Falmouth, Maine Starting with a family recipe, Carol Tanner began making Mother’s Mountain Mustard in 1982. Her mother had created the recipe to please her husband never thinking it would become the basis of a line of creative foods. But since that first mustard, Carol and her partner, Dennis Proctor, have created a whole line of food that includes mustards, jams, sauces and marinades. They sold that first mustard at fairs and festivals, and relied on word-of-mouth to sell their early products. It caught on quickly though, and when they convinced the deli at Shaw’s in Falmouth to take two cases it was so popular that the order was increased to four cases the very next week.
Mother’s Mountain has always relied on customer and buyer feedback to create new products and even to design packaging. As Carol says, “if someone says why don’t you do something and it’s a good idea – you better do it.” Many of their popular products were developed in response to customer requests for items like jam, Dijon mustard and ketchup. Early on, because they offered gluten-free products and used no corn syrups in their recipes, Mother’s Mountain quickly caught on in whole foods stores. Carol said they didn’t even know what gluten-free meant, but quickly realized that their customers wanted fresh, healthy ingredients. Carol and Dennis look for top-quality ingredients and develop their own recipes when introducing a new item. And, they buy Maine-made products as often as they can. Many of the Mother’s Mountain recipes have come down through the family and offer traditional tastes to discerning buyers.
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