La Petite Chinoise : LPC

Has it ever happened to you? You tie a little red string round the right pinkie to remind you to do that one thing you wrote down in your moleskin notebook that is also referenced in the Blackberry… soon work piles up and then life gets more complicated and you forget to do that one thing at the end of the day… well, thankfully, I also have my blog friends who remind me: it’s August, girl! Time to preserve!

SHF No 22 is hosted by Nicky of Delicious Days, one of my favourite blogs. The theme this time is Jams and Preserves. How appropriate! Jam-making is one thing on my Want-to-do list. We are also at the tail end of summer, where fruits are at their ripest. Jams are a good way of bottling up a bit of summer to brighten up dreary winter. I can see myself still sleepy in my flannel PJs with my big coffee cup on the kitchen table. And I’m slathering roasted raspberry jam on a huge chunk of cereal bread; the wind’s picking up and it starts to drizzle outside… I’ll be thanking Nicky for that jam reminder in August… I made my first jam.

I’ve always thought jams, conserves and preserves are one of the hardest things to make. Not because they are hard to make, but that there are les petites trucs (those little things/ secrets) that make a jam good. Those petits astuces (little tips) that are passed on from generation to generation. Here’s what Anne-Marie, an excellent cook, advised when I asked about making jams:

Not sure about you… but apart from the first tip, the other two are still quite ambiguous to me. Or totally possible that I didn't catch everything properly in French. I think I’ll just have to take the plunge one day and make jam the traditional way with Anne-Marie in person.

Here is the simplest jam recipe I have ever seen, adapted from one of my favourite cookbooks River Café Cookbook Green I love effortless recipes like this. It tastes so good and everyone thinks you're a genius.

Voilà! My first jam!

At Nicky's suggestion, I have also designed a label for my lil' pot of jam. Click to see the blown-up label.

A little note about raspberries: These little red rubies are fragrant and very sweet smelling, but they are also highly perishable. They don’t hold very well at room temperature, and keep in the fridge for 1-2 days max. They can also be frozen. In Paris, raspberries are sold in little barquettes (plastic containers) which are usually 125g per barquette. You should look at the bottom of the barquette to check for mouldy or squashed raspberries. Raspberries should be very loosely packed.