52: Apricot Jam

I've made apricot jam twice now during lockdown. It's easy, so easy that it feels like the end is a mistake the universe has made. When I look at the glowing jars of molten amber on the top shelf of my fridge, I cannot understand how they got there. It's as though the fruit has played a trick on me, and instead of boiling itself into jam, it became something else. A shining captured sunset.The trick, really, is to do nothing, or at least do as little as possible. Apricots seem to prefer a quiet life. I imagine having a French mémé and her telling me so, explaining that the beauty of these soft, fragrant fruits is that they will only give up their secrets if you let them. I don't have a French mémé though, so I'm afraid that whimsy is all me.The trick is to rinse them, half and stone them (or quarter them if they're particularly big), then put them in a bowl and toss them in sugar. For a 500g punnet, 350g is enough. Then, leave them overnight covered with a teatowel. Just when you think things are getting too much and you're done with the exercise and the thoughts about lockdown are creeping back in just... leave them. Nap. Sign some petitions. Go to bed, forget about it. Then wake up, do whatever you need to do and when you feel like it, put the whole bowl of liquid-soaked sugar and juicy apricots into a pan, and bring up to a boil. Sterilise two jam jars. Turn the jam down to a low simmer and pop a vanilla pod (or some vanilla essence) in. Stir. You don't even need to stir it often. When it's thick enough (just guess, does it really matter? Not in this day and age) pour it into the jars. Cool on the side. Put in the fridge. You have made apricot jam. You are smart, and self-sufficient, and you have created something beautiful.Take your jam jars out of the fridge periodically and gaze at them. Eat on white bread, or toast, or scones, or inside a cake, or by the spoonful, or on ice cream. Then put the jars back and rest, just like an apricot.Other Stuff

• How an intricate honeycomb led to some internet sleuthing by a folklorist. The idea of folklore intersecting the way we share information on the internet isn't something I'd heard of before this Twitter thread, but I'm now obsessed with it.

• Journalist Lee Tran Lam posted a really interesting thread about the white western image of fine dining this week. In it she linked to some great pieces including this from ABC Australia that asks "if we love Asian food so much, why are nearly all award winning chefs white?" and delves into SO MANY THINGS including the whiteness of leadership and the diversity of labour, the pricing and therefore the perceived value of cuisines, the whiteness of food writing and ALSO it has this excellent section on "culture" v "art" with Dr Jane Chi Hyun Park where she says: "They have to make their heritage cool for Western consumers...The coolness element is linked to class capital." Really, it's an essential read.

• Soleil Ho asks an interesting question: should we want to change mainstream food media when it probably isn't really necessary anymore. Now that it's been flipped upside-down and wriggling like a racist woodlouse I kindof see her point. In this piece she shares a ton of great indie food mags and newsletters to seek out, loads of which I'd never heard of. Go find them!

• Anarchism is what I call for at least twice a day in exasperation, so this illuminating, realistic piece on mutual aid in Argentina by Zoe Smith for Correspondant was a positive moment in my week. (Found via Alicia Kennedy's newsletter, I think.)

• Right wing rhetoric isn't fringe in the UK, it's shaping the mainstream, says Dawn Duhaney for Gal-dem. They must be fought, and to do that, we need to understand who they are, what they want, and how they are organising.

• Why is there such anti-trans poison in the British media? Why are those who perpetuate hate speech against trans people made comfortable here? And why is the government pandering to their bigoted views by dialling back the rights of trans people? This piece by Hannah Ewens is really informative and thoughtfully-written, but fair warning: it's very upsetting.

• When you insult Trump, don't resort to ableist language. He is hateful for many reasons, use those instead.

• Matthew Curtis says Beak Brewery are ones to look out for, and I believe him.

• Marcus Rashford's fight this week wasn't just against poverty, but structural racism and classism too, writes Jude Wanga.

• Vittles, the newsletter by Jonathan Nunn, is just too fucking good. It's just too good. And it's out nearly every day. I can't keep up. This on halloumi with Jenny Linford I haven't even finished yet and I love it so much already I'm including it here.

• Hollie Stephens went to Cologne for the carnival and nipped out for beers before it all started, and because of her piece about it, I feel like I did too.

My Stuff

• All Together Now -- Missing Link, Lost Pier, Rock Leopard, Little Monster and Drop Project work together to create a beer for Hospitality Action.

• I entered two competitions this week, one a short fiction, the other a "work in progress" for a novel that I loathe to call a novel. Thank you for your tips via ko-fi, they enabled me to afford the entry fees.

• Later this month I should have several more articles sent off to various editors (yes, I see you and I promise!) 

• I should also hear back from some comps

• And I'm going to send some fiction to some lit mags

Untitled, by Andy Kelly