PEORIA MAGAZINE November 2023

SEED AND SOIL

FROM PUMPKIN PATCH TO GROCERY STORE SHELF

A new pumpkin seed snack made by Top Fox outside Congerville is in more than 5,000 stores nationally

BY PHIL LUCIANO PHOTOS BY RON JOHNSON

S eeking a healthier diet, Jeremy Zobrist discovered a financial opportunity. Where? Inside a pumpkin. Zobrist runs Top Fox, a 3-year-old snack-food factory just outside his hometown of Congerville. The chief product there is known as “pop roasted” pumpkin seeds, sold in multiple flavors and 5,000 stores nationally. The inspiration came when Zobrist and his wife, Sarah, decided to eat fewer processed foods, especially for snacks. “We wanted something that was re ally easy to eat, very crunchy (and) also very healthy,” Zobrist said. The 47-year-old is a fourth-generation farmer who grew up on the family spread near the Woodford County village of Congerville, home to 474 residents about 20 miles southeast of Peoria. There, he

drove a tractor at age 6 and harvested his first crops at 17. Come adulthood, he worked five years as an accountant before going back to his ag roots. He owns Water shed Foods in Gridley, where 120 em ployees make powdered and freeze dried food ingredients. Eight years ago, online dating con nected him to Sarah, then living in South Carolina but soon to relocate to Illinois. The two wed seven years ago and have two young children. A NEED TO EAT HEALTHIER When the couple first got together, Jeremy Zobrist did not much think about his diet, especially between meals. “I used to eat a Snickers bar and a Mountain Dew in the afternoon,” he said with a sheepish grin.

But he started to think more about foods in deference to his wife, who has Crohn’s disease, an inflammato ry bowel ailment. Although different factors can affect Crohn’s in different ways for different patients, a typical recommendation calls for a healthy diet without processed foods. So, the couple began to eat better. “Essentially what you do is cut out a lot of sugar, because there is a lot of sugar in processed foods,” he says. Soon, he saw the effects of improved food choices. “I lost probably 40 pounds (and) got more energy,” he said. “And that’s when I connected what you eat does impact how you feel. And how you feel impacts how you live life.” He still missed his afternoon candy bar and soda pop. So, Zobrist, whose

12 NOVEMBER 2023 PEORIA MAGAZINE