RSVP by contacting Jessica or through leaving a comment here on the blog.
This is our first swap and will probably be a little trial&error. But it'll be fun! Contact me with questions, too.
Columbus, Ohio, Food Swap open to anyone who's interested. Come swap your homemade food goods & garden bounty with your Columbus neighbors.
Friday, June 29, 2012
First Food Swap
Food Swap!
I'm working on putting together a food swap for Mid-August & thought you might be interested in participating. Let me know if it sounds up your alley!
What's a food swap? A food swap is an event where a bunch of people bring homemade foods (mostly preserved or otherwise storable foods) to barter for other people's homemade foods. For example, you might have gone overboard and made 10 jars of strawberry jam & you're thinking "What am I going to do with all this strawberry jam?" Your neighbor is thinking "What am I going to do with these 10 bottles of tarragon flavored vinegar?" -- but if you both bring half your jars to the food swap and switch them out for foods you want, everybody wins! I learned about food swaps from this video: http://cookingupastory.com/food-swap
How does it work? On the morning of the food swap, you show up with however many items you want to barter*. You set your goods out on the table and everybody walks around and checks out what's available. When you find something you want, you write your name & what you have to offer in trade on that item's handy swap sheet (which I provide) . Half an hour before we wrap up, you'll check out your swap sheets and see what you can get for the stuff you brought. If there's a particularly hot item, there might be some counter offers. You then pack it up and head home with a bunch of awesome stuff. (I've never done one though, so we might have to figure things out as we go!).
What can I bring to the food swap? For this food swap, the rule I'm setting is Only Edible, Homemade Products. Homemade granola is in, beeswax candles are out. While that's the only rule, experienced food swappers suggest offering less-perishable items as they're usually worth more in the swap. Anything in a jar is usually good & frozen cookie dough would be worth more than baked cookies. Think of bringing things in jar-sized amounts for easier swapping. Package your goods in containers that you don't need back. Bring as much or as little as you like. One jar is enough to get this thing rolling. Consider bringing:
What do I need to do between now and mid-August? First, let me know if you're interested. It seems like we'll need at least 5-6 people to make it interesting. If you have friends that you think would be interested, please pass this along! I'm hoping our collective circles will turn up enough interested swappers. I'm thinking that a Saturday morning might work well, but I'm open to suggestions. Second, start thinking about what you might bring. The farmers markets are about to get serious -- what might you turn that stuff in to? I just figured out how to can food this year, and it's way way easier than I thought it would be. I have some supplies and you're welcome to borrow them - but jars and a big pot are really all you need. In general, jams & pickled things seem to be pretty easy places for a beginning canner to start. www.foodinjars.com was helpful, as was the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving which I'm currently hogging from the Bexley Library.
-Jessica
I'm working on putting together a food swap for Mid-August & thought you might be interested in participating. Let me know if it sounds up your alley!
What's a food swap? A food swap is an event where a bunch of people bring homemade foods (mostly preserved or otherwise storable foods) to barter for other people's homemade foods. For example, you might have gone overboard and made 10 jars of strawberry jam & you're thinking "What am I going to do with all this strawberry jam?" Your neighbor is thinking "What am I going to do with these 10 bottles of tarragon flavored vinegar?" -- but if you both bring half your jars to the food swap and switch them out for foods you want, everybody wins! I learned about food swaps from this video: http://cookingupastory.com/food-swap
How does it work? On the morning of the food swap, you show up with however many items you want to barter*. You set your goods out on the table and everybody walks around and checks out what's available. When you find something you want, you write your name & what you have to offer in trade on that item's handy swap sheet (which I provide) . Half an hour before we wrap up, you'll check out your swap sheets and see what you can get for the stuff you brought. If there's a particularly hot item, there might be some counter offers. You then pack it up and head home with a bunch of awesome stuff. (I've never done one though, so we might have to figure things out as we go!).
What can I bring to the food swap? For this food swap, the rule I'm setting is Only Edible, Homemade Products. Homemade granola is in, beeswax candles are out. While that's the only rule, experienced food swappers suggest offering less-perishable items as they're usually worth more in the swap. Anything in a jar is usually good & frozen cookie dough would be worth more than baked cookies. Think of bringing things in jar-sized amounts for easier swapping. Package your goods in containers that you don't need back. Bring as much or as little as you like. One jar is enough to get this thing rolling. Consider bringing:
- jams/jellies
- pickled foods
- flavored vinegar/oils
- flavored booze
- tea blends
- dried fruits/meats
- eggs
- bread
- frozen fruit, veg, sauces, soups, doughs
- granola
- salsa/barbecue sauce
- etc etc etc
What do I need to do between now and mid-August? First, let me know if you're interested. It seems like we'll need at least 5-6 people to make it interesting. If you have friends that you think would be interested, please pass this along! I'm hoping our collective circles will turn up enough interested swappers. I'm thinking that a Saturday morning might work well, but I'm open to suggestions. Second, start thinking about what you might bring. The farmers markets are about to get serious -- what might you turn that stuff in to? I just figured out how to can food this year, and it's way way easier than I thought it would be. I have some supplies and you're welcome to borrow them - but jars and a big pot are really all you need. In general, jams & pickled things seem to be pretty easy places for a beginning canner to start. www.foodinjars.com was helpful, as was the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving which I'm currently hogging from the Bexley Library.
-Jessica
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