I have been wondering how to rate my jams - the 11 jars plus one of blackcurrant I received from my Longest Serving Friend for my birthday. Five jars in, and I'm in danger of losing the plot. I haven't been sure how to do the rating - I've been mulling over categories such as 'Jamminess', 'Blackcurrantiness', 'Jamminess' ... and generally going around in circles.
Inspired by marking some assignments, I have decided to use categories I'm used to - ones which are used to judge essays. The four categories are:
Presentation - How's the look of the thing, the grammatical integrity of its label?
Structure - how do the blackcurrants sit together? Is there a sense of flow and logic?
Content - How relevant is the jam to the question set?
Knowledge and understanding - Does the jam understand what it's trying to do?
The table below is a work in progress. I'm five jars in, seven blissful more jars to go.
|
Type
|
Presentation
|
Structure
|
Content
|
Knowledge and Understanding
|
|
St
Dalfour
|
Slim
and elegant
|
Untested
|
|
|
|
Hartley’s
|
Predictable
and shapely
|
Loose –
random placement of blackcurrants in a thick enough syrup.
|
Blackcurrant-lite
compared to the others but maybe not compared with budget versions which my
LSF didn't consider birthday material
|
This
jam does not understand that it’s a jam. It thinks it’s a form of
entertainment
|
|
Fortnum
and Mason
|
Conservative
and purposeful
|
A
dense, thick jam. More of a spread, with its own definition of integrity
|
Blackcurrant-superior-and-don’t-you-know-it
|
This
jam, whilst rich and privileged, lacks self-awareness. It approaches toast as
if it is triangular and crustless
|
|
Wilkin
& Sons Ltd
|
Traditional
yet stylish
|
A
delightful texture which accommodates to any surface: toast, bread, spoon,
tongue
|
Blackcurrant-just-right.
|
The
baby bear of blackcurrant jams. This jam can do no wrong, but it is
risk-averse.
|
|
Meridian
|
worthy
and lower case
|
Untested
|
|
|
|
Sainsbury’s
Taste the Difference
|
Get
your act together, Sainsbury’s
|
Somehow,
the blackcurrants are whole and plump
|
Tart
and sweet. Best of both.
|
This
jam has the maturity to know when to lay it on thick. Every spoonful is a
coming of age.
|
|
Streamline
|
Oh
pl-eeease! Streamline! I like the lid, though.
|
Untested
|
|
|
|
Waitrose
|
You
know how I feel about Waitrose
|
Untested
|
|
|
|
Waitrose
Duchy Organic
|
Jam is
a classist issue
|
Untested
|
|
|
|
M &
S
|
Come on
M&S. Get in a new graphic designer. Maybe my friend Pixie.
|
Untested
|
|
|
|
Bonne
Maman
|
Perfect.
Does what it says on the jar. But what about Bon Papa?
|
Untested
|
|
|
|
Goetre
Farm
|
Perfectly
acceptable home-made appearance
|
Perfectly
acceptable home-made structure
|
Perfectly
acceptable home-made content
|
Perfectly
acceptable home-made understanding of jam
|
