals insist it is actually named for a quaint village in France.

The pair was “besties” long before going in to business together. They travelled to Europe – Paris first; then Barcelona, Spain – to check out the food scene. They were inspired, they both say, but it took nearly ten years – and the establishing of daytime careers and the raising of young children to teen years – before their “after-hours” job of creating VooDoo Jams came along.

Today, the pair says they simply cannot keep up with the demand for the product.

It is a terrific problem to have, they both say. But it does come with its challenges.

The cost of shipping not just a few boxes – but crates and pallets – full of glass bottles and the supplies needed for mass jam production is one they are currently trying to tackle.

“We are very intent on always using the eight-ounce glass jars. It will always be glass for us,” Hardt said. “Yet, we might have to look at a different shape that is more economical to ship up here. Glass is very heavy and very expensive.”

For now, their most pressing goal is to continue having fun – at least 80 percent of the time they are working on the jam business.

“We know there are moments when it is all work, so we decided that as long as we are having fun doing this 80 percent of the time, then it is worth it,” Kovol said.

Their jams are available retail at the Anchorage Distillery and the 49th State Brewing Company.

VooDoo Jams is working with the trio at Eagle River’s Odd Man Rushing Brewing to create a jam featuring one of that microbrewery’s signature beers. Hardt and Kovol hope to release that concoction later this fall at an event at OMR.

While they do at times feel the pressure to create “no sugar added” or other products that might fit in with the health-conscious food movement, the pair have not yet caved to that.

Their use of whole cane sugar remains their standard as they believe its use facilitates the highest level of jam integrity.

Besides, a little in moderation is a good mantra as well, right?

Kovol, a diabetic, said she carefully monitors her intake of VooDoo Jams products.

But a little goes a long way, she said. This is especially true when quality is at its peak.

The one – and only – spot they’ve made a minor concession: Production of a non-alcoholic jam from which 100 percent of the proceeds are destined to support the Children’s Lunchbox program.

Its name – Daisy – is significantly more innocent than other VooDoo Jam products and it features strawberries and vanilla minus the champagne found in the Gatsby jam.

Hey, these gals are moms, after all and both of them work daytime jobs that support children: Hardt is the director for government relations at the Boys and Girls Club and Kovol is the deputy director at Bean’s Café.

“Kim feeds children for a living; I help kids have a safe place to go after school,” Hardt said. “So, yes, we can make a jam without alcohol. But only that one.”

Otherwise, as Kovol said of VooDoo jams products, “hey, there is nothing wrong with being able to make an adult version of the PB and J.”

Author’s Note: Amy Armstrong is a contributing writer for Wick Communications and co-owner of www.alaskafamilyfun.com. Noelle Hardt and Kim Kovol of VooDoo Jams were the guest speakers at the Sept. 20 Chugiak-Eagle River Chamber of Commerce luncheon at the Eagle River Alehouse.