International Lifestyle Magazine Issue 57 | Page 28

The change of seasons and the shortening of the day
can mean but one thing, my autumn menu is back!

E N J O Y A N D S AV O U R
WITH ALAN COXON

E

arly in August I noticed the abundance of plums that went
to waste, their splatted stains were all that remained of the
fruity road kill along the highways and byways on which they had
dropped and perished.
It is such a shame as once upon
a time these fruits would have
been gathered and put to full use
in plum and ginger crumbles,
pies, steamed plum puddings and
savoury plum sauces to name but
a few!.
With this year being the First World
War Centenary, it reminded me
that just 100 years ago every one
of these fruits would have caused
an excitement. You can just image
people watching these jewels grow
in their gardens, precious fruits
dangling and teasing throughout
the summer months.

preserving and blending with the
fruits to make jam (also known, as
“preserves”) but when sugar first
became available it was described
by Alexander the Great as “Honey
not made by bees”!
This “Honey not made by bees”,
was once a very rare and expensive
commodity and it is reported that
the household of Henry III back in
1264 was using it at a cost of two
shillings a pound (approximately
£50 a 1lb in today`s money),
needless to say a luxury enjoyed
by the few.

Back then, there was of course
a respect for such an important
seasonal ingredient, offering up
sweet and sour flavours on the
tongue, with a gentle flesh yielding
to the bite, whilst oozing with a
vital natural source of vitamins,
nutrients and natural sugars.

Jams made with sugar remained
a royal treat with an array of fruits
being used with the likes of King
Louis XIV of France always ending
his lavish banquets with a selection
of fruit preserves served in a
silver dish (the fruits only coming
from the Kings own gardens and
glasshouses.

Instead 100 years on in a
society with a general wasteful
abandonment of food, we tend to
see more of the fruit blended with
traffic jams on the roads rather
than plum Jams in our kitchens!

Meanwhile in Tudor England jams
were often referred to as “Spoon
Sweets” because the jams were
always served on “silver spoons”
and possibly the origination of the
Sugar brand we still see and use
today!

There are only a couple of
ingredients needed to make a
good home made jam, including
seasonal fruit of choice and sugar.
The first mention of Jams appears
to date back to the Roman
gastronome Marcus Gavious
Apicious in the 1st century, and it
was the crusaders who apparently
bought the secrets of Jam making
back to Europe.
Initially the Romans may have
used Honey as a method of

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They always say that what goes
around comes around, so let`s
hope that within our centenary
cycle we can eventually re capture
the respect and importance of the
fruit currently being wasted, whilst
also seeing the massively modern
abuse of sugar return back to a
luxury and respected commodity,
allowing us all to enjoy and savour
the fresh fruity preserves and the
skill of its makers!.