Philly Food Swap

So last night Christina and I went to our first Philly Food Swap went. It was the first Philly Food Swap ever, in fact. (I think) Anyway, here's the rundown.

We arrived almost 40 minutes late due to a mix up with the pickup location - Christina went to the wrong place! My fault - need to specify which Acme grocery store on the same looooong street I meant. Then there were parking issues up the wazoo near the swap. Could have guessed that one. I HATE parking in Philly. This is why I need Star Trek transporter, stat. NASA, get on it.

The swap was held in the basement of a giant church and was well in swing when we showed up. Every swapper was given a number and a few slips of paper to list what they'd brought to swap.

I brought the following:
Peach Jam
Marmalade x2
Garlic Dill Pickles
Spiced Maple Pear Butter x2

So I laid out my wares and left the slips behind for people to write what they wanted to swap me for. I walked around and looked at what other people had brought. If I saw something I liked I added my name & the item I wanted to swap them for. Easy peasy.

Here's what I ended up swapping:
Peach jam for Horseradish Vodka - to be used in bloody mary's!
Marmalade #1 for Pickled Jalapenos
Marmalade #2 for Cranberry Conserves & Vanilla Sugar
Pickles for a Homemade Blackberry Poptart
Maple Pear Butter #1 for Nectarine Sauce
Maple Pear Butter #2 for loose Apple Cranberry Black Tea and Ginger Honey Simple Syrup (I tasted some of this and loved it)

I really enjoyed it. I am happy with my haul. There were a few jams I would have loved - strawberry balsamic black pepper especially, a peach salsa that was really good and habanero jelly. I got the recipe for the habanero jelly, though, so I'm going to try to pick some habaneros at the farm tonight when I pick up our veggies for the week. Hopefully it won't be pouring.

Next time I go to a swap I'll try to bring my mom unusual concoctions and jazz up the packaging with cute little tags. I'll also bring more stuff!