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Jam Makers Preserve a Sweet Tradition

December 13, 2018 By marketeditor

By Himanee Gupta-Carlson

Homemade jams are a longtime staple of the Saratoga Farmers’ Market. These treats – made from fruits grown and harvested spring through fall – gleam like jewels in glass jars. They are rich in fruit flavor, and thick with sweetness. They fill holiday stockings, they sit on breakfast tables, and they work great in holiday recipes.

Two vendors – Laurie Kokinda of Kokinda Farm and Anna Mae Clark of Clark’s Dahlia Gardens & Greenhouses – offer jam. For both, jam-making runs in the family.

“My mother taught me how to make jam as a young child,” says Kokinda. “We would go picking fruit at ‘pick your own’ farms and gather wild huckleberries in Luther’s Forest.” 

“Then,” Kokinda recalls, “as a teen, I started making it by myself.” Her mother had had a horse accident and had broken her wrist.

Kokinda joined the farmers’ market in 1997. Since then, she has sold jam under the name of Laurie’s Jams, alongside produce, eggs, and handmade items.

She makes jam once a week, in between driving a school bus and caring for horses, chickens and dogs. She grows raspberries, currants, gooseberries, blackberries, apples, pears, rhubarb and grapes. She obtains other fruits such as cherries, plums, blueberries, and apricots from other local growers. Of particular pride is her favorite, peach jam, made from peaches from her own trees.

Clark was a Saratoga Farmers’ Market vendor when the market started in 1978. She began selling jam around 1998 when, she recalls, she had “a freezer filled with fruit that wasn’t being used.” But she has made jam for 50 years. She inherited the tradition from her mother and grandmothers. “We all made jam,” says Clark. “We had to at the farm, or you wouldn’t have any.” 

Clark perfected her jam-making through 4-H and Cornell Cooperative Extension classes. She grows most of her fruit, though relies on others for products she cannot grow herself such as oranges and cranberries. She goes through a pallet of sugar a year. Jams, insists Clark, need sugar. Sugar brings out a fruit’s flavor in a way that other sweeteners cannot.

Many of Anna Mae Clark’s recipes come from her mother and grandmothers. They create “older flavors” that people enjoy, and can’t always find outside of farmers’ markets.

The Saratoga Farmers Market is 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturdays at the Lincoln Baths Building in the Saratoga Spa State Park. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and on the FreshFoodNY app.

Filed Under: Featured Article, homepage feature, News Tagged With: Anna Mae Clark, jam, jam tradition, Laurie Kokinda, Saratoga Farmers' Market

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Today is the day for the Monday Market! Start you Today is the day for the Monday Market!

Start your week with us in Clifton Park from 2 pm to 5 pm for fresh produce and great finds. 

We are your stop to support locally grown and produced foods/items and we love all of our weekly visitors!

#cliftonparkfarmersmarket #cliftonparkny #saratogafarmersmarket #saratogafarmersmarket🔆 #supportlocallygrown #supportlocallyproduced
Here we are….it’s officially fall! Check out Here we are….it’s officially fall!  Check out this week’s recipe at our site and head over to grab the fresh products at the market to give it a try…

What’s happening at the market today? We have live entertainment as you wander, explore and discover …

Saratoga Farmers’ market 9 am to 1 pm

Pumpkin Painting 11 am to 1 pm

Saratoga Pumpkin Festival 11 am to 4 pm

https://www.saratogafarmersmarket.org/category/seasonal-recipes/

#saratogafarmersmarket #saratogafarmersmarket🔆 #pumpkinrecipesplease #fallishere🍁 #giantpumpkinfestival
Market days are some of the best days and we are h Market days are some of the best days and we are here for it from 9 AM to 1 PM this Saturday at High Rock Park.  This week is extra special as we celebrate the Pumpkin Fest. 

Here's the schedule:

9 am to 1 pm Saratoga Farmers' Market
11 am to 1 pm Pumpkin Painting
11 am to 4 pm Giant Pumpkin Festival

Learn more here: https://www.saratogafarmersmarket.org/celebrating-fall-at-the-8th-annual-pumpkinfest/

This is a collaborative effort with Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce and @saratogacitycenter 

#saratogafarmersmarket #saratogafarmersmarket🔆 #shoplocalsaratoga #supportlocallygrown #supportlocallyproduced #saratogapumpkinfest #giantpumkinfestival
We are also hosting a children’s pumpkin paintin We are also hosting a children’s pumpkin painting event from 11 am to 1 pm for ( $8 donation). The Saratoga Farmers’ Market is a 501(c)3 and these small fundraisers help to support our free educational programming, intern program, emergency farm fund, etc 

Our activities are in conjunction with the Saratoga Pumpkin Festival this weekend - Saturday, September 23rd!

What’s happening?

Saratoga Farmers’ market 9 am to 1 pm

Saratoga Pumpkin Festival 11 am to 4 pm

This is a free family event that starts at the Saratoga City Center parking garage on High Rock Avenue and continues down to the Saratoga farmers Market.  This is a community collaboration with the Saratoga county chamber of commerce, Saratoga Springs city center and the Saratoga Farmers’ Market.

We look forward to seeing you Saturday!

#saratogafarmersmarket #saratogafarmersmarket🔆 #saratogapumpkinfest #saratogapumpkinfestival #giantpumpkinfestival #giantpumpkinfestival2023

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