When Jeddy started making his original blend, we never set out to make a seasoning company. We were just about gathering friends and family, cooking together and celebrating whatever occasion we could. From 'hey come over after work and we will cook you dinner', to family holidays with 30-40 family members, we would cook from scratch and love every minute of it. One of the things when we had children was we wanted to instill in them a love for cooking and a tradition of sitting down together to enjoy our meals.
We celebrate 33 years of marriage this month. From our first date to today, we share a love for cooking and a desire to feed each others soul with our love and care through the things we create.
The blend now known as Jeddys, Matt aka Jeddy began working on because he had tried so many others and they just didn't convey the flavor and cook he wanted. So when faced with not finding what you want, our philosophy was, create your own. So in 1999, he set out to make the perfect pork rub. One that would satisfy the vision he had. With 17 herbs and spices you can imagine the task he set out to accomplish. Testing this and tasting that. Adding this and taking this out. Making sure they balanced each other and didn't overwhelm. Getting that right balance of salty, sweet, savory, bitter and umami wasn't a small undertaking but he finally did it. And when he did, we just thought 'wow, this is too good to just be put on pork'. So for each gathering, after work meal, holiday or get together, we cooked and added a bit here or there. Our family, friends and co-workers started asking what do you guys use in your cooking and we would smile and say just a little something he created. When we had our kiddos in the mid 2000's, we were making bottles of it for several people and during those transition years in our life....Jeddy's was born. Still the thought never was 'we should have a seasoning company'. Although we dreamed about a restaurant one day, that was a dream we set on the back burner as life and other directions took precedence.
In 2014 when our kids were 10 and 6, we were cooking dinner and they were asking us about when Jeddys started, and as we told the story, they said 'we would like to start a farmers market booth to sell Jeddys' because more people need to taste this. When your kids have a goal, we have always made every effort to see it happen. So the next day we called one of our markets we worked at selling our friends wellness products and asked if we could have a spot next to us for the kids. That weekend Jeddys was sold in Naples, Florida at their first farmers market.
Through the years, the ups and downs, the travels across the country in our rv, the move to Colorado, our cafe and the return to Florida. Jeddys has been a staple in our everyday. While on the road and then in the cafe, we started making other flavors based off an inspiration from a craft kitchen here, a mom and pop restaurant there or a chef/owner we would meet and the menu items we wanted to share.
When we moved back to Florida, and we reset our lives, we decided that our seasonings needed to be the foundation we built our return to Florida on and Southern Sol was formed.
We didn't know where the paths would take us but we knew we wanted to share our passion for food, family and showing our love through our cooking. So the seasoning company began and we traveled all around the State of Florida sharing our blends at farmers markets. kiddos by our sides and inspiring us to share what we love.
You don't always recognize moments you were creating would be so impactful on the trajectory of your life, until many years later.
