WARNING: Using Jelly and Jam interchangeably. Please forgive me.

Have you ever been to Shipshewana, Indiana? For me, it’s a fun town where I can spend the day, but be home in time to be a vegetable in front of the tele at night.

There are many things I adore about this town. It has lovely small farms (mostly Amish), you’ll see horse & buggies all year round as you drive (drive slow and give the horses room), great restaurants with delightful chicken and pie (raspberry cream), many independent stores, a fun scrapbooking AND candy store in one, and plenty of yarn, bead, and craft stores to keep my friends and I out of trouble for hours (or is that getting into trouble?).

A store I hadn’t been to in any previous trip was E&S Sales. It is a bulk, cash-only grocery store. My friend warned me about it, and I can honestly say I’ve now been there THREE times this summer. Yep, that’s a lot for me considering the distance. Each time was a great ball of fun to see the town, once including a musical, always a dinner out, and then shopping at E&S Sales to take new treasures home to taste.

Here are some options just from the jelly isle. We’ll start with the usual suspects…

Then we move on to some I am not familiar with. Mint I’ve seen at holidays, but both plum and quince are new to me.

On this trip I picked up a plum to try. But since I have to finish each jar of jelly in the fridge before opening a new one, I have to finish the guava from World Market first. So, no, I don’t know how it tastes yet. But I like the guava – it’s mild.

On my second trip I selected dandelion. I’m going to try that before plum. After I finish the guava.

Kiwi sounds interesting, but I’m quite certain elderberry will be great.

I know red raspberry is good, but I’m not interested in trying the one with jalapeno added to it. It’s just not my thing. Is it your thing? Sasafras might be next on my shopping list.

I did not buy a third jar of jelly on my third trip this summer. I started the summer with guava, and I’m going out with guava. They should make these smaller so I can get through them faster!

I’m thinking I’ll skip sweet pepper since I don’t generally care for them. Tomato I like in juice and on my pasta (sometimes), but I don’t need to test this one either. Perhaps the watermelon is an option.

Now we’re getting back to safe ground, with the exception of orange marmalade. It’s just not for me, but my mom likes it, so I still might see it in the fridge. I tried passion fruit in the spring (after a triple berry from Meijer and before the guava from World Market) because I read about it in a book. It’s pretty good. Mild, but pleasant.

Yeah, fruit cocktail can stay right there. Apparently the one I need to get my hands on is gooseberry! Not one jar left. Hmmm… must be good stuff.

What jelly or jam would you try? What have you had? What’s your favorite? Also, what do you eat it on?