FrogPrincesse

The canopy I am going to borrow is actually 8 10 x 10*, so I am good to go. I am going to get it before the event so I can practice assembling it. And I found a second table. Next I have to figure out what I am going to use as a tablecloth, signage, and how I am going to arrange my booth. I am planning on going to farmers markets at least once or twice before the event so I can borrow a few ideas. *it's this Coleman model with swing wall

I finally tried the quince jelly I made a few weeks ago (before I made the quince marmalade), and that stuff is amazing. It's a little too runny but OMG the flavors are divine. It's quince flavored with a hint of cinnamon, orange & lemon peel, and cardamom. I will make this again for sure.

Oops, I got it confused with another store. The Paper Source is actually in a different neighborhood, but still pretty close to home.

I am. It's actually right next door to Homegrown Meats, which is one of the butcher shops I frequent regularly. I didn't even think of looking at a place like that because anything in the village tends to be very expensive. The price is right, but unfortunately these labels are too big. Two inches is the largest size my lids can accommodate. But I will contact them in case they can get my size. Thanks for suggesting them!

I am about to make a batch of the "Snowy Topped Brownie Drops" and would like to use gluten-free flour (Bob's Red Mill all purpose baking GF) instead of regular all-purpose flour. Is there any potential issue with that? I don't have any experience gluten-free flour.

I just received my additional mason jars from Amazon. It's starting to feel like a little food factory here! In other news, I am now able to accept credit card payments thanks to Square. It was super easy. My husband had a (free) reader he had never used; it took about 2 minutes to set up and it works like a charm! (I tested it with my own credit cards).

They are available in my area, sorry! http://www.specialtyproduce.com/produce/Gold_Beets_260.php

I dislike raw celery, but pickled celery is pretty great and has a nice crunch.

Step one- make garlic confit! (I am sure it's not hard to make, but I don't have any in my fridge!) For the caramelized onions, I am pretty sure I can use my red onion marmalade that I was planning on selling as is. I could make a bit extra to use in the bacon jam. I cure my own bacon often actually, so maybe that'd be an even cheaper route than using commercial bacon, since I can get pork belly for quite cheap... It takes time though, so I'd better get started. Also I am not quite sure it's on the list of things that are ok to sell in my area (without special paperwork). Preserves are on there, onion marmalade is stretching the envelope already, but bacon jam?

On my program for this week Test at least one more batch of cookies to sell (I already tested Dorie's two-bite one-chip cookies and the "French" snacklettes, but I want at least 4 or 5 varieties). The difficulty with the cookies is that I cannot bake them in advance, so it looks like I am going to be in a baking frenzy a day or two before the event! Maybe I can make the dough in advance, freeze it and unfreeze it the day before to be a little more efficient? Make at least one more preserve to sell. Maybe the red onion marmalade since the fruit I want isn't available yet, which means that I have to look for a good source for organic onions. I usually don't pay much attention to the price of onions because they are pretty cheap, but now with larger quantities this is a different story! Usually I buy them at Trader Joe's but I might need to do a bit of comparison shopping this time. Make a decision on taster spoons. I was going to get the little wooden stirrers that @pastrygirlrecommended, but these wouldn't work so well with the onion marmalade for example... so I am thinking something like these small wooden spoons (currently $6 for 100) or these ice cream paddle spoons (only $1.31 for 100!). Confirm canopy dimensions and find a second table to borrow

So I made my first preserve for the market, a quince marmalade (the in-process pictures are in the Preserving thread). The yield was 6 8-oz jars, plus one jar that is almost full that I will use for samples (and personal consumption if there is any left!). I put them in the oven once filled (following the process described in the Blue Chair Jam Cookbook) since I wanted to be able to store them at room temperature (when I make them for myself, I don't bother but I store them in the fridge as an extra precaution). Lessons learned Don't start a batch at noon hoping to get out of the house in the afternoon. It took several hours to cook! It's not worth trying to recycle the metal lids. The only one that was a recycled one is also the one that has little spots of rust and a not completely perfect seal. In the future I will only use brand new ones for selling, and reserve the recycled ones for personal use. I ended up ordering more jars through Amazon for $7.39/dozen (for these). I went to several stores in my area including Target, and didn't find anything less expensive. Some places were three times as much! Labels / decoration For my own jars I use chalkboard labels that are reusable, but for selling they are not the best because they are expensive and also tend to smudge very easily. I was thinking a round 2-inch label that you could attach to the lid, but couldn't find anything less than $10 on Amazon or at Staples. I don't need a printable label because I can just write on them with a sharpie. I have decided to cut little rounds of fabric to put over the top of the jar for decoration (which will stay put with an elastic tie). My daughter is very crafty so this will be a fun project for her to do. This also means that I can use a label that goes on the side of the jar. Some of my jars came with a label, so that's probably the easiest option. But I will need to order more labels. Has anyone tried the Ball dissolvable labels and did they like them? As a side note, one thing I've noticed is that the 8-oz Ball quilted jars come with labels (and are slightly more expensive at $7.92/doz), whereas the regular/non quilted jars don't have them. But I think I prefer the non quilted jars because you can see through them much better.

It was my first time using one, and it worked like a charm! No hot spots... very even heating. And I got a fabulous deal because this was on sale on amazon for a very brief time at 35% off, and I managed to snatch one... Very happy with my purchase. It's the Mauviel 11 quart and it's a really good size, less bulky than I imagined.

