As we announced earlier, the MSFM received a grant from Ball for the Discover You Can Summer Education Program.  Ball provided us with thousands of stickers, coupons and canning instruction booklets, as well as samples to distribute.  We are thrilled to be able to provide our community with canning knowledge and supplies, and the general feeling that canning can be a fun, easy way to preserve the bounty of the farmers’ market all year long.

Throughout the season, we will host demonstrations to give our customers a chance to learn how easy it is to can and the opportunity to ask their canning questions.  Customers will also be able to grab coupons for $1.50 off jars and $2.50 off Discovery Kits.  Our first demonstration centered around the strawberry, in conjunction with a “Freeze Your Flat” promotion.  All customers purchasing a flat of strawberries received a sample of Ball Instant Pectin for freezer jam.  During the market, we also demonstrated the recipe from the Ball No-Sugar Pectin, which included samples of the pectin for all attendees.

Our market director and volunteers from Slow Food Knoxville did 2 demos showing how easy it is to make jam.  It is a simple is smashing and boiling fruit, then filling and boiling jars.  The No-Sugar Pectin allows you to reduce the amount of sugar in a traditional recipe, or substitute honey or Spelnda and includes non-sweetened apple juice.

We had a fantastic time answering questions, teaching canning and hearing your stories!  We hope we inspire you to Discover You Can!

We are excited to announce that we were one of 50 national farmers’ markets to receive a “Yes You Can” Ball Products canning grant. Our store room is overrun with books, coupons, stickers and canning gear–and we love it! Look forward to a great line-up of events this season, centered around preserving your favorite market fruits and veggies all year long.

This week, farmers’ are swimming in strawberries. Although I’m sure you all, like myself, have a hard time making it home without eating the whole pint of strawberries you just purchased, there is nothing better in the cold winter months than bright, red, sweet delicious strawberry jam smeared on a piping hot biscuit. So, this week, we are encouraging you to look ahead to those winter months that we are just now getting over. If you buy a whole flat of strawberries at the market tomorrow (5/14), you get a packet of free pectin for making strawberry freezer jam. We’ve included the recipe for making freezer jam below. Enjoy!

If you have any questions visit us at the farmers’ market booth at the corner of Market and Union or shoot us an email! Happy freezin’ and jammin’

Here is a list of farms with flats of strawberries:

Colvin Family Farm

Mountain Meadows Farm

Mayfield Farm and Nursery

Ball Cookbook Strawberry Freezer Jam

Ingredients

1 package of Ball® Simple Creations® No Cook Freezer Jam Fruit Pectin

1-1/2 cups sugar or SPLENDA® No Calorie Sweetener, Granular

4 cups crushed strawberries (about 4 1-pound containers)

Preparation

STIR sugar (or SPLENDA®) and contents of pectin package in a bowl until well blended.

ADD crushed strawberries. Stir 3 minutes.

LADLE jam into clean plastic 8 oz Ball Freezer Jars to fill line. Twist on lids. Let stand until thickened, about 30 minutes. Serve immediately, refrigerate up to three weeks or freeze up to one year.

YIELD: About five (8 ounce) half pints.