21504 Mon Sep 30 22:36:10 -0700 2002 5 1 San Francisco Bay Area 0 77570 Maybe some of you farmers market regulars can help me out. I'm thinking of sending a few jars of jam, kind of an edible postcard, to out-of-town family members. I've had tons of marvelous fruit this past summer from the Tuesday and Saturday markets in San Francisco, but haven't gotten around to trying any of the preserves. Any favorites? Mon Sep 30 22:36:10 -0700 2002 0 squid-kun 1 77588 Really consider including a small jar of Marshall's pumpkin honey. You can stop by for a sample. I can eat this stuff plain. Unique, delicious flavor. My favorite gift. My absolute favorite jam is Langier's blackberry. It is the next best thing to eating fresh berries. I like the Marionberry, which is sweeter, better than the Boysenberry, which is tarter. They have samples so you can see what is to your taste. If they have Arapaho berry, that is the best of the best. However, there was a problem with the Arapaho berries due to a heat wave, so I'm not sure if they have any this year. Not crazy about the blueberry though. Haven't tried the grape yet. Frog Hollow's peach is wonderful as well. Big huge chunks of their wonderful peaches. Some good chutney's as well, but chutney's are not to everyone's taste. The apricot is tart, but is such a pretty bright apricot color I always buy one. You would need to like tart though. Swanton just started making strawberry jam. This is a little to thin for me. I like my jams a bit more jammy. Needs work, in my opinion. June Taylor give samples of all her jams. I really respect her jams, but I really favor the jams from the people like Frog Hollow and Langier that grow the fruit. But try some samples at June Taylor. Mountain Valley Orchard has lot's of interesting jams with low sugar, to me they are more like sauces with an applesacue like texture. They have pretty gift baskets, but they are not my favorite. The only jelly I like at Bates and Schmidt, the apple people, is their pomegranite jelly. For some reason this always goes over well with a few a my Japanese friends. One said that Pomegranites are brain food. Tierra Vegetables has some great hot pepper jams. You can sample these as well, but I know that wasn't what you were looking for. This doesn't help you unless you go up to Sebastapol, but Green Valley Farm has the world's best blueberry jam. I stocked up while they were here in the summer. Tue Oct 01 01:24:33 -0700 2002 77570 0 Stanley Stephan 2 77635 Thank you both for the excellent tips. I went with Perfectly Peach and the Lagier's marionberry. And a couple small jars of the pumpkin blossom honey, which is an amazing food. I'm sure my relatives will be delighted. Although, come to think of it, I didn't actually tell them I was sending them anything, so . . . Tue Oct 01 18:27:37 -0700 2002 77588 0 squid-kun 1 77597 I really like the nectarine marmalade and the quince preserves from Frog Hollow. You can order the nectarine marmalade (also Asian Pear Chutney, Perfectly Peach fruit spread, and Abundantly Apricot fruit spread) online. Here's the link: Link: http://www.froghollow.com/index.html Tue Oct 01 11:12:51 -0700 2002 77570 0 Nancy Berry 1 77950 June Taylor's Cherry and almond conserve. Wow - o - wow - o - wow !!!!! This thread made me think it was time to check out what June Taylor was currently making. This is the next best thing to eating fresh bing cherries. She uses Langier's cherries flavors it with kirsh and "quality almond extract". From my understanding, she's experimenting with liquors in her jams because she knows someone who is making some excellent liquors. I've never liked cherry jams because they usually have some off flavor and never really taste like cherries. When I mentioned that, she told me the story about the liquor, etc. Big chuncky pieces of bing cherries. I tell you, I was wondering around in my early morning market daze, the organic migratory songbird raised coffee not yet kicking in. So I try a few jams. Nice. Then I dip into the cherry conserve and my eyes open in total amazement. This is my Christmas gift of choice this year. Sat Oct 05 14:37:30 -0700 2002 77570 0 Stanley Stephan 1 80504 Finally was able to stop by the farmer's market today after an absence of many weeks. Wanted to buy some thank you gifts for some wonderful nurses. Anyway did some jelly sampling. I sampled Downton Healdsburg Bakery's jams and was disappointed since they are one of my market favorites for baked goods. The two jams I sampled had too much juice and were more like canned fruit. The green gage plum was totally forgettable. The fig had whole figs in a juice. Not a jam, but not bad if you were looking for whole canned figs. At Frog Hollow tried Abundantly Apricot, Nectarine marmelade, Perfectly peach, pear chutney and peach chutney. While all are wonderful, perfectly peach is still the winner with me, capuuring the taste of summer peaches. Of the chutney's, I still love the peach chutney. It sells out early, so you might want to snag a jar soon. At June Taylor, I sampled the Pear butters which were all excellent. They are smooth and rich. The best of the preserves is still the cherry and almond. Every friend who tastes it says it tastes like just picked bing cherries. Sun Nov 10 00:49:53 -0800 2002 77570 0 Stanley Stephan