Revere Farmers Market Spotlight

By Joela Goga, Revere Ambassador

Grateful Tastes is the type of business you hear about, perhaps from an excited neighbor or close friend– and are instantly drawn to, because it’s a place that has roots in the values of family, humility, and overall goodness.

This family business specializes in jellies, jams, and preserves that New England-based owners Tom and Carolyn Taylor make with their very own cherished family recipes in mind. With a wide variety of flavors, and only the best ingredients that come from fresh produce, organic sugar, and all natural pectin, you cannot go wrong with their inviting and delectable artisanal spreads.

Grateful Tastes’ humble roots derive from the chance meeting between Tom and Carolyn as college students at UMass Lowell, and Tom says the rest is history. For over a decade, the couple had been making their tasty spreads for beloved friends and holiday celebrations, but it wasn’t until the winter of 2018 that they began to display their delightful craft to a wider audience. Friends constantly expressed that they would pay for the couple’s exquisite spreads, and this combined with a life-altering injury Tom experienced in 2015 had a significant impact on their decision to share their creations with the world.

Working in construction prior, Tom shattered four vertebrae in a slip and fall and had to spend “the better part of the year relearning how to do everything again,” which changed his career path forever.

Tom did not let this accident interfere with his passion for producing fresh and natural products for people to enjoy. Hailing from a family of entrepreneurs and small business owners himself, and having helped start and run small firms with his friends throughout the years, it was not a huge surprise when Tom opened his own business with Carolyn– and thus Grateful Tastes was born.

Owning a business involves learning something new all the time, and Tom and Carolyn’s biggest takeaway from being their own bosses? Tom beautifully puts into words the business spirit anyone wanting to go down this path should possess: “the world is yours, you just have to be willing to smile, hustle, grind, and repeat until you make it.”

As for his favorite part about owning a business, Tom’s answer is simply “proving that doing things the right way doesn’t mean that you can’t be successful.” He goes on to share how much he enjoys helping shoppers pick out a flavor from their wide array of options, and he greatly appreciates when returning customers find him and Carolyn at local markets to express how much they loved a particular preserve.

To Tom, making products with such a long family history means “the love we were shown as children besides our grandmothers and mothers in the kitchen while apron-side learning to stir is put into every jar,” what more could you ask for? The utilization of New England’s diverse harvest to create such delicious spreads is a special ability that Tom and Carolyn do successfully and with exhilaration.

Similar to other businesses, the COVID-19 pandemic certainly did not help Tom and Carolyn.

Nevertheless they kept their heads up, and are determined to increase production rates and reach more customers. In the wise words of Tom, this is all achievable if they just follow their motto: smile, hustle, grind, and repeat.

Come see Tom and Carolyn at the Revere Farmers’ Market, their superb energy and inspiring passion for their craft means you are getting nothing but the absolute best jams, jellies, and preserves that nature has to offer!

Special thanks to Tom and Carolyn Taylor.

Support Grateful Tastes at their website: gratefultastes.com.