Lifelong Millicent district resident Ada Gurney was widely mourned following her death at the age of 97 in 2023.


Her busy life included cooking meals for State Governors and also shearers, running a boarding house and managing a caravan park.


Well in to her nineties, Ada could be seen at community markets selling her jams, pickles, sauces and relishes with the proceeds going to such charities as the Millicent Cancer Support Group and the Royal Flying Doctor Service.


With her death, it was thought that a chapter in Millicent’s culinary history had been closed.


However, Ada’s daughter Sandra has secured the recipes and the treats are available again.


Sandra literally learned to cook at her mother’s knee and also has a copy of the renowned Green-and-Gold Cookery Book as a backup.


It has been in circulation since 1923 and is a fundraiser for an Adelaide college.


“The Green and Gold also has lots of household hints as well,” Sandra said.


“My mother always cooked to taste.


“It has been a strange season for fruit and this could be due to the lack of rain and perhaps climate change.


“There are few apples about but I have lots of mulberries.


“I usually buy my apricots from a woman at Mount Burr but this year she had none to sell.”


Sandra sells her wares at just one community market and she is easy to find as she proudly wears a sweater with the motto “Ada’s Love in a Jar”.


The Millicent Showgrounds Markets take place on the first Saturday of each month and Sandra is one of about 25 stall-holders.


“I enjoy having a stall here as I serve customers and have a chat with my fellow regular stallholders,” Sandra said.


“We are like a family.


“This is the only stall that I operate.


“There is no packing or unpacking as I can leave from goods here in the show hall from month to month.”