Last Friday I successfully converted 3 large pineapple quinces into a quince marmalade that I am going to be selling at a small market together with some other homemade goodies. Thanks @teonzofor sending detailed instructions. In the end I used a much simplified version from @David Lebovitz's Ready for Dessert. Still, it took more than 3 hours from beginning to end... not a fast recipe by any means! But it looks pretty and I believe it should taste pretty good. The yield was 6 8-oz jars, plus one that is almost full that I will use for samples. Grating all the quinces Cooking them in a sugar syrup (beginning) Towards the end of the cooking process Jarred and still warm The next morning

Peugeot here. It's a very common brand of pepper mills in France that's been around for a long time. I really like mine! It looks like this one.

Sure, that sounds great (I've always wanted to try something like that). If that is not too much trouble, I would love the recipe!

Thanks for the wonderful ideas and advice, @teonzo! You know what, I recently made a red onion "marmalade", and that'd be a great thing to include in the selection because I wanted to have savory items as well. Thanks for reminding me!

Thanks for the ideas @blue_dolphin! It's a mostly a matter of preference when I said that the only thing interesting right now was quince. Because I have seen Asian pears, apples, persimmons, pomegranates, guava here too (actually they are all represented in my fridge right now, for eating as is), but I don't find them especially good for jam. Figs are finished here, and I've seen raspberries too but they are horribly expensive and not so great in jams because of the seeds. I am honestly not too worried about finding something nice. It's just that today, nothing caught my eye. I am going to focus on quince for the time being... I was thinking a quince "marmalade" with little shreds of quince, like in the Blue Chair book. David Lebovitz has one too in Ready for Desserts that looks super simple.

Guest jams! I love it. Sourcing the fruit for my jams... November is a bit of a tough month. The interesting (bitter) citrus are not available yet, fig season just ended, and pear season has barely started. Right now the only interesting thing seems to be quince, but I don't have much experience with it. I have three large pineapple quinces and will make a small batch that I may or may not end up selling depending on yield & results (if it's bad, obviously I won't try to sell it, but if it's really good, I may keep it for myself!). My main sources for fruit are Specialty Produce (I buy from their local organic inventory, what they call "Farmers' Market" in their inventory) and the local farmers markets. Usually price is not really a concern because I make small batches, but this time I will be making larger quantities so I have to watch cost. A few days ago I got really excited when I saw that a rare variety of kumquat, fukushu, had become available. However they are priced at close to $9 per pound, which didn't seem reasonable (I had planned on buying about 4 pounds). So I passed.

I like these, but they seem a bit small! Some of my jam-eating friends eat a lot of jam, and these contain barely enough to cover a piece of toasted bread or two!

Here are some price points for similar artisanal jams made in California (per ounce price in parentheses). Blue Chair Fruit - $13 for 6 oz ($2.2) Robert Lambert - $14 for 8 oz ($1.8) Inna Jam - $13.50 for 10 oz ($1.4) Frog Hollow - $9 for 8 oz ($1.1) We Love Jam - $10 for 9 oz ($1.1) Then here in San Diego, there is a jam company that is pretty well distributed, but their products look a lot more like industrial jams with TONS of pectin, so I don't feel they are really up to par with the ones I listed above or with what I make. Jackie's Jams - $6.50 for 8 oz ($0.8) I was thinking $9 for 8 oz. I know I would be willing to pay that kind of price. As a side note, I came across this article about a local jam-maker who does this just for the fun and doesn't sell, but won many prizes. She has lots of good tips. They mention that in one year, she made as many as 43 flavors! I think I am closer to a more reasonable ~ 10 in the past 12 months... (Trying to remember them all: aprium, persimmon (not great, this was the only batch I used pectin in, and I hated the stiff consistency), Bartlett pear & vanilla, yuzu marmalade, chinotto marmalade, ponderosa lemon marmalade, bouquet de fleurs marmalade, strawberry (a partial failure - too liquid), saffron & peach, quince with citrus zest & cardamom, fig & vanilla, and I am sure I forget one or two!). But sadly these are long gone now, eaten or given to friends & family. I will need to make new batches to sell, with the fruit I can find between now and the beginning of next month!

For the jams, I would prefer to sell them in smaller 6 ounces jars because I don't want to charge too much by jar. (My batches are small, I only use the best local, organic, seasonal fruit, and I spend a lot of time on them.) However I am limited by the type of jars I can find easily and at a reasonable cost. So far the best option for me has been 8 oz mason jars that I can get for about $8 for a dozen. I have to calculate my costs, although I am obviously not doing this to make money (it's more like a fun thing to educate myself and my daughter about what it's like to make & sell things that you make). It's more to make sure that I recover most of it!

And there is another new Tiki bar & restaurant in San Diego, The Grass Skirt, this one located in Pacific Beach, by the team of Kettner Exchange! I have to check it out soon... http://www.sandiegomagazine.com/Blogs/SD-Food-News/Fall-2016/FIRST-LOOK-The-Grass-Skirt/

This fairly old thread was for selling chocolates at markets, but I found that it had a lot of great information (I am slowly going through the 73 posts...) And in the addition to my local site that I had already linked, I found more good links with info about regulations, although some of it seems more geared towards businesses. Surely I don't need to register as a business if this is a one-time bake-type sale?! (I am pretty sure there is an exemption since this is organized by the school). http://sdcottagefoods.com http://forrager.com/law/california/ http://foodstarter.com/how-to-start-a-food-business-in-california-with-the-cottage-food-law/

Ok, I see. Thanks for clarifying!

It's a small venue, so checks could be another back-up option for payment. For jam, bread seems like natural pairing. I could bake some, if time permits, and use it for samples.