The new J-Crew: meet London's new jam girls

Not only is fruit-boiling in season but thanks to some of the capital’s hippest girl cooks it’s back in vogue, too. Victoria Stewart on London’s cool jam generation
Picture by Daniel Hambury/Stella Pictures Ltd +44 7813 022858 13/06/2013 Jenny Dawson, founder of Rubies in the Rubble pictured at their base on New Spitalfields Market, London.
Daniel Hambury
25 July 2013

One has worked for Heston Blumenthal, another for Fergus Henderson at his St John restaurant. So forget the fusty image of jam-making being something only your grandmother does because a new crew of Londoners, made up of professional chefs and young entrepreneurs, is bringing the art back into vogue.

On YouTube, one video posted by an Australian user three months ago instructing people on how to make strawberry jam has reaped more than 600,000 hits while, according to Google Trends, searches for “how to make jam” from the UK have nearly doubled in the past five years.

With creative packaging, social media networking and flavours including fig and Earl Grey, rhubarb and cardamom, gooseberry and gorse jam, these new London preservers are adding a fresh element to the traditional cooking method. Each week they travel to the city’s markets or parks, pick up fresh ingredients and head home to turn their glut into toppings for toast or yoghurt.

Meet London’s new jam girls.

JENNY DAWSON, 27

RUBIES IN THE RUBBLE

Stratford

CV: Began Rubies in 2011 after working in the City. Dawson now has four staff working for her, most of whom were previously unemployed. “It’s been good timing,” she says. “People are now interested in finding uses for unused food, whereas when we first started it was a hippy notion.” Dawson grew up on a Scottish farm with a mum “who is an amazing gardener who would make any glut of fruit into jams or chutneys”. She says the secret of good chutney is the right ratio of vinegars and fruit.

Finest flavours: Best-selling chutneys include natty plum, spicy tomato and red onion with chilli but pear and walnut “flies when it’s in season”. Mango and apple and ginger are also popular.

Fruit suppliers: Dawson uses only surplus fruit and veg from Leyton’s wholesale New Spitalfields Market, where she has a kitchen on site.

Jars: Sells about 90 a day at Borough Market.

Find her: On Saturdays at Borough Market, SE1, or in nine Waitrose stores, Fortnum & Mason and Selfridges.

Price: £3.99/jar or three for £10 (rubiesintherubble.com).

Picture by Daniel Hambury/Stella Pictures Ltd +44 7813 022858 11/06/2013 Lillie OíBrien, maker of home made jams at her shop in London
Daniel Hambury

LILLIE O’BRIEN, 33

LONDON BOROUGH OF JAM

Hackney

CV: Gave up her job as a pastry chef at St John two years ago and now works part-time at the Rochelle Canteen in Shoreditch. “When I was a child my mum always made her own jams and chutneys,” she says. After becoming accustomed to using seasonal ingredients at St John, O’Brien began making jam of her own. “We would make loads at the end of the summer, when there was an abundance of fruit.”

Finest flavours: When in season, fig and Earl Grey jam is her best-seller. She also makes apricot and camomile, rhubarb and cardamom, raspberry and liquorice, Amalfi lemon and vanilla marmalade.

Fruit suppliers: New Covent Garden Market, a friend with a garden nearby, or a van that sells Italian fruit. “The better quality the fruit the better the jam,” she says.

Jars: Sells 40-60 per day at New Covent Garden Market as well as wholesale to several east London delis and bakeries.

Find her: At her new weekend shop, 51d Chatsworth Road, E5, Sat/Sun 11am-5pm. Also at Leila’s Shop in Calvert Avenue, Shoreditch, A Gold in Spitalfields and the E5 Bakehouse.

Karen Jones, Rachel de Thample and Laura Marchant-Short of Palace Preserves in Bambino Cafe, London.
Daniel Hambury

RACHEL DE THAMPLE, 37

PATCHWORK

CRYSTAL PALACE

CV: De Thample has worked in kitchens with Marco Pierre White, Heston Blumenthal and Peter Gordon and is now the food editor of Abel & Cole’s magazine and the author of Less Meat, More Veg. She now makes jam with Karen Jones and Laura Marchant-Short. Her jam-making experience began after she did a course last year. “It activated the knowledge that was lurking there,” she says. “I’d obviously picked up some stuff from my granny and mother but it was nice to stand and hear the bubble and know what the setting point was. I can make it in my sleep now.”

Finest flavours: Last year De Thample, Karen Jones and Laura Marchant-Short made Christmas chutney using rosehips and apples and have recently made dandelion honey and gooseberry and gorse jam.

Jars: Made on an ad hoc basis but demand often outstrips supply. In three months last year they sold 500 units.

Find them: Occasionally at Crystal Palace Food Market and in several cafés in SE19, including Antenna Café Thing, Bambino Coffee Saloon and Casa Cuba.

Price: £2.50/jar, depending on the ingredients (@dethample, crystalpalacefoodmarket.co.uk).

Sarah Fassnidge, maker of home made jams at home in London
Daniel Hambury

SARAH FASSNIDGE, 23

WHAM BAM THANK YOU JAM

Queen’s Park

CV: Fassnidge trained as a fine artist and now does set design, but having grown up with a mum who made jam she began making rhubarb and cardamom jam for friends earlier this year. “I’m really just starting out. I’m only making tiny batches, selling online and through word of mouth. I didn’t want it to be too traditional. I’m coming at it from a 23-year-old’s perspective.”

Finest flavours: Best-sellers are rhubarb and cardamom and gooseberry and elderflower, which work well with yoghurt. Strawberry jam and blood orange marmalade are also available.

Fruit suppliers: Originally New Covent Garden Market for English forced rhubarb but Fassnidge has since hitched up with a farmer for next year’s supply. “I want to source ingredients direct if I can. It’s more difficult when you get into oranges … but now it’s berry season I’ve been going to Essex. And a friend got me gooseberries from the Wye Valley.”

Find her: On Facebook or at homemadetrade.co.uk.

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