Homemade Produce

Using press and magazine advertising, brochures, mailings - old hat or still cost-effective?
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wallypott
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Homemade Produce

Post by wallypott »

I am trying a new form of non-internet marketing called JAM :wink:

Following an overabundance of our apples this year and a loathing for watching things I have nurtured rot, I am making/have made 100s of pots of crab apple jelly, chili & crab apple jelly, apple butter (familiar to Americans - basically a spiced apple compote/purée caramelised in the oven for three hours), apple chutney and onion marmelade. I can't bare to part with my plum chutney, so I'm keeping that.

I am lovingly preparing labels, new business cards, posters etc and I am setting up my stall at the village vide grenier (equivalent of car boot sale) this Sunday, starting at 6am. I am doubtful if it will really bring in any business, but if the pots are sufficiently attractive, hopefully some of them will be Christmas presents, and hopefully word of mouth will work some magic.

I am going to do tasty little samples on bread with paté, cheese etc toppings - and providing I don't eat everything myself I am hoping that I will at least sell the blooming jams, and recover some of my costs.

So can we have a few general prayers for good weather please - because 12 hours sitting in the rain doesn't sound like much fun (and my labels will run!) :roll:
Darko Kontin
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Post by Darko Kontin »

I think your idea is great. We as well have several homemade products that we offer to our guests as gifts on their departure.

Every product is labeled with our contact information so everyone can see it when it is used.

That is why we gift away wine and brandy. So they won't be used only once but many times with many different people :)

The only problem is that we can't measure how successful in marketing our products are :)
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Nemo
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Post by Nemo »

Gosh now you have me thinking! My favourite toy is my Tefal jam maker.....you would not believe the fun I have had with it when I long ago gave up on the preserving pan/jam thermometer bit..... :wink:

I have masses of Quince jelly left from last year and the new quinces are ripening fast. It never occurred to me to give to guests. (Would they know what it was I wonder..... :lol: ). I have just made rosehip and apple jelly for the first time and I am eyeing up my overgrown mint now!

I would love to sell it, but don't feel I'm in the countryside enough to do it. In Norfolk, there are roadside benches selling all the home made/home grown produce which is lovely. Here at home it would just get stolen!

I wish you bonne chance.....and pray for sunny weather! Where do you get all your jars if you really have that many to sell and how will you replenish them once you sell them?
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wallypott
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Post by wallypott »

This morning I discovered exactly how much money I have poured down the drain buying jam jars. I have found a grossiste who sells them at 0.20€/jar.

Tell me about the jam maker - what quantities will it do?
la vache!
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Post by la vache! »

I think its a great idea Wally, and I hope you have the weather with you. I'd like to go to any vide grenier and find some homemade produce. Alll the v-gs around here have sadly morphed into gigantic jumble sales with nothing of any interest to see or buy :(
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Nemo
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Post by Nemo »

wallypott wrote:This morning I discovered exactly how much money I have poured down the drain buying jam jars. I have found a grossiste who sells them at 0.20€/jar.

Tell me about the jam maker - what quantities will it do?
It's small fry really for a seasoned pro, but it's great for someone who only wants small quantities and it almost washes itself up! I get 3/4 jars of jam perhaps out of one batch. For jelly making you start with a litre of water, steam the fruit and then use the remainder to make the jelly. I usually end up with about 600ml of liquid to make a batch of jelly.

In the UK, Lakeland sell them and there are loads of reviews on there - including one from me a couple of years ago! The test for me is that it has not gone into a cupboard and gathered dust (metaphorically speaking!)
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barbersdrove
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Post by barbersdrove »

I've been making jam this year and putting it in to small pots and leaving it with a couple of scones on my welcome pack. The favourite has been rhubarb and ginger.

Good luck with the sale. Do let us know how you get on.

(on my knees praying for good weather)
A cream cake a day keeps the wrinkles at bay:)
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pete
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Post by pete »

apple butter (familiar to Americans - basically a spiced apple compote/purée caramelised in the oven for three hours),
please more details - its sounds delicious,

mrsp sells the homemade jams here too, the cellar is full of empty jars all year, neighbours collect them and I have to store them.

pete
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Nemo
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Post by Nemo »

pete wrote: mrsp sells the homemade jams here too, the cellar is full of empty jars all year, neighbours collect them and I have to store them.
Jars - the interminable problem.... :( I now have loads of jam jar sizes but making jelly requires smaller sizes - like mint or cranberry sauce size from the shops. I have asked in the past and had a few offers but now I've used them all up and need more. Trouble is round here, with doorstep glass recycling, no-body keeps them anymore.
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wallypott
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Post by wallypott »

What4s Mrs Ps pricing structure?

My basic adpted recipe for apple butter is the following

2.25kg apples (normal eating apples)
1/2 cup ofr 120ml of cider vinegar
6 cups brown sugar
3 star anais
4 sticks cinnammon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp mace
1 tsp dried ginger

Basically you boil your apples, having peeled and cored them and make your purée. Stick it in the oven in a le crueset type dish with no lid and the spices at 150°c come back in 3 hours.

I use my crab apples to do it too. I boil with them stalks, pips and all, 1kg fruit to 1 litre water, whizz them using the hand whizzer, strain them through a muslin over night.

Next morning I take 1 liter of juice to 1kg fruit, and boil for jam.
With the remaining pulp, I put it through a moulin (a painfully long process that I haven't yet found a better solution to) and put the resulting puree and then add the spices and put it all into the oven. The apples are very sour so you need 25% more sugar than in the other recipe.

However, my great success is really my apple chutney. So, let me know if you want that recipe.
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pete
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Post by pete »

yes please apple chutney sounds lovely too, so many apples this year,

we keep the nutella jars (the ones that look like glasses) and all the jars around that size that we can, its then labelled and made pretty with a piece of material, then desplayed as best as poss,

1 jar 3 euros
2 6
3 8
4 10

we also sell a lot of lemon curd and marmalade

This is all to guests and neighbours (acquired over the years by word of mouth - the neighbours)

the apple butter sounds lovely and I will try this evening, is it soft still after 3 hours ?
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wallypott
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Post by wallypott »

Beautifully soft. I always stick it through the moulin again to fish out the star anais and cinnamon sticks.

Apple Chutney - you need a seriously big pot or adjust your quantities accordingly

4kg apples cored (not peeled) cut into small pieces
1kg onions - sliced
400g saltanas
1.5 kg brown sugar
2 litres cidre vinegar
one large whole root of ginger, peeled grated (I stick it in the blender)
60g salt
20g ground cloves
6 cinnamon stickes

optional: corriander seeds/ chilis
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Post by Hells Bells »

Green Tomato Jam instead of chutney this year. I picked 4 lbs last night.
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Nemo
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Post by Nemo »

barbersdrove wrote:I've been making jam this year and putting it in to small pots and leaving it with a couple of scones on my welcome pack. The favourite has been rhubarb and ginger.
Would you post your recipe please? I have masses of rhubarb of which I only ever use a fraction. This could become a very interesting thread!
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wallypott
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Post by wallypott »

A twist on the crab apple is to add some chili at the end of cooking.
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