Ljubljana, 31 May 2010 – The central open-air market in Ljubljana was the scene of the first Jam Workshop on Saturday. As part of the event, a stall at the market was transformed into a small kitchen where TV personality Katarina Čas used Wiener Zucker Jam Sugar to prepare great-tasting marmalade, debunking the myth that only our grandmothers know how to make great home-made jam.

Wiener Zucker, a brand name of the AGRANA company, specialises in sugar. AGRANA is the leading producer of sugar in Central and Eastern Europe with operations in Austria, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and a total of nine production facilities in these countries. The Wiener Zucker brand brings together a wide range of specialty sugars, distinguished by their special taste and high quality. On Slovenian market there are 5 types of Wiener Zucker sugar available: sugar cubes, powdered sugar, brown candy sugar, brown sugar and two varieties of jam sugar.  The latter is a fine crystal sugar mixed with a gelling agent which is suited for preparing jam, preservers and various types of jelly. Using Wiener Zucker Jam Sugar - which along with regular sugar contains natural pectin from apples and citric acid to help speed up the gelling process – Katarina Čas made strawberry-pineapple marmalade as part of the first Jam Workshop, proving that by using Wiener Zucker Jam Sugar anybody can cook home-made jam in a matter of 5 – 10 minutes.

Wiener Zucker plans to hold a series of Jam Workshops in Slovenia, at which visitors can learn and try to make home-made jam. At the first Jam Workshop, a number of curious onlookers gathered to try the strawberry-pineapple marmalade that Katarina Čas cooked in less than 10 minutes. Katarina showed that by using Wiener Zucker Jam Sugar, making jam is easy, since the special convinient sugar helps to reduce the cooking time and simplifies preparations. Seen widely as a time-consuming and demanding exercise, jam-making has become quick and simple with Wiener Zucker Jam Sugar.

“This was my first time making my own marmalade and I’m surprised how quick and simple it was. Our grandmothers knew that home-made food was healthier and jam is no exception. This is why I intend to take up the sweet challenge of making my own marmalade more often in the future,” Katarina Čas said after the first Jam Workshop.

The first Jam Workshop is over. If you missed your opportunity to learn and try to make your own great-tasting jam, you can still catch one of the two upcoming Jam Sessions. The first is scheduled to take place on 13 June at Janče as part of the Strawberry Sunday event; the other will be held on 19 June at the open-air market in the BTC shopping district in Ljubljana.

Meanwhile, budding cooks can take part in the special prize competition “Every Opportunity Can be Sweet”, which Wiener Zucker has prepared in cooperation with women’s magazine Lisa. To enter, prepare your own home-made jam using Wiener Zucker Jam Sugar and send a sample and your recipe to Lisa or bring them to one of the upcoming Jam Workshops. You may end up winning one of the sweet prizes from the Wiener Zucker range or a life-time supply of Wiener Zucker Jam Sugar.