There’s an old saying that if life gives you lemons, make lemonade. Life gave Susan Knapp a lot of pears. The neighbor next door to Susan’s previous country home in Lake County, California, had a very bountiful pear orchard. Susan started dreaming up ways to use all these luscious Bartlett pears.
She actually had started gaining a reputation as a gourmet cook years earlier with her Cinnamon Pear Jelly. Every holiday family and friends looked forward to receiving this delicious gift. In the fall of 1995 Susan’s mother became very ill, and Susan’s first priority became helping her mother to recover, so she didn’t make her jelly.
When her mother was on the mend, people let Susan know how much they had missed her jelly. To test a broader market, she entered the local and state fairs and won first place ribbons. From then it took seven years, but Susan was finally able to leave the corporate world, move to the Napa Valley and focus entirely on her pear condiments.
From this homespun beginning, Susan’s built her first brand, Aunt Sue’s, which is now called A Perfect Pear from Napa Valley. She still works with the farm fresh ingredients that are so readily available in the Napa Valley. Sue explains, “Thanks to the mild temperatures in California, we have access to superior produce year round.”
Her specialty is to create unusual products that surprise the palate, such as Pear Wasabi Mustard, Pear Chipotle Grill Sauce, and Roasted Pepper and Pear Vinaigrette. Her line has grown to include preserves, salad dressings, marinades, vinegar, and syrup. A Perfect Pear is the only gourmet food manufacturer to use pears as their main ingredient. Susan says, “Our main objective for all our products is to help people create quick, healthy and delicious meals.”
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