In late July I found a food blog, Steph Chows, via Tastespotting – a site that aggregates food blog photos and has provided me with some awesome ideas and recipes. She also happens to be in Rochester and had created an event called the Jam Exchange.

Steph had gotten into making jam, and had the idea for a Jam Exchange where you would send your jam to someone, and get jam from someone else in exchange. I found the site on the final day to sign up and immediately jumped on board. I thought it would be a great way to find new recipes and get some tasty treats. Plus, I had just started canning jams this year and was excited about all the wonderful flavors you can create from scratch.

A few days later I got the address where I was going to send my jam, all the way out in Houston Texas. The rules of the exchange were that you send 2 pints, split any way, to the person you are assigned no later than August 11th 2009.

I was excited to have an address, and had just finished my fourth flavor of jam (Lemony Strawberry, Multi-berry, Blueberry, and Cinnamon Peach). I had small half pint jars of each, perfect, I would send one of each to equal the two pints. I loaded up the box, making sure to wrap everything very carefully, included a note explaining what each flavor was, and mailed it off.

Then, just yesterday my own jam exchange arrived in the mail from California! Megan from Megan’s Cookin, sent me a pint of Lemony Peach Basil, a pint of Raspberry Chocolate topping, and a container of grill seasoning that smells absolutely delicious. In fact, I think we might grill dinner tonight and try some of the seasoning out on chicken and some zucchini.

She went all out and put pretty doilies and ribbon on the jars, and even included a nice card explaining what each thing was. It was so exciting to get a package in the mail, and even so more when I opened it to such scrumptious treats.

This was such a neat idea that I would like to continue it and host an exchange here on Spilling Buckets:

Since it’s getting to be the end of the summer and canning projects now include salsas, sauces, pickles, jams, jellies, and many more things; I thought it would be fun to exchange all types of canned goods. Anything you make that is preserved in a jar can be sent.

If you are interested in being a part of The Great Canning Exchange send us an email at spillingbuckets [at] gmail.com with your name and address, and any foods you would be opposed to getting in the mail (say you are allergic to tomatoes and don’t want salsa, for example).

I’ll be accepting names for two weeks, until September 4th, 2009.

It seems as though more and more people are getting into the habit of making their own food; I hope this trend continues. There is something immensely satisfying about making something yourself, preserving it, and enjoying it all year long.

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Tagged as: Cooking and Frugality, giving back