A Jam Fit for a Queen

fx

Wed, 16 Mar 2016 12:32:45 GMT

Excellent idea!

Onur

Sat, 18 Feb 2012 21:56:35 GMT

I just fsniihed making my red current jelly and it turned out beautiful! I extracted the juice using a steam juicer. Which was easy and yielded perfectly clear jelly... and delicious.

Collette Baribeau

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 15:19:29 GMT

Good Day! I truly enjoyed this article, and I actually prepared some beautiful currant/strawberry jelly. It tastes "Out of this World"! It is also visually appealing! The history in this article was also very interesting! Thank you!

fx

Sun, 15 Mar 2009 09:01:09 GMT

Glad you liked it!

Melit

Sat, 14 Mar 2009 06:46:45 GMT

     Beautiful article....make me want to try that jam
while watching an old Hitchcock movie...
     Francois,do you think using a Twezzer to deseed the
currant will do?...just kidding...I have high regards to
people who are so dedicated in their job and do it with passion!!
     Thanks again for sharing.

fx

Mon, 22 Sep 2008 14:28:13 GMT

Gayle, I"m not too fond of olives myself - in fact I don"t eat them at all. But I wish you all the best for your harvest, sounds like an exciting project!

fx

Mon, 22 Sep 2008 14:15:49 GMT

Peter, glad you like the slowest of them all slow foods!

Peter

Mon, 22 Sep 2008 12:25:46 GMT

Talk about Slow Food! Amazing.
In a strange way, it makes me very happy to know that there is a Monsieur Dutriez out there, deseeding currants. It assures me that despite all the desperately terrible things that happen in the world every day, humanity is not completely lost - we still *can* have nice things.

peteformation

Mon, 22 Sep 2008 04:28:29 GMT

Wow, this is an awesome post. Making the jam is a real tedious process, no wonder it is so expensive. Thks for sharing this wonderful process.

Gayle

Sun, 21 Sep 2008 19:59:38 GMT

Thanks for showing another interesting process.

The olives are ripening here and I would like to know how kalamata olives are commercially processed. Do you have a connection? I am trying to process olives from my 3 trees.
Thanks

fx

Sun, 21 Sep 2008 11:21:14 GMT

Amy, thanks and I hope you get to try this extraordinary jam someday!

fx

Sun, 21 Sep 2008 11:20:47 GMT

Nina, I would be very interested to find out more about this rose petal jam that you mention, do you know if it"s still made nowadays from rose petals rather than rose water?

fx

Sun, 21 Sep 2008 11:17:17 GMT

Evan, thanks for dropping by! Indeed a "white currant" is a literal translation of French "groseille blanche" or "groseille � maquereau", that is, gooseberry. I updated the text now.

Evan

Sat, 20 Sep 2008 23:20:05 GMT

mmm. as always, an excellent article with beautiful photographs to go with. what exactly is a white currant? is this the same as a gooseberry?

Nina Brar

Sat, 20 Sep 2008 01:34:30 GMT

Talk about labours of love. At least this does not take as much time in the making, as rose petal jam, Gulkand which had to be stewed and stewed again to extract all the flavour from the rose petals. And by the way, they were made by empresses, starting with Nurjahan who brought this tradition from Persia to India!
Enjoy!
Nina.

Amy S.

Fri, 19 Sep 2008 22:53:19 GMT

What an amazing product and even more amazing story to go along with it. Someday i will have to splurge and purchase this. Thank you for a wonderful article!

fx

Fri, 19 Sep 2008 08:52:27 GMT

Tosca, you can order it directly on Dutriez" website at groseille.com, if you order 4 jars the price difference as compared to a shop in the NL should make up for the postage!

