Strawberry & Champagne Preserve
Plump Up The Jam!
MEET THE JAM HERO OF COUNTLESS FORTNUM'S HAMPERS, OUR SCRUMPTIOUS STRAWBERRY AND CHAMPAGNE PRESERVE
We love strawberries. We really love champagne. An entire wall of our Piccadilly store is dedicated to jams and curds and preserves of all colours and flavours. So it was only natural, then, that we would combine these three obsessions into one.
Both bright, both sweet and both acidic in a very summery sense, strawberries and Champagne are a naturally perfect pairing, and the combination of both in a single jar is every bit as wonderful as it sounds.
We start with fresh-picked Cambridge Favourite and plump little Turkish Tiega strawberries - both of which are kept whole during cooking to add a pleasing texture to the jam.
To all that strawberry goodness, we add a generous helping of Fortnum’s Champagne and Marc de Champagne - a similar drink to Grappa, made from the grape stems, skins and pits left-over from the Champagne-making process - to the jam to give it a little kick.
The result is a strawberry jam like no other. Delicious on toast, on scones and on crumpets (as the image below conclusively shows), it's not just a breakfast or afternoon tea-time treat.
It's exquisite as redcurrant jelly replacement with Sunday roast chicken or pork, or even eaten with a mild, creamy cheese like brie - the gentle kick of the Champagne acting as a counterpoint to the rich, smoothness of the cheese.
It's especially excellent mixed with a little gin, a dash of tonic and a squeeze of lemon, and strained into a tall glass over ice. We've yet to name that particular summery cocktail. Suggestions are more than welcome.
Incredibly tasty and versatile, it's little wonder that this special preserve isn't just popular with Fortnum's customers in-store and online, but with the genius buyers who create our hampers too. No fewer than FIVE fortnum's wickers contain a jar or amphora (which is, for the unitiated, a very large jar of jam) of our Strawberry and Champagne Preserve. The St James, the Marylebone, the Champagne Afternoon Tea, the English Essentials and the Sovereign Hamper are the famous five in question.
And so whether August us brings long, hot, sun-filled days or a succession of grey and overcast skies, you could do far worse than add a little sunshine to breakfast, lunch or dinner with a jar or two of this wonderful, fruit-and-fizz-filled stuff.
Whether you're spreading it on toast or on crumpets, eating it with a your Sunday roast or sipping it back as part of our as-yet-unnamed cocktail, bottoms up.