Today we’d like to introduce you to Nina Cox.
Hi Nina, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Sugar Crush Sweet Treats makes drunken and sober jams and jellies. I will dazzle your tastebuds with a unique twist on a traditional treat. The drunken jams start with alcohol, but the alcoholic properties cook off, and you are left with the yummy drink taste. And the sober jams are exactly that… they start with no alcoholic properties at all. I sell my jams for $10 for an 8 oz jar or 3 for $25. So, you buy 2 jars and receive the third jar half off.
And well, I guess my story starts with my husband, Steve, 26 years. We are both from Florida and lived ten minutes from each other our whole lives. But it took him home on leave from the military to meet and two weeks together for us to fall in love. The military brought him to Maryland and a year later we were married. He remained in the military for another year and a half before opting out and joining a private contractor company. The goal was always to move home to Florida, but after five years of marriage, we decided to buy a house in Harmans, Md., and settled in. With his job as a network engineer, my husband was traveling the world. I joined him on some of his travels but mostly I was home working. I worked as a bartender for the majority of our marriage, as that position allowed me to take time off when it was convenient. My husband’s work travel schedule was unpredictable.
So fast forward to August 2011, I was 38 years old when my husband changed divisions in his company. This office promised him more work time at home and a lot less travel. I had been feeling my baby clock ticking for a while but was scared of the aspect of being essentially a single mom. With my husband’s previous travel schedule, he was gone at least six months of the year. So now was the time to try to have a baby, I wasn’t getting any younger.
Unfortunately, we waited too long. At my age, the doctors suggested IVF. So that journey of heartbreak began. Two transfers in and I had a miscarriage at work. It was then suggested by my doctor that I should take a leave of absence and take it easy, get pregnant, and focus on work after. Then followed Five and a half years of ups and downs of happiness and joy and sadness and loss. Seven pregnancies, one that had been twins, were lost.
In September 2016, after great despair and with my husband holding my hand, we decided to withdraw from the IVF program. I was floundering. With the weight on my shoulders of accepting that I would never have my children, we decided that I would wait until after the holidays to return to work. But that too would be a challenge in the new year of 2017. I found a lump in my right breast even though I had had a 3D mammogram in August of 2016 just months before. I had been worried about the chemicals and drugs the IVF was injecting into my body.
So, in January I went to see my gynecologist, I insisted that there was something there and eventually she finally felt what I had been describing to her. A concern. Another 3D mammogram and an ultrasound later and they detect nothing until I snatch the wand out of the technician’s hand and press down and to the right. ‘Stop I see it!’ She spoke. And my heart sank. Two weeks of fear later, I arrived to get a biopsy. ‘No worries! The nurse said.
We haven’t had any positive biopsies yet this year. February 7th was the first positive biopsy of the year for breast cancer, and it was mine. It took until Friday the tenth to receive the news of cancer, and then another four days wondering what was going to happen. What stage am I, how big is the tumor, will I have to have a mastectomy, am I going to die? That changes your whole perspective on life. You evaluate everything. Have I loved enough? Laughed enough? Lived enough? Been kind enough?
That year. 2017. A year that changed my life. Luckily, I have surrounded myself with so many wonderful people. Not only my family, my wonderful husband but also my family. The people I chose to have in my life made me laugh and held me up through one of the hardest times in my life. A couple of years before my diagnosis with breast cancer, a new friend moved in across the street. We gardened together, made dinner together, and lounged in the pool. We had lots of fun together, especially the times my husband traveled.
I was less lonely. And when she met her forever person, then the four of us spent a lot of time together doing all the same things as she and I had done before. That fall of 2017, after the two breast cancer surgeries I had, the hyperbaric oxygen chamber, chemotherapy, and radiation I was finally on my road to recovery. I had a head of soft half-inch baby hair coming back in on top of my head. It had been such a long journey. My neighbor Dani and I had been talking about my needing Christmas presents for the neighbors five years before. After the first miscarriage and the beginning of that long leave of absence.
I didn’t have money, no salary coming in from bartending. We talked about how that first year of IVF I needed to give “gifts from the heart.” At the time, with no job I needed to do something economical. Jam! Specifically, pina colada jam, strawberry daiquiri jam, and red sangria jelly. I had followed general recipes I had learned how to make growing up and put my twist on them. She was interested in making Christmas presents for her family and friends too. We decided to make some of these again together that weekend.