Tosca

Fri, 19 Sep 2008 08:47:07 GMT

Wow, that looks lovely! I"d love to buy a pot for my dad, who is very fond of jams and of red currants! Do you know if there"s a place in The Netherlands where you could buy this jam?

fx

Fri, 19 Sep 2008 08:11:41 GMT

Don, real barbarians eat the whole plant - currants, stems and leaves!

don siranni

Thu, 18 Sep 2008 18:59:13 GMT

Fx,I shall never again pull a current stem like a "barbarian".It took you to teach me some manners. Is it still OK to pull cranberrys&blueberrys,how about if no-one if looking? don

fx

Thu, 18 Sep 2008 16:16:57 GMT

Dave indeed this is a most excellent and refined jam, and knowing how it was made and its history really enhances the pleasure!

fx

Thu, 18 Sep 2008 16:15:48 GMT

Chiffonade, about the strainer, either you filter the juice out of the currants, and end up with jelly, or you place the fruits in a food processor and let it run for 10 minutes, in which case you"ll end up with smashed seeds that will release their pectin and some bitterness into the jelly. In either case, the product will be very different from the delicate entire split berries found in Dutriez" jars. But my friend John found a better solution - just select a seedless currant, make jams and print on the label "Naturally Seedless Red Currant Jams"!

fx

Thu, 18 Sep 2008 16:12:10 GMT

Fellow, thanks for warning me, I removed the lost paragraph! I think those manning the quills are rather long-toothed fairies!

fx

Thu, 18 Sep 2008 16:10:57 GMT

Lisa, if you ever come by Bar-le-Duc, make sure to fill your trunk with as many jars as you can fit, you"ll double your money when crossing the pond!

fx

Thu, 18 Sep 2008 16:08:11 GMT

Jason, you can serve the white currant jam to accompany foie gras, really delicious and distinctive!

fx

Thu, 18 Sep 2008 16:07:12 GMT

Dima, I must confess that Monsieur Dutriez" story of a "secret" to preserve the jams without any chemical seems like a garlic clove to ward off vampires - a ploy to discourage competitors. Probably you can get good results just with hot jam, clean jars and an hermetic seal. But who knows?

fx

Thu, 18 Sep 2008 16:05:01 GMT

Beverly, if you ever find a market for currant seeds, you"ll be Monsieur Dutriez"s new best friend for sure!

fx

Thu, 18 Sep 2008 16:04:20 GMT

William, in fact life is too short to eat pumpkin jam, and we have professional �p�pineuses who are glad of this little cottage industry helping them make additional income working from the confort of their homes - no need to deseed them yourself!

fx

Thu, 18 Sep 2008 16:02:40 GMT

Sarah, you can in fact order this jam online in the US, it goes for a cool $40 a pot so make sure you stock in your safe rather than the pantry! The black spots are the base of the stem, I had to ask Mr Dutriez, but it"s my third jar and I have yet to fine one stray seed!

fx

Thu, 18 Sep 2008 16:00:40 GMT

Meramarina, hold that thought on the shame of not knowing the word Johannisbeere, myself I had to look "groseille" a couple times in the dictionary when writing this article. Fruit and tree names in foreign languages are not so commonly used unless you are in the trade, no shame in having to look them up! Maybe you can grow your own currants or find some gardener or farmer that does, and convince her to try the quill-seeded red currant jam - a fun project!

fx

Thu, 18 Sep 2008 15:57:38 GMT

Kathie, I don"t know about the economic viability of jamming your preserves in sapphire jars, but it seems to me that there is here a nice business opportunity for readers living in lands with more sun but smaller labor costs than Lorraine! With proper care and smart marketing, a more affordable jam could be made, and with the additional sun it might even be better tasting!

fx

Thu, 18 Sep 2008 15:53:47 GMT

Andy, thanks for your kind words on my pictures, actually after they were shot I suddendly had all sorts of ideas as to how much better I could have made them but hey - you only get once chance! A friend just called in unexpectedly to bring me a non-edible prop for a future article, and I treated him to the second half of the jar you see on the picture. What a treat!

fx

Thu, 18 Sep 2008 15:51:42 GMT

Nate, I must agree that the "Omnivore"s 100 List" could be much improved by substituting the Root Beear Float with this Red Currant Jam!

Nate

Thu, 18 Sep 2008 15:14:26 GMT

What a privilege to see this.

This should go on a revised Omnivore"s 100 list.

