Help me make jam & jelly

Ya know, I think that I will put together maybe 8 jars and see how it does, along with the Smoked Sea Salt, I have a bunch of jars in my dry pantry... oh and of course my Rum & Kahlua Cakes 😉 those do VERY WELL! Last Fall I sold 10 of each flavor of cake.
 
kaneohegirlinaz said:
I think this would be another great item to sell on my table at our community's Bake & Craft Sale in the Spring!
Click to expand...
I actually thought about that when I was considering doing farmers market sales.

Craig's brother used to buy bunches of red bells when they were in season and cheap, chop them, then freeze them in recipe portions. If you can find a source with good prices for the jars and the certo or whatever, you should be able to do pretty good.

I was planning on putting out tasting cups to get people to try and then hopefully buy, just never followed through
 
medtran49 said:
I actually thought about that when I was considering doing farmers market sales.

Craig's brother used to buy bunches of red bells when they were in season and cheap, chop them, then freeze them in recipe portions. If you can find a source with good prices for the jars and the certo or whatever, you should be able to do pretty good.

I was planning on putting out tasting cups to get people to try and then hopefully buy, just never followed through
Click to expand...
I have found that this works super Med!

IMG_1030.JPG


The past 3 or 4 times that I have sold food items at the bake sale I've put out paper Dixie cups along with those tiny cocktail forks sold at the Dollar Tree, with small bites of each item for folks to try and it works very well.
I would put out Dixie cups with some cream cheese, pepper jelly and a Ritz cracker in it rather than the fork!

Not sure how I would "sample" the Smoked Sea Salt though .... thoughts any one?
 
Last edited:
I found out very early on that the best way to promote my products was to get people to try them. I invested in some tiny ceramic bowls and tried to use one for every single product on the table. Products that people might not have bought (because they didn´t know what they were) sold fast; if I recall, we sold between 200-300 jars at a time.
This photo is actually from 10 years ago, in a Christmas Charity Bazaar.
79669
 
In today's environment, I've found that more folks are willing to try something that is in a individual-disposable container... contact-less sampling :smug:
I keep a lined trash bin at the front of my table and with those adorable little forks and spoons, I see folks licking them clean and then stuffing them in their handbags! :p:
I've also found that display-presentation and packaging goes a long way with the eye-appeal and draw to your table.
This last time I participated in the Fall Community Craft & Bake Sale, one of my neighborhood gal pals had the table next to me and she said that the only reason that she did so well in her sales this go-around was because of the close proximity to my table :thankyou:
 
I have never made jelly or jam. My thing was fig preserves. For several years I had a small, cottage like house with a wonderful fig tree in the back yard. The tree had such a prolific production that I would make 10 GALLONS of fig preserves each year. Pick one day preserve and jar the next day. That started around July 4th and continued for 3 weeks.
Baby Brother gifted his family with Satsuma Marmalade and Satsuma Pepper Jelly for Christmas. WOW! Both are wonderful. He used cored Jalapenos and 1 cored Cayenne to a very large batch of jelly. I need to get his recipe,
 
ElizabethB said:
I have been AWOL for several days. I did not read every post. This may be redundant or no longer needed.
What’s the Difference Between Jam, Jelly, Preserves, Compote, Marmalade, and Chutney?
Click to expand...
Never too late for such good information! I like the cheat-sheet they summarized their article with:

Jelly: fruit juice + sugar
Jam: chopped or pureed fruit + sugar
Chutney: chopped or pureed fruit + sugar + vinegar + spices
Preserves: whole fruit or fruit chunks + sugar
Marmalade: whole citrus (either chopped or left intact) + sugar
Compote: whole fruit or fruit chunks + sugar (but usually eaten immediately, not preserved)
 
My star fruit tree is producing like a champ this season after being barren for a few years, so I've got more fruit than I could possibly eat or turn into juice. Wife doesn't love the juice anyway, but she liked the jam! Thus I spent the weekend processing whole fruit into petit diced fruit and freezing in ziplock bags. Going to buy some more jars this week.
 
FowlersFreeTime said:
My star fruit tree is producing like a champ this season after being barren for a few years, so I've got more fruit than I could possibly eat or turn into juice. Wife doesn't love the juice anyway, but she liked the jam! Thus I spent the weekend processing whole fruit into petit diced fruit and freezing in ziplock bags. Going to buy some more jars this week.
Click to expand...

You could add some chillies to make a star fruit chilli jam which could be used to accompany savoury dishes.
 
Morning Glory said:
You could add some chillies to make a star fruit chilli jam which could be used to accompany savoury dishes.
Click to expand...
My next project is a pepper jelly, and I am grateful for the recipes shared here, but you read my mind MG! Before I do a strict "pepper" jelly (ie pepper only) I plan to do a starfruit and pepper experiment akin to what you are suggesting.

I just haven't decided which approach I am going to take. Either (a) toss in some slivered peppers into the next starfruit jam batch, or (b) extract the juice from some starfruit, and then use that as the base for a hot pepper jelly. The peppers I will be using are Scotch Bonnet peppers (similar to Habaneros for those who don't know) because I grow those too.
 
ElizabethB said:
https://www.eater.com/2019/9/14/208...jam-jelly-preserves-compote-marmalade-chutney
Click to expand...
Thanks for that article, ElizabethB!
When I started my jam/jelly/marmalade/chutney biz in 2004, I was only interested in getting products sold, but as time went on, I began to investigate a little more about what I was actually making. It´s all highly confusing, and to be honest - who cares as long as it tastes good? :D:D Anyway....
Jam is what Brits describe as a fruit preserve, and what is known as jelly in the US. A peanut butter and jelly sandwich would be called PB & jam in the UK.
So a jelly is, strictly speaking, a form of "jam" where the fruit is sieved and the pips/seeds are removed. The use of the word "preserve" (which can apply to jam, jelly AND marmalade) appears to be more common in the US - but I´m pretty sure I´ve seen "preserves" in the IK as well.
To complicate matters, we´ve also got "Pepper Jelly" - made with hot or bell peppers and with added vinegar; and pectin.
The word "Marmalade" comes from the Portuguese word marmelada meaning quince jam. It´s used these days for Citric Fruit jams ( Orange, Lime, Lemon marmalade) where the cooking process involves much larger amounts of water.
"Chutney" is an Indian condiment which usually (but not always) contains fruit, spices, sugar and some form of acid: vinegar, lime juice, tamarind water. There are also fresh chutneys, made with yoghurt, coconut, or spices; no vinegar involved.
 
FowlersFreeTime said:
My next project is a pepper jelly, and I am grateful for the recipes shared here, but you read my mind MG! Before I do a strict "pepper" jelly (ie pepper only) I plan to do a starfruit and pepper experiment akin to what you are suggesting
Click to expand...
To be honest, I´d go for the jam+scotch bonnet experiment first. I think it´ll help you get the hang of jam-making.
 
karadekoolaid said:
Jam is what Brits describe as a fruit preserve, and what is known as jelly in the US. A peanut butter and jelly sandwich would be called PB & jam in the UK.
Click to expand...

You know, this is what I always thought but I was corrected by a US member on this site. It seems that in the US (or maybe its regional in the US?), jam is similar to the UK meaning and that jelly is also similar. I can't find the particular post... maybe someone else can recall this? TastyReuben?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom