Ladies and Gentlemen, Start Your Swapping

Basil Egg Noodles. Chocolate Stout Cake. Soy and Sesame Kale Chips. No, this isn't my weekly grocery list. These are some of the items I bartered for at my first official Indy Food Swap.

An eclectic group of 40 or so foodies gather once a month at the Indianapolis City Market to participate in Indy Food Swap - an event that allows amateur culinary wannabes like myself to showcase their cooking and baking skills and trade culinary goodies with others. So if you have too many pickled beets in your pantry or find yourself sitting on an overabundance of hand-foraged mushrooms, the Indy Food Swap is calling your name.

Suzanne Krowiak started the Indy Food Swap in August 2011 and it has taken off. In fact, today's food swap sold out in a mere two hours (who knew?). There are entire websites, Facebook pages, Twitter accounts and blogs dedicated to food swaps (the Food Swap Network is a great resource and lists food swaps nationally and internationally). The concept is simple: People bring in homegrown, homemade or foraged foods and set up on tables in the farmers market tradition. But instead of paying with cash, participants trade the items they brought in for new ones.



Suzanne Krowiak explaining that some swappers won't want to trade with you due to allergies, special diets or general distaste (hence the face).


When I arrived at the swap, I filled out a name tag and my official bid sheet, which included spaces to write my name, item, notes and special information (i.e. gluten-free, vegan). The bid sheet also had numbered spaces for bidders to write their offers. As the tables began to fill up, I noticed the offerings were as diverse as the swappers: There were traditional baked goods like old fashioned chocolate cake, but there were also Gianduja Bars, jars of Cara Cara Orange Curd and Ball Jars brimming with Pickled Peppers.

I set up my Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups, cut samples to dole out to swappers, signed my bid sheet and wished for the best.



My Peanut Butter Cups packaged up, ready for swapping. Also on my table: (two)bite-size samples.


About 30 minutes in, Suzanne called out, "Ladies and gentlemen, start your swapping." Suddenly, 40 foodies were hustling to get to their favorite tables to sample and fill out the bid cards. Feeling the adrenaline in the air, I couldn't help but take a peek at my station and wonder what my humble Peanut Butter Cups would earn. Would I score Kathy's French Herb Cheese Spread? Or Blaire's Spicy Pizza Sauce? What about Suz's Goat Cheese Balls? And though I couldn't tell you what it is, the Estonian Kringel Bread had my name, er, bid written all over it.


A very full bid sheet. The Estonian Kringel Bread (a cinnamon braided bread) was the "A-Lister" of the swap.

For a few seconds, I had that last-kid-to-be-picked-by-the-captain-of-the-dodgeball-team feeling. As the swappers began walking from table to table, I kept looking back at my Peanut Butter Cups, listening to the swapper's reactions as they were being sampled. But it was only a matter of minutes before my Peanut Butter Cup bid sheet began to fill up - front and back.

Isn't swapping just the best?

The actual swapping didn't occur until the last 30 minutes. Swappers were instructed to look at their original bid sheets and seek out the offerers via name tags. I was relieved when one swapper sought me out almost immediately, handing me a pretty jar of Basil-Infused Extra Virgin Olive Oil for a three-pack of giant Peanut Butter Cups. (You see, I made one amateur mistake of making about five dozen Peanut Butter Cups last night, thinking there would be way more food and way more swappers then there actually were. Needless to say, there was plenty of chocolate to go around!). 

I left the City Market with a basket full of local goodies: Limoncello, Spicy Pizza Sauce, Strawberry Black Pepper Jam, Orange Craisin Bread, Basil-Infused Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Soy n' Sesame Kale Chips (a treat on the ride home) and Chocolate Biscotti to name a few. A special shout out goes to swappers Suz for the Orange Craisin Bread and Jen for the Chocolate Stout Bread (it comes as no surprise that two of my favorites are carbohydrates). 

So what did I think of my first food swap? To sum it up, my fridge has never had it so good.

My loot: Chocolate Stout Bread, Limoncello, French Herb Cheese Spread, Soy n' Sesame Kale Chips, Chocolate Biscotti and more. Indy Food Swap: my fridge thanks you.


Interested in attending a swap? They take place once a month at the Indianapolis City Market, usually on a Saturday from 2:30-4. Registration fills quickly. A few tips:
• Arrive at least 15 minutes early. You will want this time to unpack, assemble samples and "beautify" your station.
•  Don't make five dozen of your item. Depending on the item, usually a dozen or so should be substantial enough.
• Make something unique. The most swap-worthy items are things you wouldn't - or couldn't - make yourself or buy from the grocery. Example from this swap: cheese pierogis, black pepper shortbread cookies and goat balls (a mixture of goat cheese, dates, glazed walnuts and brown sugar).
• Samples are a must.
• Bring a reusable bag or basket to carry your goodies home.
• From a Google search: “It’s uncool to repeat yourself."

Peanut Butter Cups
Adapted from Design Sponge
*Note: Has been known to cure even the worst of chocolate cravings 

Peanut Butter Cups

Ingredients
2 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate (or any chocolate of your choosing)
1 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup graham crackers, crushed

The Deal
Line a muffin pan with 12 paper liners. Set aside.
Melt 1 cup of the chocolate in a double boiler. Remove the bowl of melted chocolate from the stove and turn off the heat.
Using the back of a spoon, paint a layer of melted chocolate onto the bottoms and sides of the paper liners. Don’t skimp on chocolate here; coat the liners generously. Set the bowl aside with any remaining melted chocolate left in it.
Put the muffin pan in the refrigerator for 20 minutes while you make the peanut-butter filling.
In a mixing bowl, combine the peanut butter, crushed graham crackers, and powdered sugar. Stir with a spoon until well combined.
Return the bowl used to melt the chocolate to the top of the double boiler. Add the remaining 1 and 1/2 cups of chocolate and melt.
As the chocolate is melting, remove the muffin pan from the refrigerator. Put a mound of peanut butter (about a tablespoon size) into each paper liner. Tap down each mound with your fingertips to “nest” it into the chocolate bottom (easiest to do this is you wet your fingertips slightly).
By now, the chocolate added to the double boiler should be melted. Using a spoon, dollop the top of each peanut butter mixture mound with a generous portion of chocolate and smooth out the top.
Place the muffin pan in the refrigerator. The cups should be set within an hour.