Jam tomorrow

Instability and uncertainty are on the upswing (quoting Chinese Premier Li Qiang via The Taipei Times). other publications quoted him differently, so i infer that there is no official translation of Li's words.

China's complaints about disruptions to normalcy seem ironic when juxtaposed with its Belt and Road Initiative. on the other hand, people love to complain and there is more conflict than usual these days.

with the possible exception of catharsis, most complaints have no effect. grief is real, but it shouldn't be extended. at some point, we should look forward to tomorrow's jam. it won't be good, but it will be better than the jam we cannot have today.

Instant sauce

i have a vivid memory of licking the last traces of raspberry coulis off a plate my (ex-)wife and i shared long ago. maybe that's why i found an easy way to make fruit sauce for my breakfast cake:

• empty a jar of fruit spread into a small saucepan
• add acidic liquid to the jar, about one-third full
• seal and shake to rinse the jar
• pour liquid into saucepan, stir and pasteurize
• pour hot sauce into glass jar(s)

the ideal liquid might be a mixture of vinegar and lemon juice. i used organic apple cider vinegar by itself, because it was aging badly.

i reuse the original jar. if it has a (safety) button lid, the button should stay down after the sauce cools.

Glass jars

as we continue our transition to plastic, glass jars become increasingly valuable. a jam jar is a good size for portions of various things and its wide mouth is convenient. to facilitate orderly storage, create sets of identical jars.

some European jars have nice details, e.g. Maille putting its name on the bottom of its 375 ml jars and the thick glass band that protects the lid for Ortiz sardines. i preferred screw lids because they seem less likely to corrode, but now some of my favorites have lug lids.

Organic alternatives

i used organic raspberry fruit spread because it costs less than its conventional alternatives here. on the other hand, generic marmalade costs much less than its organic alternatives, so i'm trying to find ways to use it.

for example, i made a variation of Elizabeth David's shooting cake by substituting marmalade for some of the sugar. her cake is better, but preparing the lemon is a messy chore. good lemon juice exists, but there is no substitute for fresh lemon zest. desperation is the father of invention?

my olive oil and poppy seed cakes are also good candidates for marmalade substitution, but i needed a second jar to complete this set and became impatient. i tried to make (brittle) candy from marmalade, and discovered that this is a bad idea. its flavor is fine, its texture is not. if i had to guess, moisture retained by the orange zest complicates reducing the marmalade.

so crass food products might have value if we find new ways to use them. organic alternatives might work better, but they usually cost more. people who insisting on buying organic food distance themselves from those who are unwilling to pay more for food. it's a bit offensive to implicitly suggest that my values are inferior because my marmalade is not organic. not a fan of GMO corn syrup, but fairly sure i can safely eat modest amounts.

finally, here is the last paragraph of Rachel Laudan's Cuisine and Empire:

The challenge is to acknowledge that not all is right with modern cuisines without romanticizing earlier ones; to recognize that contemporary cuisines have problems with health and equity without jumping to the conclusion that this is new; to face up to new nutritional challenges of abundance without being paternalist or authoritarian; to extend the benefits of industrialized food processing to all those who still labor with pestles and mortars; and to realize that the problem of feeding the world is a matter not simply of providing enough calories but of extending to everyone the choice, the responsibility, the dignity, and the pleasure of a middling cuisine.