Posts Tagged ‘summer jam’

Oh, today. Today is a day of questions… Why did some jackhole eat half the almonds in the packet at Whole Foods and then put it back on the shelf? Why did I not notice this till I got home? Why did my beautifully lush bee balm give up the ghost utterly, forcing me to wrench it out and leave a gaping hole in my tub garden? Why am I not in Santa Barbara, drinking my favorite champagne and watching all the pretty horses graze as the Pacific winks at me in the distance? Why? Sigh…

Today, however, is also a day with wonderments all its own. Three and a half hours extra sleep, tea in Dupont with a friend, and a good stretchy Pilates session go far to counteract the whys of the day. I also, for the first time this summer, saw all three of my summer jam fruits at the store at the same time. Apricots, strawberries, and cherries. It seems a bit crazy to moosh them all together, and it’d have never occured to me save for the languid summer afternoon I found myself with just a leftover handful of each–not enough to do anything major, or good enough to eat out of hand–so I made jam.

And oh my god, was it the best thing ever–like sunshine itself, the very essence of summer. Tart, musky apricot; bright, fragrant strawberries; and plump juicy cherries. All three flavors combine into a wall of fruity succulence that washes inexorably across your palate. Texturally, it’s pretty champion too. The apricots melt away into unctuousness, the strawberries soften and release their juices, and the cherries relax but retain a bit of snap–truly, something for everyone.

Obviously, if you’ve managed to get your hands on absolutely uber-primo apricots don’t bother making jam, just eat the damn things. However, a truly perfect apricot–richly honeyed, deeply perfumed, soft to the point of total surrender–is a rare and beautiful thing that I’ve only experienced once or twice. This jam makes the most of what we can regularly get at the grocery store and leverages the more quotidian pleasures offered by good strawberries and cherries.

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