With her encouragement, we decided in that fall of 2017 to start trying to sell some drunken and sober jams and jellies at a couple of small shows. We started with only nine flavors. But we were almost selling out everywhere we went. Dani eventually backed away from the business shortly after we started it, but encouraged me to keep going, that this could be more than a fun hobby thing. That could be the start of a small business for me. I think she was just trying to give me a purpose instead of me sitting around.
She was busy with her master’s program at that time had found her new love and had other things happening in her life. She got married in 2019 and moved to Hawaii in 2020 and now not only has her husband, but two beautiful boys and a sweet chocolate lab named Winston. Dani and my other friends, family, my husband, and especially my aunt Joanie, my biggest supporter and fans said,” You should do this!’ So, I did, and I never went back to work for anyone else.
Sugar Crush Sweet Treats, my drunken and sober jams and jelly company was born in 2017. It’s my baby now. It was born from friendship and love. With endless encouragement from my husband, I never went back to bartending again. I now have 34 rotating flavors, some exclusively for holidays only. I love to see people’s skeptical faces when they come up to try a sample and then the surprised expressions when they say these tastes exactly like what the name is!’ Amazingly, the sober Apple cinnamon French toast jelly is my best seller.
It’s loved by kids and adults alike. Not only is it delicious on toast, but my favorite way to eat is to pop a waffle in the toaster. You no longer need butter and syrup. Just slather on some jelly and eat your waffle-like toast. It’s also delicious on pork chops and brie instead of classic honey. Strawberry Daiquiri, Blackjack (blackberry, Jack Daniels, and a touch of vanilla), and my new Caribbean sunset are some of my best drunken sellers. My sober Pineapple upside-down cake jam is also one of the stars in my lineup.
This was my favorite cake growing up and still is. This is the birthday cake I always requested my great granny to make for me. So, in honor of her, I took her Georgia cake recipe and jammed it. It tastes just like home. I have a famous cranberry Gran Marnier jam, that goes straight to the table for Turkey. It’s good on leftover turkey sandwiches. But also great on brie. I hand out recipes for cranberry brie bites during the season. You will only find this jam on my table from mid-October through the end of December, while supplies last.
And only in a larger 16oz jar for $20. I am always trying to develop new flavors. It can get hectic during the holidays, and I try not to turn down requests to join events. But I do like the freedom of being my boss and picking and choosing how much I like to work. I can’t imagine doing anything else at this point in my life and am happy that everyone seems to enjoy, as my husband puts it, my “evil genius!” He is always trying to remind me that life should have a smile on its face.
After all, all I got outta IVF, we assume was breast cancer. But what came outta cancer was something wonderful. I have time and the chance to change what I do in my life. And it worked.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I feel like the journey itself was somewhat smooth. Or maybe now it just feels that way because it’s like second nature. Learning the ends and outs of what you need for a business can be daunting at first and certainly, there was scrambling at times. But that comes from not having enough product for the next event. Not a bad scramble to have.
But selling out of items and hurrying to make more. Lots of short sleepless nights. Trying to figure out what shows are profitable and which ones aren’t. What you’re willing to sacrifice your time for. Where to get jars in bulk (I drive to Fillmore containers in Lancaster, PA) and how far you’re willing to travel for certain items you need. Fellow crafters and small business owners are the key. It’s a loved community and most other vendors are friendly and helpful. You just need to ask.
I always try to pass on the kindness I receive and help others when they are starting with the information I have learned. 2020 certainly put a twist on things, as I was considered an essential product, a food product, a was able and lucky enough to get into the Crofton farmer’s market. Chad Houck loved my jams he had tried at another event and gave me a chance to sell every Wednesday at his farmers market. That was the only thing that kept my business going that year. I will be forever grateful to him. A lot of businesses weren’t so lucky.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
What am I most proud of? I’m proud that it’s seven years later and my small business is still alive and well. Just the determination to keep going, I hope, is what sets me apart from others. Not only do I have a unique product, but I also try to remember each guest who walks up to my table.
I want them to enjoy their delicious treat when they get home but also remember me! I always try and put that smile on, not just on my face, but on my life. I only have one life, and I’ve had a peek at what could be the end of it. I’ll tell you this, I’m going to make the best of the rest of it.
Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?
I do local craft fairs, festivals, and farmers’ markets in Maryland. You can find my schedule on my Facebook page @SugarCrushsweettreats or you can email me at sugarcrushsweettreats@yahoo.com.
Pricing:
- 8oz jar of jam or jelly. $10 each or 3/$25
- 16oz holiday jar @ $20 each
Contact Info:
- Facebook:@SugarCrushsweettreats
Image Credits
Jamie Gibbs, Stephen Cox, and Nina Cox
