A couple of weeks ago I went to a concert by Michelle Shocked. I was only familiar with a handful of her songs and didn’t realise that she had such a diverse repertoire. Indeed, it is many years since I have attended a similar concert and it was very refreshing to find that the venue (Enmore RSL) provided comfy lounge chairs AND no smoking. I could even wear the same clothes next day to work without incurring a dry cleaning bill! Anyway, when I got back home, I checked out Michelle’s website and downloaded “Arkansas Traveller”, an album from the early 1990s. One of the tracks on that album is “Strawberry Jam” which got me thinking about going and picking strawberries in the gardens around Warkworth in New Zealand where I grew up. Then when I went to the local market, I found that strawberries were on sale so I came home to make my own batch of strawberry jam. My cookbooks warned me that strawberries have a low pectin content and the resulting jam can be a little runny so I changed the sugar to fruit ratio as suggested and added lemon juice. I think I must have over-compensated as my jam is more candy than conserve. Nevertheless, the flavour is superb and I am keen to make some more.
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