In the meantime, here's what we'll have to offer this week:

All Markets (Oakland: Grand Lake 9/4, Temescal 9/5; SF: Noe Valley 9/4, Palo Alto 9/5, Marin 9/9): Strawberry Jam with Maraschino & Plum Brandy, Seville Orange Marmalade with Rum & Muscovado, Black Plum Jam with Candied Citrus and Bay Leaf, Silver Three-Fruit Marmalade, Apricot & Dolly Plum Jam, Pink Grapefruit-Blood Orange Marmalade with Campari, Red Raspberry-Strawberry Jam

Looking forward to a fun and sunny weekend!

There was one thing that got me through my first Bay Area winter: Blue Chair's English Marmalade. Each morning the intensity of this preserve's Seville oranges, bourbon, and brown sugar, along with a cup of tea, shook the cold right out of my bones. Today, summer showed up and I'm too hot for toast and tea! Consequently I am pioneering a new way to get my daily marmalade fix (yes, I am addicted): ice cream.

My inspiration comes from ReadyMade Magazine: last summer they wrote an article on making vanilla ice cream in a coffee can. The process and recipe are so simple that they lend themselves to creative adaptation. To satisfy my craving, I am leaving out the lemongrass and adding 2-3 tablespoons of Seville Orange Marmalade with Vanilla & Muscovado*. In twenty minutes I can turn five ingredients into Vanilla ice cream with a marmalade swirl. I imagine myself doting on the contrast between the bitter orange rinds and sweet vanilla cream daily.

When summer ends I will continue the ritual of marmalade -- on toast -- starting my day. As I suspect the glory of this ice cream won't tire by winter, it looks like marmalade will be ending my day as well.

*For those who insist that marmalade "just isn't my thing," any of our jams or lighter marmalades will dazzle in this recipe: Bing cherries! Olallieberries! Meyer lemons!

Last week, Rachel came to me in a flurry of excitement. She had just read Molly Wizenberg's most recent blog post on Orangette, wherein Molly describes her new love of toast. "I love toast!" Rachel said. "I totally understand and agree with everything Molly says in her blog. I love toast. We have to blog about toast."

A few days have passed, and we all talked excitedly about toast: when we like to eat it, what kind of bread we like, what kind of jam or marmalade is best on toast (a heated debate, as you may well imagine). And, well, Rachel's been a little bit busy making jam out of thousands of berries every day, so I thought I'd hop in and share our conclusions about toast. It may not be quite as elegant an articulation as Molly's, but I do think it gives a peek into how fanatical we at Blue Chair are about perfect jam pairings.

Rachel's favorite: Irish brown bread with English Marmalade is right up there. With strong black tea, of course!

Jamie's favorite: English muffin (from Arizmendi, or Lori's at the pop-up market), with lots of butter and East Cost Blueberry Jam. Paired with PG Tips black tea (with honey and milk).

Kate's favorite: Walnut bread, spread with Black Plum Jam with Candied Citrus & Bay. A cup of red chai to drink.

Luz's favorite: Elderberry-Orange Marmalade, with salted butter, on Firebrand bread.

The great toast debate was so much fun that we're thinking it will be a monthly feature for Blue Chair Fruit. What jam and toast (and, apparently, tea) pairings are your favorite? What should we try?

All Markets (SF: Noe Valley 8/14, Palo Alto 8/15; Oakland: Grand Lake 8/14, Temescal 8/15): Babcock Peach Jam, English Marmalade, Nightfall Blackberry Jam, Yellow Grapefruit Marmalade, Red Raspberry-Strawberry Jam, Strawberry-Blood Orange Marmalade with Rosemary (as featured on FoodCrafters!), Black Plum Jam with Candied Citrus and Bay

We'll see you this weekend -- you bring your taste buds, and we'll bring our tiny spoons!

We used this recipe, and the beer of choice was Scrimshaw. Before we knew it, a fresh-baked loaf of delicious (albeit slightly sweet*) bread was in our little hands.

