When Bette Myers arrived in Lake County the moving van included some unusual luggage. Stacked alongside furniture, books and lamp stands were 25 cases of homemade jam.
She sold out within a month.
“I decided I was selling it too cheap,” Myers said with a laugh.
The popularity of her wares is easy to understand. Take, for instance, an untroubled blend of raspberry and peach. The tart berry sways brightly, hovering above the richer note of stone fruit. It’s a prominent impression, yet tempered by the peach, which emerges mid-palate and plunges into a pool of luxuriant sugar.
Each ingredient is allowed space and time to audition and each falls naturally into a role. Raspberries provide a light overture. Peaches take center stage for one brief act, then settle into a supporting role, lending a caramelized foundation and introducing the opulent syrup to the cheerful berry.
It’s a simple thing — fruit, berries, sugar and pectin — cannily crafted. Yet it is also the result of a little improvisation.
“I had peaches, but they were really small,” Myers recalled.
Without enough fruit for peach jam, she simply reached for a second ingredient. Of course, after 30 years turning out strawberry, blackberry, blueberry and even hot pepper jams, a little ad lib comes readily.
Myers sells her jams at the Shed Horn Cellars tasting room in Middletown. A few examples from her most recent batch remain on the shelves and she is preparing for the next round.
“I enjoy doing it,” she said.
Dave Faries can be reached at 900-2016
