A recipe for fun: North Hill friends gather to continue House family specialty of canned peppers

For the past 26 years, on the last Saturday in August, the House specialty on Woodward Avenue has always been canned peppers. That’s the way Chuck House wanted it. And that’s what his son Terry, who is known as the Pepper King of North Hill, will always do.

Chuck House, who passed away on June 2, at the age of 86, was best friends with legendary North High School teacher and coach Joe “Peach” Zampino.

"Peach’s grandmother gave Dad some peppers way back, and my dad loved them,” said Bob House, Chuck’s oldest son.

Chuck could never get enough of those peppers and relentlessly tried to get Nicolette Marzano’s secret family recipe. After years of making peppers with Peach, Chuck, his wife, Patricia “Patsy,” and son Terry started canning peppers at their home on Woodward Avenue, using Nicolette's secret recipe.

“It was Dad’s favorite thing,” said Terry.  Patsy would pack a jar in Chuck’s work lunch every day. “He would eat a jar at a time,” said Bob.

“It got to be too much," said Terry as he stood in a field at Miller’s Pickin Patch in Louisville. "I said, ‘Dad, let me get a couple of my buddies to help.’ It started off with three or four people, and last year I had 193 people over.”

Pepper Day or the Pepper Party grew quickly from a small family canning a few jars to close to 200 family and friends canning over 1,000 jars last year. "I don’t even eat the peppers,” said Terry. The irony of the whole pepper canning party is that Chuck was the only one in his family that ate the peppers. "I don’t like them. That’s how crazy it is,” said Terry.

On Wednesday of “pepper week,” 15 friends arrived at Miller’s to help Terry, a UPS driver for the past 34 years, pick medium hot peppers for canning. “It’s going to be a tough first year without Dad,” said Terry as he led the volunteers to the field.

Last year, Terry and his crew of fellow UPS drivers, St. Vincent-St. Mary alum, and North Hill neighbors and friends picked 51 buckets.

"The goal is to get 70 buckets this year," he tells the group as he unloads a cooler stocked with DeVitis Italian Market subs, water and Gatorade.

“He’s very particular about his peppers,” whispers Chip Minks as Terry was giving instructions.

"No orange or red ones,” Terry shouts, as they make their way into the rows of peppers. "And no worm holes.”

Terry then reminds his crew to use rubber gloves.

"I had a former teacher who didn’t use gloves and then he went to the bathroom,” he told the group who began to chuckle from the rows of medium hots.

Another bucket comes in from the field.

"How’d I do, boss,” asked first-time picker and fellow UPS driver Randy Ross, who made the drive from Niles to help with the pick.

"I had to fire my own brother one year,” said Terry while giving instructions to a couple of late-arriving helpers.

For over two hours, they went on to fill 86 red 6-gallon buckets while telling stories of Chuck.

“There’s a lot of sentimental tears and laughter,” said Minks, who talked about Chuck and Patsy dancing as a live polka band played "Let Me Call You Sweetheart" at last year’s pepper party.

“The whole backyard was crying,” said Terry, who went on to say “there’s no crying on Pepper Day."

The vehicles made the 34-mile trek back to Woodward Avenue loaded with their $1,200 haul. Each pepper was washed, hand dried, and placed into a clean laundry basket. Twenty-one baskets in Terry’s garage awaited the arrival of a small army of volunteers.

"I’ve got 1,200 jars in my living room," said Terry. "I’ve been having nightmares.” In addition to the jars, there were 64 gallon jugs of white vinegar, 71 40-ounce bottles of vegetable oil, 30 containers of salt, and 37 jars of oregano.

The House backyard was set with 22 tables under four tents. At 10:02 a.m., Terry gets things started by playing the national anthem on his accordion for the handful of folks that have arrived. There’s a table for everyone to sign in and collect a pair of rubber gloves, a paring knife and a cutting mat. Polka music from WZIP 88.1 is blaring from the backyard speakers.

"Sign in, Mike. You know the rules,” barks Terry as Mike Denham forgot to stop at the head table.

Within an hour's time, every seat, scattered at tables across two backyards, is nearly full. Bob pulls into the driveway at the wheel of Chuck’s 1930 Model A car with his mother, Patsy, in the passenger seat. There’s plenty of hugs and kisses from everyone as she makes her way to a backyard table to sit with daughter Cathy.

Riley Yost had just given his grandmother a framed photo of Chuck. Patsy gazed at the frame and planted a kiss on the photo of her beloved.

“We’re at the wrong Pepper Party,” said Heather McMullin after greeting Patsy. "Grandma’s not wearing green.”

Out front, there isn’t a parking spot on Woodward Avenue as far as they eye can see in either direction. More and more people arrive to the house that’s painted in Notre Dame Blue.

“You get to see everyone on North Hill when you come here,” said Joe Testa, who flew in from Cape Coral, Florida, the night before. Friends from Maryland, Minnesota and Wisconsin also showed up for the occasion.

Terry, dressed in his Irish shamrock motif, is busy directing volunteers to their stations, removing bags of trash, and giving tours to those who haven’t seen his Notre Dame basement shrine.

“Get something to eat,” he says as he directs everyone to the buffet in the garage where 30 pounds of DeVitis sausage, and peppers of course, are simmering in red sauce. Just in case, there are 150 pieces of chicken and jojo’s and 160 DeVitis subs, as well as a fully stocked bar.

"My hands are cramping up," said John Conti, who had been cutting peppers for nearly four hours. “I’ll be taking some Motrin tonight for sure.”

Patty C and the Z Guys Polka Band were setting up in Heidi Day Hall's driveway next door on a makeshift stage made from wooden pallets.  The first song they played was "In Heaven There Ain't No Beer.” That was Chuck’s favorite.

Things went smoothly until two hours before the Notre Dame vs Texas A&M kickoff.

“We ran out of jars at 5:30,” said Terry by phone the Monday after. “I had to send someone up to Acme to pick up five more cases of jars."

Terry ended his day at 3:30 a.m. Sunday. On Monday night, he was in the garage wiping down jars with no official tally other than 1,200 and still counting. Which is much better than 1,200 and still chopping.

“It was a great day. Even better because Notre Dame won."

The last Saturday in September is pepper pickup day. That’s when the volunteers stop back to pick up the fruits of their labor. Terry even passes out jars to customers on his UPS route.

"As long as my knees and back can do, it I’ll do this every year."

Email me at philyourglass@gmail.com with any wine questions and follow me on Instagram @pmasturzo_philyourglass

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: A recipe for fun: North Hill friends gather to continue House family specialty of canned peppers