The candidates for perfect match with beer bread: Red Raspberry-Strawberry Jam, Golden Sweet Apricot Jam, Nightfall Blackberry Jam, Lemon-Pink Grapefruit Marmalade, Seville Orange Marmalade with Vanilla and Muscovado, and English Marmalade. We chose the widest flavor variety possible. We're very scientific like that.

Our results indicate that marmalade is an excellent match for beer bread. While the Seville Orange Marmalade was a little too intense for this batch of beer bread, we want to try it with bread made with a stronger beer -- maybe Guinness. The Lemon-Pink Grapefruit was a little too light for the Scrimshaw. If we make a Stella Artois beer bread, Lemon-Pink Grapefruit will be our choice.

Jam, it turns out, is better suited for a lighter bread that does not taste like beer. However, we did think the Nightfall Blackberry jam was pretty delicious with this bread -- it was a close second for the favorite pairing. We'd recommend using Nightfall Blackberry to accentuate a blackberry or other berry ale.

The clear first-place winner was the Seville Orange Marmalade with Vanilla and Muscovado. The strong notes in this marmalade -- molasses-y muscovado sugar, rum, and vanilla -- held up against the beer flavor, while simultaneously accentuating the different notes in the beer. Some of us may have gone back for a second helping. In order to verify our results.

Happy International Beer Day!

*This recipe recommends a bit too much sugar for our taste.

Appropriately, we have some great summer-y jams to bring with us to the markets this weekend! Berries, stone fruit... yum.

San Francisco Markets (Noe Valley 7/31, Palo Alto 8/1, Haight 8/4): Apricot & Dolly Plum Jam, Seville Orange Marmalade with  Muscovado & Vanilla, Strawberry-Meyer Lemon Jam, Yellow Grapefruit Marmalade, Red Raspberry-Strawberry Jam, Pink Grapefruit-Blood Orange Marmalade with Campari, Nightfall Blackberry Jam

Oakland Markets (Grand Lake 7/31, Temescal 8/1): Apricot & Dolly Plum Jam, Seville Orange Marmalade with  Muscovado & Vanilla, Strawberry-Meyer Lemon Jam, Yellow Grapefruit Marmalade, Red Raspberry-Strawberry Jam, Blood Orange-Quince Preserves with Rosewater, Nightfall Blackberry Jam

See you there!

We frequently have farmers' market customers ask us what to do with marmalade, beyond spreading it on toast and eating it with a spoon. Here's an application we love, that's a little off the beaten path but still pretty easy: use your favorite marmalade to glaze a simple cake!

The cake recipe here is simple enough -- its light, sweet flavor is the perfect base for any Blue Chair Fruit marmalade. We glazed this cake with our Lemon Marmalade with Lavender and Cardamom, and we think the subtle lavender notes, along with the slightly tart bitter lemon taste, really make this simple cake sing. You can strain out the citrus rinds (they make a lovely snack while you wait for the glaze to set), but we love the extra surprise kick they give.

Of course, the sky's the limit here. What about playing up the sophistication by using Bergamot Marmalade -- and then serving with Earl Grey tea? Or, if you're feeling sweeter, glaze with Strawberry-Meyer Lemon Marmalade.

It may be time to sneak back in the kitchen for another slice...

We have been having a great time at our farmers' markets these past few weeks, and are busy bringing on some fabulous new staff at our markets (new About Us profiles coming soon)! We are also loving Fall here at the Blue Chair Fruit kitchen, where we are in the process of making our Quince-Rose Geranium Marmalade and a pear and quince marmalade! Also in the works: a pear and dried fig conserve with rosemary and black pepper! We also just posted our phenomenally yummy Concord Grape & Vanilla Jam and our Plummy Meyer Lemon Marmalade - our very last early Fall preserves!

We will also be doing several jam and marmalade tastings around San Francisco and the East Bay over the next several days, in addition to our normal farmers' market schedule. We will be offering our special Thanksgiving and yuletide flavors, in addition to limited-quantity flavors. For details, please see our Where to Find Us page. We hope to see you soon!