Farmer and accomplished jam maker Kim McQuhae of Niagara-on-the-Lake cleaned up again this year at the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair’s professional jams and jellies competition in Toronto.

She entered 23 jams in 14 categories, earning five first-place awards, five seconds, three thirds, four fourths and two fifths. She also received the Premier Exhibitor award and a spot in the Champions Showcase.

After the awards, McQuhae sold her jams at the fair — an experience she called particularly valuable and validating.

People come over when she begins selling her award-winning jams and say, “‘Oh, you’re that girl,'” she said.

She earned $640 in prize money, but said that’s not why she enters the competition.

McQuhae first started making jam after buying Gryphon Ridge Highlands farm in 1997. The property had hundreds of fruit trees, and plums were falling to the ground and attracting bees. A neighbour suggested she use the fallen fruit to make jam.

She was skeptical but tried it, and the idea solved her bee problem. That’s when, she said, her neighbour “created a monster.”

McQuhae entered the Royal for the first time in 2006, placing third that year. She earned her first championship the following year. In 2013, her chocolate raspberry jam won Judge’s Choice and led to a “whole event” around it.

She now makes about 200 flavours. Standouts for her this year included lychee almond and spiced apple rhubarb; the lychee almond variety was featured on Breakfast Television.

When asked what makes a good jam, she said she often starts with a fruit like lychee and combines it with ingredients that help it set, such as sugar. Many of her jams use about four cups of fruit to five to seven cups of sugar.

“I usually have a formula in my head that usually works,” she said.

She also specializes in low-sugar jams, using two cups of sugar instead of five or seven. Some of her jams contain no refined sugar — a category she also won awards in this year — and are made with maple syrup, honey or agave.

“There’s a lot of people that may have diabetes who may be on low sugar diets and stuff,” she said of the appeal of these jams.

The only downside, she added, is that opened jars must be kept in the fridge.

The Royal is McQuhae’s main event each year. When it’s over, she said she can finally breathe a sigh of relief, and the winning jams often guide what she’ll make for the spring farmers’ market.

In summer, she begins preparing jams for the next fair. Experimentation keeps her motivated.

“I’ve always been very creative with different flavours,” she said. “I don’t like to be normal.”

This year marked the 103rd edition of the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair, held Nov. 7 to 16.

daniel@niagaranow.com