Superstar Tastemaker Pablo Lugones of Small Batch Jam Co.
In the classic holiday movie National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, Clark Griswold, played by Chevy Chase, expects a considerable bonus from work but receives a Jelly of the Month Club subscription instead. Owner of Small Batch Jam Co. and jam maker Pablo Lugones credits the movie for an annual boost in Jam of the Month Club subscriptions.
“I couldn’t have anticipated the holiday seasonality of gift- giving rituals for jam,” says Lugones. Small Batch Jam Co.’s handmade fruit preserves are anything but a letdown to receive. These highly giftable jams, presented in rustic-chic glass jars topped by hand-tied paper covers, come in a selection of 105 innovative flavor combinations suited to every taste.
Flavors range from classic strawberry to tropical favorite pink guava. Lugones creates unexpected blends that elevate PB&Js, meat glazes, dessert fillings and cheese boards. Spicy peppers bring the heat to creations like pineapple pepper jam, pairing sweet fruit with chile de arbol peppers. Alcohol-infused selections like orange whisky marmalade deliver a boozy bite. Earl Grey bergamot marmalade is an herbal-infused citrusy standout.
Small Batch Jam Co.’s nostalgia flavors, including boysenberry, pineapple apricot and rhubarb, have customers returning for more. “They appeal to a very particular generational group who grew up with those flavors and no longer see them on the shelves,” says Lugones.
Many winter holiday favorites stir up warm-fuzzy feelings, too. Cranberry Cabernet jam’s tangy tartness elevates turkey dishes, and Gravenstein apple butter is the perfect shortbread cookie filling. Quince rosewater jam, persimmon vanilla jam and amaretto pear butter are also popular holiday picks.
Before becoming a jam maker, Lugones had a career in food service. In 2014, a vendor shipped him 25 pounds of blackberries to sample. To save the excess fruit from spoiling, Lugones made his first batch of homemade jam. Family and friends devoured it and asked for more. “I started frequenting local farmers markets,” he says. “I experimented with flavor combinations and played around a lot early on with the entire process.”
When Lugones and his wife, Gina, sold out of jam at the 2016 Pacific Coast Fog Fest, they decided to start Small Batch Jam Co. In 2024, they opened storefronts in Eugene, Oregon, and Pacifica, California, after many years of running booths at local art and wine fairs. Small Batch Jam Co. has a strong online presence on the company website and on Faire.com, where small grocery and specialty stores place orders. Select jams are available locally at Pacifica retailers: Oceana Market, Lovey’s Tea Shoppe, Pedro Point Sirens and A Grape in the Fog.
Lugones cooks his jams at a commercial kitchen and can make 2,000 to 3,000 jars a week. Fresh jams are ready for sale the day after they are made. “Every jam batch is a chemistry experiment in food,” he says. “It still brings an excitement of ‘Am I doing it correctly? Is it going to be better than the last batch?’”
Lugones has relationships with farms in California and the Pacific Northwest, accessing specialty berries, citrus and stone fruits. Pescadero growers supply ollalieberries, and frozen tropical fruit pulp comes from South America. He transforms orchard fruit from Filoli Historic House & World-Class Garden in Woodside into jams.
He’s made an olallieberry shrub for San Jose’s J&P Cosentino Family Farms and incorporated the award-winning Zinfandel Loco Motion wine from Moshin Vineyards in Healdsburg into upscale fruity spreads.
“I get to meet with the growers who put their heart and soul into the produce I use. I take what they’ve done and transform it into this finished good that is considered a value add,” he says. Small Batch Jam Co.’s fruit preserves are the perfect holiday gift, keeping the local harvest fresh for year-round enjoyment.
Small Batch Jam Co.
450 Dondee Way, Ste. 3, Pacifica, at Rockaway Beach
Inside Little Green Plant Bar at 1101 Main St, Redwood City
