Sister Act Builds a Jampire

Rachel Mack and Sara Steffensmeier and products from their companies. (Courtesy of Laurel Hill Jams and Jellies and Loon Chocolate)

Sisters Rachel Mack and Sara Steffensmeier are creating what they call their “jampire” after acquiring Laurel Hill Jams and Jellies in February and Loon Chocolate in June then moving the two companies into a showroom retail space across from Catholic Medical Center at Mill West on McGregor St. in Manchester.

Mack and Steffensmeier, who are from Nebraska and now live in Bedford, have been canning and making jam for years. “We grew up on a farm in the middle of Nebraska and have a farm mentality when it comes to canning and preserving,” Mack says. “It’s always been part of my life and during COVID my sister and I really got back into it.”

Mack says she and her sister jumped at the chance when Laurel Hill founder Sue Stretch decided to sell her business. The company produces a variety of traditional jams and jellies as well as a new line of products utilizing Summit Wineries in Westmoreland to make jellies with names like Merlot Wine Jelly, Cabernet Sauvignon Jelly and White Blend Wine Jelly. Many of the ingredients used in Laurel Hill’s products come directly from local farmers’ markets. The name “Laurel Hill” originates from the mountain laurel which grows abundantly throughout Bedford.

Loon Chocolate, formerly owned by Scott Watson, is a bean-to-bar chocolate company that uses ethically sourced beans and does all its processing in Manchester. “We get our cacao beans whole and eventually stone grind them for 72 hours,” Mack says. The beans are then roasted, shelled and blended with organic cane sugar and organic cocoa butter, and each bar is individually wrapped by hand.

As to why the sisters decided to pair chocolate with their jams and jellies, Mack says, “Honestly, chocolate is just delicious, and I loved Loon Chocolate with the New Hampshire iconography that comes with it. We told people the whole building is going to smell like chocolate when we move in, but no one had a problem with that.”

For more information visit laurelhilljams.com and loonchocolate.com.