The Law of
Raspberry Jam:
the wider
any culture is spread, the thinner it gets.
Alvin
Toffler
During an
afternoon of work, knitting and tea drinking, I was passing the time listening
to one of my favourite radio programmes. There was a slot about Jam. Soft,
sweet, sticky Jam loved and loathed the world over. It tastes great but gets
everywhere. If your jammied toast falls to the ground, be sure, it will fall Jam
side down. If it drips onto your top or clean white shirt, Jam will make its
mark. Not to mention, it will also rot your teeth! For all its badness, Jam is
delicious, versatile and practical. It’s a form of preservation of fruits and
vegetables, thus allowing you to enjoy strawberries in winter, blackberries in Spring and anything you like in Summer. I went
through a teenage phase of hating the stuff. Like the knitting, I gave up a lot
during the wasted years. I suppose, it’s all about trying new things until you
reach the stage of adulthood when you know which things you like and which you like to keep. It was the taste of a locally made rhubarb & vanilla jam, that woke up my taste buds and helped me understand all. I almost
felt a pop inside. I thus went on a nationwide jam tasting trail in conjuntion
with a scone tasting trail, while on my usual travels. My girth didn’t thank my
but my taste buds, gladly, shook my hands.
This radio
programme however, also covering jams in the more lateral sense. The presenter
met with Music Jam sessions, Maths Jams where mathemiticans and people with
more brain cells than the average, work out difficult conundrums. Like
countdown in the pub. There were probably even Jam Jam Sessions where jam
makers, eaters and general nutters meet to jam…..I even helped create a
Knitting Jam Circle who meet in a café twice weekly and knit while eating jam
on scones!
I remember Mum’s
jam making at home. Topping and tailing the gooseberries, torn alive while out
blackberry picking, falling into thorny dikes in order to grab the allusive
berry which turned out to be a warm bed for a fat maggot.. collecting fallen
apples and pears from the orchards….and shaking the trees to knock off the
plums only to find them already half eaten by birds.
Jam is wonderful, lovely on everything and comforting to the nose. But as always, I find perspective ..... ta dah!
Jam is wonderful, lovely on everything and comforting to the nose. But as always, I find perspective ..... ta dah!
