E. Waldo Ward & Son

History

Edwin Waldo Ward started out as a food salesman in New York before relocating to California in 1891, seeking a healthier climate. Over time he expanded his holdings to thirty acres and planted a citrus grove. During his sales career, he had promoted English-style marmalade for Union Pacific dining cars and the Harvey House restaurant chain. That experience gave him the idea to create his own spreads, beginning with a Seville orange marmalade.

By the 1920s he had added jams to his product line, and in the 1940s he began importing olives from Spain and stuffing them by hand. These include brandied pears and cherries, seafood cocktail sauce, chili sauce, corn relish, cranberry relish, mango chutney, apple butter, pumpkin butter, cherry butter, apricot preserve, mango preserve, apricot pineapple jam, gooseberry preserves, raspberry jalapeño jam, orange papaya marmalade, lemon, lime, and tangelo marmalades, red currant jelly, mint jelly, and acai pomegranate jelly, among many others.

The Ward family grows its own pesticide-free blood oranges, Valencias, Sevilles, tangerines, tangelos, and kumquats. However, because the original acreage of E. Waldo Ward now measures only between 2.5 and 3 acres, the company supplements with citrus from Riverside and berries from the Pacific Northwest. They also manufacture jams for Laura Ann’s Jam—including blueberry basil, strawberry vanilla, and raspberry habañero preserves—and produce Simmie J’s Gourmet Barbecue Sauce. The factory and barn are open for personal tours.