Farmers Market Watch, Sept. 13: We be jammin'

Stumbling across a market newbie at the Mill City Farmers Market: Lucille's Kitchen, where Zoie and Amy Glass were hawking Zoie's spirited apple pepper jelly.

By Rick Nelson, Star Tribune

Last update: September 12, 2007 - 5:17 PM

As I quickly made my rounds last Saturday morning at the Mill City Farmers Market -- fantastic apple-cinnamon muffins from the Mueske family's Whitewater Valley Orchard stand, the season's last sweet corn from Loon Organics, peppery arugula from Burning River Farm -- I stumbled across a market newbie: Lucille's Kitchen, where Zoie and Amy Glass were hawking Zoie's spirited apple pepper jelly.

"My parents had a truck garden, and growing up, we did all kinds of preserving and canning," said Zoie. "I've been making jelly for Christmas gifts for years, and people kept telling me that I should sell it." So she is, plucking sweet peppers from the big garden that spreads across most of their St. Paul back yard. The tart apples hail from Amy's parents' place in Appleton, Minn. ("Dad was out there with a rake, shaking them down," Amy said with a laugh.) Even Lucille, the couple's kindergarten-age daughter, gets into the act, picking and peeling. Team Glass also turns out a green pepper jelly, an apple butter, and, coming soon, a green tomato jelly.

Lucille's Kitchen jellies and butters, $6 to $10. Mill City Farmers Market, 2nd St. and Chicago Av. S., 612-341-7580, www.millcityfarmersmarket.org. Open 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturdays.