Makers share their love of food and drink with Missourians. Businesses from across the state make tea, popcorn, pretzel snacks, and more.
By Sydney Jones
Blooming with Joy
In O’Fallon, Michelle Pohl creates loose-leaf teas, cold brew iced tea pouches, and tea samplers. After learning the benefits of tea for physical and mental wellness, Michelle knew that she wanted to begin drinking it more often. As her health improved, she began sharing her love of herbal tea with others, and from there her tea business—Blooming with Joy—was created! Blooming with Joy sells loose teas such as oolong, jasmine, and Earl Grey, as well as cold brew teas like Sweet Peaches and Spicy Caribbean. Dozens of locations sell her product around the state of Missouri, including in O’Fallon and Cottleville. Also, with Michelle selling her tea at different festivals each week, Blooming With Joy is easy to find and enjoy.
Fancy Farm Popcorn
Since 1987, the Tanner family has been making batches of popcorn at their farm near Bernie. This family and their tight-knit group of employees work together on the Tanner’s farm to grow, harvest, store, process, and package the popcorn. Fancy Farm Popcorn offers its customers popcorn kits that include everything needed to make popcorn in a household popcorn popper or in a stovetop pan. In addition to being grown in Missouri, Fancy Farm Popcorn prides itself on being environmentally friendly, non-GMO, nut free, and gluten free.
PJ’s Snacks
While waiting for dinner to finish cooking one night, Pamela JoAnn Hecker threw together a last-minute snack to tide her guests over. Into a bowl went a special mix of pretzels and seasonings. Little did Pam know that her family would fall in love with this snack and that in the future, many happy customers would as well! PJ’s Snacks is the passion project of Pam and her family. Freshly created and packaged by hand, customers can choose from a variety of pretzel flavors such as Savory Chipotle, Original Ranch, Cinnamon & Sugar, Smokey Cheddar Jalapeno, or Honey Mustard. The popcorn is gluten free and certified non-GMO. PJ’s pretzels can be purchased at the Kansas City Market, through its online store, or through the markets listed on its website.
Article originally from the October 2024 issue.
