Mes Confitures: The Jams and Jellies of Christine Ferber

Christine Ferber specializes in exquisite jams; sadly, they are very hard to come by unless you are in France. Her book, published in 2002, offers a glimpse of what we are missing. I have made several of the recipes, but lacking the fruit of Alsace, they are but shadows of the original. Still, it offers a classical approach to jam making (no added pectin) which is fun to experiment with and the recipe titles are specific and alluring: green melon with lemon, quince jam with Nostradamus spices, wild blueberry with pinot noir and licorice. My favorite is a recipe for Old Bachelor's jam, which calls for making two jams (blueberry and raspberry) over two days and layering them in a single jar, and a strawberry jam with black pepper.