Food with a Kick!

December 22, 2022

Anna Franceschi with her husband, Steve.

• Franceschi Farms ensures your meals will be full of fantastic flavor.

By Breanna Call, SVI Media

If you’re over bland flavors and want to add some life back into your food, Franceschi Farms has got you covered! Anna Franceschi is the brains behind the spices and jams that are changing the flavor dynamic in Star Valley. “I don’t like plain,” she says. “I like food to have a good flavor.”

Franceschi grew up on an orchard, and naturally, because of this, her mother taught her to make jams and jellies. That skill became the foundation of her business. Now, she combines spices to create tangy and savory flavors you can add to each meal. “It’s easy cooking,” she explains, “for people who have not a lot of time.”

So how does Franceschi come up with the concoctions? “I have chronic insomnia,” she says, “and my brain never shuts off. I am always thinking of, “Oh hey, the market has this on sale. I wonder if I can do this and this.’ . . . Some of it does end up in the trash because it’s horrible, and some of it just turns out really good.”

In fact, Franceschi’s blends are so good that she was able to quit her day job and now works full-time getting her products out and creating new ones. Currently, she has over 75 recipes. “I rotate through them,” she says. “I don’t always have the same things in stock.” Make sure to follow her Facebook page (Franceschi Farms) to stay up to date on her products.

About half of Franceschi’s jams are used for cooking. That’s right. Her jams are made not only for breads but also meats. “Anything with a hot pepper in it is really good on pork or chicken,” she explains. “You would use it like a stir fry sauce. Peach-based ones, like the peach ginger, the peachy raspberry, those are great on pork in the crockpot or the instant pot, and it just flavors the meat.”

Franceschi’s customers also put her jalapeño jelly over cream cheese. “I tell people put it on brie,” she says. “Put it on goat cheese. Change it up a little.” Her pineapple jalapeño jam pairs will with salmon, and her raspberry lemonade jelly tastes great on toast and even ice cream.

“This time of the year,” says Franceschi, “I have a lot of blackberry clove jam. It’s made for wild game, for elk and venison. Put that on there and it just . . . brings a whole different flavor to the meat.”

Two of her best-selling products are her 307 blend and Satan’s Mother-in-Law. “The 307 blend,” she explains, “is bacon-infused sea salt with other spices in it. It’s got garlic and pepper and paprika. We literally put it on everything from veggies, mashed potatoes, scrambled eggs. It’s great on any meat. . . . I had a lady tell me she puts it in cream cheese and uses it as a veggie dip.”

Her Satan’s Mother-in-law blend has ghost peppers, Carolina reapers, habaneros, serranos, and more. “That one is hot, hot,” says Franceschi. “People use it as a meat rub on roasts. People put it as their seasoning base for their homemade chili. I’ve got a friend that uses it on her mac and cheese. People put it on cream cheese and eat it with crackers. A little goes a long way.”

Next summer, Franceschi plans to release a cookbook listing the many ways you can use her products. For now, you can purchase her products at the Star Valley Mercantile in Afton, 225 BBQ in Thayne, Make Your Own Happy in Thayne, Blue Ribbon Barn heading to Star Valley Ranch, and Chevron in Alpine. You can also just text Anna Franceschi at (307)-880-0773 to see what she has in stock. 

For Christmas, she’s making varied arrangements of gift baskets and hosting an open house December 15–17 for customers to come and create their own arrangements. 

“I like making people happy with food,” says Franceschi. “When they come back and say, ‘Oh I had your raspberry lemonade jam. It was the best ever,’ and when I hear them talking to their friends saying, ‘You got to buy this cause it’s wonderful,’ it makes me feel good that they enjoyed my food and enjoyed my cooking.”