These jams are so luscious that they deserve their own photo shoot. They are THAT good.
After bringing home a jar each of mariposa plum and blenheim apricot from the farmers' market, I decided to give the apricot a try this morning for breakfast. The first thing you will notice when you open the lid of this precious little nine ounce jar is the aroma. It's like opening a bottle of wine: a sweet, sensual fragrance of tree-ripened perfection. I had forgotten that handmade jams can actually spell as good as they taste!
As I dipped my spoon into the jar and spread its contents onto a piece of sprouted wheat whole grain toast, I was struck at how smooth it was, with only small pieces of apricot flesh marring an otherwise sleek surface. The gentle cooking of the organic fruit along with cane sugar and subtle spices had worked wonders (without the use of pectins!)
And then I tasted.
It was as if I had been transported to a Santa Clara valley that now exists only in memories, dreams, and photographs: one where orchards weighed down with Blenheim and other rare apricots still filled the air with sweet smells and bright colors, before the traffic tragedies that are modern-day I-280 and Highway101 clogged the green spaces with smog, fuel vapors, and dust. In the days before silicon came to dominate the pace of life around here.
Fortunately, there are enough people in San Mateo, Santa Clara, and Santa Cruz counties that like green spaces and ripe treefruits. They have saved and preserved a lot, while others - like the We Love Jam people, apparently - are patronizing local growers of rare fruit, all in an effort to save the trees and domesticated varieties that Big Jam would consign to the trash-bin of agricultural and gastronomic history.
And, in the process, they make some spectacular jam. It's like biting into a little piece of Northern California history (which is more delicious than it sounds). But it also transports me through the metaphorical power of my heightened senses to other parts of this planet where people still brew, stew, slow-cook, can, jar, and blend together fruits and vegetables that are grown locally from heirloom foodstuffs. Like in parts of Eastern Europe - such as Transylvania - where I have spent time with my wife's family. In fact, the only apricot jam that I recall which even comes close to this one is my mother-in-law's homemade version. It's really good! But she doesn't hand-select the apricots the way that these folks do.
And we haven't even opened up the mariposa plum jar yet! That is for a Linzertorte to be baked for Christmas desert. More mouth-watering updates to come ... read more