Joyce Tennant This is Me

 Web References

1. 1. NewsandSentinel.com: Janese Can Cook offers blended herbs and spices, two cookbooks - - The Parkersburg News & Sentinel

   www.newsandsentinel.com/commun - [Cached]

   Published on: 2/23/2004   Last Visited: 2/24/2004

   After she was gone, I had some time on my hands, and he thought I should do something entrepreneurial," Tennant says. "Right. Like what?
   ...
   Tennant, who worked as a critical care nurse for 27 years, now serves as nursing supervisor at Marietta Memorial Hospital. Using her grandmother's "steak paint" recipe, she began experimenting on her staff.
   
   "Steak paint was a soy sauce base with a blend of spices that was painted on just about any kind of meat before baking or grilling. I turned it into a dry rub, reduced the sodium and it became Janese's Steak Rub, the first product," Tennant says.
   ...
   Tennant, who creates her custom blends in the FDA-approved commercial kitchen at Balloonamania on Market Street, depends on her best friend and "head kitchen slave" Emily Hausman and her sister-in-law Joyce Tennant for assistance.
   ...
   Tennant, who creates her custom blends in the FDA-approved commercial kitchen at Balloonamania on Market Street, depends on her best friend and "head kitchen slave" Emily Hausman and her sister-in-law Joyce Tennant for assistance.
   ...
   I have packages delivered addressed to 'Head Kitchen Slave,' and she always gets them," laughs Tennant.
   
   The trio became regulars at Oglebay Fest, the Harvest Moon Festival, Mountain State Art and Craft Fair, Showcase West Virginia and similar events. They placed products on the shelves at Ward's Market on Seventh Street and at Balloonamania.
   
   During that time, Tennant sat down to compile the best recipes of her ancestors, coming up with a collection of 175 tried-and-true family favorites spanning a century. She put the book together with photographs, creating a history that spans generations in "West Virginia Country Cooking."
   ...
   She's incredible," Tennant says.
   
   After the first cookbook came out in print, Tennant says, "My six boys demanded equal time." The boys are three maltese and three standard poodles, who inspired "Treats for Your Best Friend." The dog treats cookbook is filled with healthy dog bone and biscuit recipes and comes complete with a biscuit cutter.
   
   Two years ago, Tennant expanded her line to include Southwestern Sizzle, a Tex-Mex blend, which soon became the second-best-selling product for the company. Cajun Kick and Janese's Pepper Blend, combining black, red, white and green ground pepper, also were added.
   
   "And the dessert blend, it's basically cinnamon and nutmeg with a powdered vanilla punch. It can be used in baking, added to mixes or mixed with a little sugar or artificial sweetener to sprinkle on just about anything. It's great for diabetics, sprinkled on toast or added to a white cake mix to make spice cake," Tennant says.
   
   Working with the West Virginia Department of Agriculture and the FDA, Tennant must meet a strict set of criteria before a product comes to market. Add to that her own input in every phase of the business and it takes between four and six months before products become available to consumers. Not only does she choose and blend the herbs and spices, she designs the labels, brochures and other materials, does her own printing and visits suppliers.
   
   "I get a lot of stuff from Amish country, just because they have the quality and the price I want. I'm marketing dry blends, and powdered vanilla is not easy to come by. That comes from Oregon. Once you get the ingredients, you have to try the blends in recipes, and you have to have other opinions. The poor staff at Marietta Memorial are my guinea pigs," Tennant says.
   
   Next to be added to Janese Can Cook are four new meatloaf/meatball mixes, in an old-fashioned variety containing bell peppers and onions, a savory blend with herbs, an Italian blend and a spicy mix which will include Cajun Kick. There also are four ranch-style dressing/dip mixes in the works: onion, dilly, southwestern rance and garden vegetable ranch.
   
   "If you mix them with mayonnaise and milk, they are dressings. Use sour cream and they're dips," Tennant says.
   
   A hot spicy version of the Chili in a Bottle is on the way, and a Little Chili in a Bottle has already been introduced at the request of customers. Jambalaya and white chili are in the development stage.
   
   Tennant serves as the vice president of the West Virginia Specialty Food Cooperative, a statewide organization with 65 members seeking to expand.
   
   "The cooperative increases the availability of markets for the small entrepreneur and is a resource for those thinking about starting a West Virginia food company. We hope to devise a distribution network that will make it easier to get products in more markets. We know that there are small, specialty food producers out there and hope to bring them into the cooperative for their benefit and ours," Tennant says.