I joined a Food Swap event put on by a local organization known as the From Scratch Club. It was all very foreign to me when I saw my friend's facebook post sharing the link to register. The phrase "from scratch" got my attention, because, well....I cook from scratch. It is kind of a funny phrase, from scratch. Someday I will research its origin. After luring me in with the club name, I started delving into the concept of the food swap. Each participant brings a homemade something to the swap, participants go around the room perusing and sampling the items, and then people start swapping as desired. What if no one wants my grape jelly? I posted on my friend's facebook status after my initial inquiry of interest. Oh, someone will, she assured me.
As a special treat, the author of the book Food in Jars, Marisa McClellan, would be at the event to discuss canning and do a book signing. So I bought my free ticket and started thinking about what I would bring. I should reveal that I enjoy preserving, or canning. My mom did it when I was a girl, and I loved to hear the lids popping in the kitchen as they cooled. I happen to have a concord grapevine minding its own business on a section of my chain link fence in the back yard. For years I just kind of ignored it, sad to say. Then one day I decided I was going to learn how to make grape jelly. It is kind of an arduous process: picking, stemming, washing, boiling, squashing, straining, heating, mixing, pouring, capping, and boiling. But at the end of a good canning day I have a counter full of homegrown grape jelly and I feel satisfied. Well, last year I got a little overzealous and I made 25 pints of it. I was concerned it would not be enough to last the winter. I tried to calculate one jar per week times at least 8 months and I got some hoarder tendencies creeping in my thoughts. I did gift several jars for Christmas to my loved ones, though. And shortly into the winter season my family got sick of PB&J and the jars didn't move off the shelf too quickly. My grapevine is just about ready to harvest, and this morning I still had seven jars of jelly left. 
I decided to bring five to the swap. I showed up with my basket of jelly and proclaimed my newbie status. I was greeting with an enthusiastic welcome and directed to a table. The whole process was very friendly and cooperative, and I felt like a part of a cool club of healthy people who were eating off the land. Participants prepared their presentations as I scoped out the spreads. Organic veggies, lots of jellies, salsa, breads, nut butters, pickled cucumbers, pickled cherries, pickled watermelon rinds... We each kept a list of our faves as we walked around. When the time came for participants to walk around and indicate written interest on the product cards, I moved about the room with polite hesitation choosing my favorite items. After the initial interest was declared, it was time to walk around and start suggesting swaps. All swaps were to be conducted face-to-face. And even though someone put her name on your card, it does not constitute commitment. The hostesses demonstrated a faux no-go-swap where the inquiree frankly smiles a "no, thank you" and I was wondering how many of those I would get. I walked past my own card several times and was relieved to see names on my card. People want my jelly! I would be lying if I said I would not have had hurt feelings if no one expressed interest. I'm grateful I did not have to experience that because I am quite sensitive, especially when it comes to something I've made. So I checked out my card, and sadly there were no names that coincided with my wish list other than my facebook friend whom I knew we were going to swap amongst ourselves anyway. The first person on the list had eggs. I like eggs. But I haven't made the switch to grain fed, free range, organic, healthy, better for you, expensive eggs yet. I knew I had an 18-pack in the fridge so I wasn't too gung ho on that one. But when I went to her table, she also had rhubarb jelly. Yes, please! So I asked her if she'd like to swap and she said yes and I was the proud new owner of a jar of rhubarb jelly and had just experienced my first successful food swap. Sweet! Further down on my expressed interest card was the apply basil jelly. More jelly: different jelly. I wanted to swap with her. I approached her, asked to swap, and she declined. Ouch. Okay, its alright. Moving on. The lady with the smores kit approached me. It wasn't on my list, but at second glance it looked like the graham crackers and the marshmallows were homemade. I don't know if you've ever had homemade marshmallows, but seriously they are freaking amazing. One time my neighbor made us an entire plateful and my family sat around our table devouring them. "Sure!" I exclaimed. She said her daughter loved grape jelly. Now it was getting personal and I was picturing this momma making her girl a PB&J with my jelly. Definitely a warm fuzzy. Next I approached my friend, laughed through the formality of suggesting and agreeing to swap, and was down to two jars. So I walked around the room with my jelly, wondering what to ask for. A lot of stuff was already gone. I lingered by the almond butter station - her card was full front and back so I knew she had a lot of options. I slowed by the radish relish and saw one jar left, but shriveled in shyness not wanting to experience the rejection. Then the peach salsa lady approached me! Would you still like to swap? Yes, please! I actually had taken three samples of her salsa during my perusing time and it was one of my original faves. She revealed that this was her first time and it felt funny and we laughed at our mutual swapping inadequacies. One more jar. Well, I could go home with it. That wouldn't be that bad. So I was loading my loot into my basket when the radish relish lady came over and asked if she had missed the jelly. No, I have one more jar! I would love the radish relish! Her recipe was taken from the book, Food in Jars, written by the guest speaker at the event. 
I was so pleased with the outcome of my first swapping experience. A host snapped my pic with my friend as I was walking out the door and I'm hoping to see it on their blog. I'm also anxious to see the next food swap date posted. Because I have a gravevine that is minding its own business on the chain link fence in my back yard and it is almost harvest time.
That sounds like fun!
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