Tram Jam

Lisa Felton’s small-batch jams, hand-crafted in her home kitchen, have become a Jackson fan favorite.

// photography By Lindley Rust
// By Helen Olsson 

During the pandemic, while others were baking cakes and refinishing antiques, Lisa Felton pivoted to jam. She grew up making jam with her mother and grandmother in New England at the holidays, and she still has the traditional family recipe memorialized on a battered index card in her grandmother’s “crazy, terrible handwriting.” 

Felton moved to Wyoming from New England in 2011. “I was teaching kindergarten back East and bartending and feeling like I needed a change,” she says. She packed her ski bag and booked a one-way ticket to Jackson. As a manager at Made and Mountain Dandy, she gained retail experience that she eventually applied to selling jam. 

In December 2020, Felton whipped up a batch of jam. “We were all housebound, and I was feeling nostalgic.” On a whim, she posted a photo of the jam jars on her Instagram asking if anyone would want to buy them as Christmas gifts. By morning, her phone blew up with messages. People wanted jars by the dozens. “I thought, okay, this jam is having a moment.”

Before long, Felton’s jams were at Amangani, Teton Mountain Lodge, the farmers market, and in gift baskets at weddings and baby showers. She’s pared down her distribution some but still makes about 5,000 jars a year.

Thanks to the Wyoming Food Freedom Act, Felton is able to cook her jams in an old lobster pot in her home kitchen. She forages locally for berries and loads up on cranberries at the grocery store around Thanksgiving. 

Felton has always donated a portion of Tram Jam proceeds to nonprofits, starting with Coombs Outdoors, which works to reduce barriers to outdoor recreation through programs, mentorship, and community building. “It was something I really felt aligned with,” she says. She chooses different organizations each year, most recently supporting Native Women’s Wilderness.

 Tram Jam comes in seven flavors that rotate in and out of the lineup depending on the season and is available at Made in Jackson, the Jackson Hole Farmers Market in summer, and online. Tramjamjh.com, 307/200-9092; $18 for large (8 oz.); $10 for mini (4 oz.)

Grand Jam is made with raspberries, cardamom, and freshly grated ginger. In season, Felton picks raspberries, and what she doesn’t use right away, she washes and freezes to make the jam out of season. “We have massive raspberry bushes on our property,” she says. “It doesn’t get more local than picking berries in your own backyard.” Felton recommends a slather of Grand Jam on a grilled cheese with arugula and a balsamic glaze.

Crafted with strawberries, oranges, orange zest, jalapeño, and triple sec, Apres is My Jam draws inspiration from Jackson’s go-to après-ski cocktail, the spicy margarita. “It has a bit of sweet and a little kick from the jalapeño,” Felton says. “The color is really pretty too—it’s kind of a punchy, orangey red.” Pairing well with cheese, it’s the perfect addition to any charcuterie board. And its sweet and savory taste profile means it can pull double duty in marinades and salad dressings. 

The OG is the jam that started it all—the one from her great-grandmother’s recipe. It features strawberries, cranberries, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. “It tastes like Christmastime,” Felton says. “I thought of adding orange, but it’s the family recipe; I just can’t change it.” The OG is a jam that’ll work in a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, but you can also spread it on waffles and pancakes or spoon it over ice cream.

A sauce rather than a jam, Felton’s Cowboy Caramel features Mexican vanilla, Saigon cinnamon, and sea salt. “It’s popular in the fall when it gets chilly and people have pumpkin spice brain,” Felton says. Cowboy Caramel is perfect drizzled over ice cream or dolloped into coffee or a mocha latte. Warmed up in the microwave, the sauce pairs well as a dip for apples. “It’s so good you could literally eat it out of the jar with a spoon,” she says.

Summer favorite Huck-It Berry is a simple recipe with huckleberries, organic blueberries, freshly squeezed lemon juice, and lemon zest. Felton forages huckleberries in the woods (but won’t reveal her secret spots). “When they’re in season, I’ll try to pick as many as I can and freeze them.” Felton is not a fan of huckleberries herself, but after so many requests at the farmers market, she relented. “Give the people what they want,” she says. JH