World Jam Festival

It was a very exciting and busy time in the run up and after the event not to mention the day itself. It all ran smoothly on the day after a few last minute hitches. We are lucky to have Siobhan from New Zealand stand in as a very good Mad Hatter as we were let down in the last week Siobhan was staying in the area and was a good sport donning a top hat and twirling her umberella despite the rain. Tracy and her team at the Feathers pulled out all the stops and not only provided us with their function room but a wonderful colourful balloon entrance . The winner was unable to attend as it was a 4 hour drive for him and with a 6 month old baby who hadnt been well couldnt come. We were lucky that Adrian Dangar stood in for Andrew Pern who was going to present the winner and runners up as one of his staff's wivees had had a permature baby during the night and they had a wedding party in so Andrew was needed to step in.But happy to say the show went on . The decorations looked good and th...

Cant believe countdown has come around so fast. No, not to Christmas although the shops are already gearing up for it ...what an awful thought to be so prepared. We are just putting the finishing touches and arrangements to the World Jam Festival. The judges have all tasted and voted and then tasted again. Pulling the winners of each section out so Andrew Pern,our patron and Michelin starred chef could make his decision who will be this years overall winner. We have created a few random winners too from the jars we had in. Mrs Pern joined in too and so we have Mrs Perns's favourite, we have the prettiest jar and well a few more which if you come to the Festival you can see for yourself. Again it has been a fun thing to do and we are every grateful for everyone who took part. Gilly ,Adrian,Tom, Annika, Fiona and our youngest judge from New Zealand, Siobhan . Nice to get a young persons view too - not that we arent all Spring Chickens.Unfortunatey no centerians this year as George...

I have been busy making some jam for the awards .Last year as founder I entered some just to see what the judges thought and I was delighted with the feedback. I thought people would think it was a fix if I won so I then withdrew it . This year I am going to enter some and see if it comes up against some of the others. I doubt it but if you are not in it you cant win it. And I would love to be able to sing and dance if I got a certificate - there are gold, silver and bronze awards and then an overall winner for 2023 who will also recieve a limited addition print amongst other. With the chance to bring their winning produce along to the festival and sell to the public. There has been some amazing entries from all over the World . Iran ,NZ ,Australia and some of the most unlikely combinations . The clock is ticking and there is now only 2 weeks and a bit to get your preserves over to us. . I have all the boxes to pack into categories as it goes off to the judges and has taken up a 7 ...

This is the first blog of the World Jam Festival and I hope that this and the blogs that follow are of interest to you. Hoping that along the way you will meet other like minded jam makers with a competitive spirit .If you are not competitive join us for the journey in any case. Covid put a dampener on lots of things, but finally we launched the World Jam Festival last year which was a fun event and a great success. As I stir some fruit and muscovado sugar in a pan on the Aga I am thinking up more ideas as you do when you are making jam. I find it therapeutic to say the least. You will have to excuse any spelling errors as I am dyslexic and the computer doesnt always pick up my mistakes, even though I do read the blog over more than once. Why Muscovado sugar you may wonder well if you dont experiment you will never know whether it tastes better than made some other combination you have previosuly made. The Mad Hatter features a lot in our festival and he is a great one for try...