Not that I really needed another reason to appreciate the benefits of buying local, but I've had some recent experiences at the market that have really reminded me of why shopping local beats going to the supermarket any day.
My family has been trying recently to remove sugar from our diet, which is pretty hard to do even if you avoid most processed foods. Not surprisingly, my kids really love some of the "sweet" things at the market. In particular, the fabulous jams and jellies from Shelly Mac Farm. I decided to talk to Shelby McKenzie of Shelly Mac about my dilemma and she said she would look into making some jam with honey instead of sugar. The very next Saturday, Shelby brought some peach jam made with honey! She went even further the next weekend and made another batch without pectin, since I found out that commercial pectin has dextrose (another form of sugar).
Good luck getting customer service like this from Smucker’s®. Shelby's latest concoction this past weekend was an incredible apple butter made with apples from Godwin Orchards and honey from East Wake Apiaries. Now my kids want to put apple butter on everything, including their fingers.
Don't be afraid to talk with your farmers' market vendors about something new or different that you would like to see from them, or even to offer feedback on existing products. That's the advantage of the direct, face-to-face relationship that you get when buying local at a farmers' market.
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