{"id":342418,"date":"2026-06-19T05:22:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-19T05:22:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/342418\/"},"modified":"2026-06-19T05:22:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T05:22:08","slug":"texas-sweet-heat-jam-serves-a-good-cause-with-a-spicy-kick","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/342418\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas Sweet Heat Jam serves a good cause with a spicy kick"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFor 15 years, Leander-based Texas Sweet Heat Jam<\/a> has been making unique and delicious jams for a cause that customers and employees alike can be proud of.<\/p>\n

The backstory<\/p>\n

The label of each jar of the company\u2019s jam describes founder Nolan Stilwell as \u201ca culinary artist, avid gardener and a native Texan, who happens to have Down syndrome.\u201d with the help of his parents, Christine and Randy, Nolan started Texas Sweet Heat Jam in 2011.<\/p>\n

The company got its start when Nolan wanted to join his high school\u2019s culinary program, but was unable to. Nolan and his parents decided to create their own opportunity instead, and over the last 15 years, their company has grown to provide similar opportunities for many more young people with disabilities.<\/p>\n

The Stilwell family lived in Katy, Texas, at the time, and Texas Sweet Heat Jam was based there until Hurricane Harvey forced them to move, Christine Stilwell said. Texas Sweet Heat Jam is now based out of the commercial kitchen at Life Church in Leander, which allows Nolan Stilwell and his team to use the space for free.<\/p>\n

\"TexasTexas Sweet Heat Jam sells more than a dozen different handcrafted varieties of spicy jam, as well as barbecue sauce and mustard. (Daniel Schwalm\/Community Impact)What they offer<\/p>\n

Texas Sweet Heat Jam sells more than a dozen different flavors of jam that combine sweet fruit flavors with a spicy jalape\u00f1o kick, as well as mustard and barbecue sauce. Each jar is handcrafted by a small team of dedicated employees.<\/p>\n

Their jams have been sold in several H-E-B stores ever since the company was a finalist in the 2014 H-E-B Quest for Texas Best. Currently, a handful of flavors are available in H-E-Bs across the northern Austin metro area. The full range of Texas Sweet Heat Jam products is available online, and the company sells its jams in a variety of gift shops around the country as well.<\/p>\n

Every year, Texas Sweet Heat Jam challenges its employees to create a new flavor. This year, a new fig balsamic jalape\u00f1o flavor will go in their holiday gift boxes.<\/p>\n

\"TexasTexas Sweet Heat Jam founders (clockwise from top left) Christine, Nolan and Randy Stilwell pose with employees Eric Hernandez, William Mullican IV and Chrystal Urias. (Daniel Schwalm\/Community Impact)Why it matters<\/p>\n

Texas Sweet Heat Jam\u2019s mission is to provide meaningful employment for adults with intellectual disabilities.<\/p>\n

The company\u2019s employees are a tight-knit group of friends who love to spend time together both on and off the clock, Christine Stilwell said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love Sweet Heat because I love making jam!\u201d said Texas Sweet Heat Jam employee William Mullican IV. \u201cNolan is my best friend. We have fun at work!\u201d<\/p>\n

Employee Chrystal Urias has worked for Texas Sweet Heat Jam for about five years. She said the job has helped her to become more independent as a young adult.<\/p>\n

\u201cI told my life coach, \u2018I like being in the kitchen,\u2019 and she was like, \u2018I think I know a place for you.\u2019 And this was it,\u201d Urias said. \u201cEver since then, I\u2019ve been here. I love it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TexasTexas Sweet Heat Jam employee Chrystal Urias labels a jar of jam. (Daniel Schwalm\/Community Impact)Texas Sweet Heat Jam also offers a three-month internship program for young adults with disabilities looking to gain the skills needed to apply for other jobs in the food industry.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen somebody comes through here, they\u2019re not only leaving with a food handler certificate and a letter of recommendation,\u201d Christine Stilwell said, \u201cbut also the skills and the confidence that they can go out there and do these jobs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nolan Stilwell and his team sum up their positive attitude and sense of humor with their joking slogan for the jam:<\/p>\n

\u201cNot bad!\u201d they said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For 15 years, Leander-based Texas Sweet Heat Jam has been making unique and delicious jams for a cause…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":342419,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[122088,122086,47109,122089,122087,122085,27,29,28],"class_list":["post-342418","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-artisanal","tag-jobs-for-people-with-disabilities","tag-leander-local-businesses","tag-small-batch","tag-supporting-down-syndrome","tag-sweet-heat-jam","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342418","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=342418"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342418\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/342419"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=342418"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=342418"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=342418"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}