Andy Basile

Thu, 18 Sep 2008 14:46:13 GMT

Dear FX, Beautiful, beautiful, beauitful article on the red current jam. These are the kinds of things that set your blog apart from others. The large picture of the jar took my breath away, and it was almost like looking at jewelry from JAR in Paris!! While I love regular Red Current jam I am sure that the taste here is smoother and probably not bitter at all because of the lack of seeds. I hate to admit it but I spent hours on your site the other day looking at past posts. I am also spreading the word about you, after all the more the merrier!

Kathie

Thu, 18 Sep 2008 13:36:13 GMT

Oh this was just wonderfully fabulous. The sheer insanity! Perhaps if my present endeavor flounders I can become une �p�pineuse! Once I have mastered the currants I will move on to those irksome raspberries, and bottle my jam in jars of sapphire.

Alex

Thu, 18 Sep 2008 13:32:52 GMT

Lovely post, fascinating stuff

Meramarina

Thu, 18 Sep 2008 11:17:29 GMT

Dear FX, your last few articles have me about ready to head back to Europe, now! This one reminded me of my first dinner in Switzerland a few weeks ago--and the Fruit Plate Embarrassment. I did not know the word for currant - Johannisbeere - and asked what are these strange little grapes? Anyway, I liked currants, and can only imagine how wonderful this jam tastes. It seems that I missed a lot of good food over there. I"ve been wondering in which direction to go next time - should I eat my way south towards Italy, or westward into France? Here in America I have not seen currants in the produce department, although I think we do have currant jams. Of course, the way things are going in the USA right now, soon we all might be eating our backyard grass.

Sarah

Thu, 18 Sep 2008 11:05:26 GMT

You mean I have to add yet another thing to my list of forbidden foods? Ugh. We pay a high price to live in California, in more ways than people think.

In the last photo, what are all those black spots? I"m assuming they aren"t seeds, of course.

Willliam Martin

Thu, 18 Sep 2008 10:51:54 GMT

Life is to short to deseed red currants by hand...

Beverly

Thu, 18 Sep 2008 10:47:52 GMT

Does he toss the seeds, which are over 1/3 of the weight of the currant? Seems like with enough "research" a magical, healthful component of the seed could be found and another recycled product launched.

Dima

Thu, 18 Sep 2008 10:46:13 GMT

Thanks a lot for yet another peace of tasty information :).

Now about a jam and history - from my personal experience with jams, to keep it for years requires a jar full of HOT jam and a completely hermetic seal. But if this is a secret, then I"ve never told it.

Take care and please do continue your voyage to explore strange new foods and boldly go, where some of us have never gone before.

Jason Sandeman

Thu, 18 Sep 2008 10:39:51 GMT

Awe-inspiring indeed. Not only do I know the most expensive jam, but why. Thank you for that, and keep up the good work!

Lisa

Thu, 18 Sep 2008 10:14:02 GMT

First off LOL@ Other grandees who lost their head about this jam include Mary, Queen of Scots. That one caused milk to shoot from my nostrils!

Secondly - WOWm the labor put into this jam is truly awe inspiring. Pitting each and every one of those tiny berries by hand is TRUE LOVE. I"d probably be banging the pitter against the table (and my head) after the first 20!

Thank you for posting such a lovely demo and explanation of how this jam is made. I think I may have to purchase some since I can almost taste it through your photos and I know it"s probably worth every penny!

Fellow

Thu, 18 Sep 2008 09:53:40 GMT

btw FX, I think you left a paragraph of your notes in the artice. Search for �cume

Fellow

Thu, 18 Sep 2008 09:52:43 GMT

Amazing. Nothing short of amazing. Makes you think of little fairies removing tiny seeds from tiny fruits.

chiffonade

Thu, 18 Sep 2008 09:32:13 GMT

Wow - talk about having time on one"s hands! I love making jams and preserves and canning sauces so I"m not talking about the time involved in creating these products. I wonder what would happen if the chef used a Cuisinart with a strainer attachment?

Thanks for having a great site!

Dave Dragon

Thu, 18 Sep 2008 08:58:21 GMT

What a Great article, and I bet the Jam is most excellent.

Thanks for yet another great piece.

Dave