Debra Humphrey, a creative chemical engineer, has blessed the Pampa community with her scrumptious jams, jellies, and baked goods for many years. She is most known for her award-winning apple butter and the unique flavor profiles of her jams. Humphrey started her jamming journey when she lived in Oklahoma City, OK. Her neighbor had brought Humphrey and her family 5 gallons of cherries. Being an avid baker, Humphrey had made cobblers and cherry bread, yet, she still had half a container of cherries left over. Humphrey then decided to make preserves and fell in love with the process.
Humphrey soon turned to create apple butter.
“I had tasted lots of apple butter and I did not like them,” Humphrey said. “I decided I was going to make my own.”
Since then, Humphrey had created her formula for apple butter. Not recipe, formula.
“It’s a formula because you can make it in a small amount or you can make it in a huge amount,” Humphrey said.
The creation of her apple butter led Humphrey to enter in it the Oklahoma State Fair for the first time. The apple butter won 2nd place.
“The only reason I didn’t take first place was that the coloring was too dark, “Humphrey said. “It’s okay, I’m perfectly happy with it.”
After that, a family member suggested that Humphrey sell her apple butter and jellies at the Oklahoma Farmer’s Market.
“It was a co-op,” Humphrey said. “All through the state, people could order from the co-op website. The co-op had a central site where they stored our goods and would redistribute the orders statewide.”
After a while, the Humphrey’s moved out of Oklahoma and settled in Pampa. They’ve been here for 6 years. With the encouragement of her husband, Charles, and help from her two daughters, Crysta and Sadie, Humphrey established her business, Deb’s All Naturals.
“I started making things for people. Eventually, the manager of the complex where we lived told us about the farmer’s market,” Humphrey said. “I was able to get in touch with Natalie Zaranti and started selling at the Pampa Farmer’s Market.”
Since selling her baked goods and jellies at the farmer’s market, Humphrey discovered the best technique for attracting customers: samples.
“By handing out samples, we win people over,” Humphrey said. “I’ve offered samples to people who didn’t really like apple butter and asked them to try it. They try it and end up buying multiple jars of apple butter.”
To create such amazing flavors, Humphrey’s enlisted the help of Tracy Turner. Turner lives in Oklahoma City and is Humphrey’s researcher and development team. His job is to take all the flavors of Humphrey’s jams and jellies to experiment with them. Turner then offers feedback that entails the best way of using the jams and jellies.
“I have a strawberry jalapeno jelly that he mixed with apple cider vinegar and turned it into a steak marinade,” Humphrey said. “When he used it and put the meat on the grill, it brought out the whole neighborhood.”
Deb’s All Naturals adds at least one new unique flavor each month. The flavor for August was a delicious strawberry daiquiri-inspired jelly. In addition, Humphrey also can make sugar-free versions of her jams and jellies.
“I want to make something different and unique,” Humphrey said. “You can always get strawberry jam at the store, but can you get these gourmet flavors that I have?”
You can find Deb’s All Naturals every Saturday at the Pampa Farmer’s Market at 2545 Perryton Pkwy. For orders or inquiries, you can find Deb’s All Naturals on Facebook and can send Debra a text message at (806) 662- 9071.
