Stories from the Stringam Family Ranches of Southern Alberta

From the 50s and 60s to today . . .



Saturday, February 15, 2014

The Great Jam Test

Mmmmm. 

Sweet, tasty stickiness.
It categorizes you.
Marks your place in the family.
Even decides if you will be granted admission to the family.
It provides delicious accompaniment to your breakfast, and, at times, other meals during the day. (Members of my family eat it the Swedish way, with grilled cheese. Ick!)
It is yummy, and, if not eaten in copious (Ooo, good word!) quantities, is even very good for you.
I'm talking about jam.
Tasty, sticky, always lands toast-side-up. Jam.
More particularly, strawberry vs. raspberry.
It is the family 'Maginot Line'.
You can be on one side or the other.
Both of which are tasty.
Or so I'm made to understand.
But wander over to the other side only in times of dire necessity, like when your server has run out of packets.
My Husby and I realized very early in our marriage that we needed to have a jar of each on the breakfast table.
His - strawberry. Mine - delicious.
Oops.
I mean - raspberry.
And, as our kids grew, they learned to take sides.
Mine.
Except for our second son, who is Switzerland.
And prefers apple jelly.
We don't talk about him.
Moving on . . .
Once the lines were duly drawn in the family nucleus, it was time to start challenging prospective additions [i.e. fiancé(e)s] to declare their preference.
I should point out here that it is a grueling test.
The nervous neophyte is seated at the breakfast table. The two jars are brought forward. The family waits, breathlessly.
And I do mean breathlessly.
If anyone takes their time making a choice, family members have been know to pass out cold.
I won't tell you what we do to them while unconscious.
Teeheehee.
But I digress . . .
The prospective member of the family makes a choice.
And my side cheers.
It's true.
Every single one has chosen raspberry.
Until our last son-in-law.
Who chose . . . poorly.
I maintain that he was coached.
Money might even have changed hands.
So the score now stands at : strawberry - two, raspberry - 10.
And one son who will not be mentioned.
Now for the next generation.
Our eldest grandchildren are ready.
Time to make a choice . . .

12 comments:

  1. Make that 11 for raspberry. 12 if it's homemade.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I like marmalade....after that...any kind will do.

    ReplyDelete
  3. That is a very fun tradition. In my case, I would be on the raspberry side. Sorry about the son in law. You know opposition in all things; there always has to be one who is opposite.
    Blessings for this fun one!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Running that particular gauntlet sounds like a delicious chore :)

    I'm a jelly person, too ... sort of. When I eat strawberry jam I dig out the jelly part and leave the strawberries. I know, I know; what kind of person does that?

    ReplyDelete
  5. This would be a dilemma for me, in terms of flavour, I prefer raspberry, but for lack of seeds, I eat strawberry. The seeds in the raspberry always manage to get stuck in cavities I didn't know I had, or in minute gaps between teeth in hard to reach places. I've been know to warm, then strain a jar of raspberry in the past, but now I just stick with strawberry or plum or apricot. My favourite jam of all time is home made rhubarb/raspberry, which I bought once at a stall at a street fair and have never seen again.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh, those wonderful things that you find a street fair stalls . . . that you never, ever, find again . . .

      Delete

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