At the county fair competition was stiff for Food Preservation, Department 550, Lot 4, Class 30: Raspberry Jams and Preserves.
A hefty number of Warhaven citizens took this as seriously as they did politics or religion, and one or two, more so. Yes, there were your dill picklers and your tomato juicers, and even your microbrewers, but raspberry jam in this county was the thing that raised county fair fanaticism to its fever pitch and its competitive apex. Blackberry, red currant, gooseberry, huckleberry: none could touch the passion and imagination that the Rubus fruit brought to Department 550. The county fair had been going on for decades; the love affair with raspberries went back to the very first settlers and the business and culinary acumen of Ebenezer Lyon and Gruff McDaniels, founders of what is today, the L & M Merc.
Over in Grant County to the east, blackberry jam was king, and in Lincoln County across the state line it was a tie between wild strawberry and gooseberry, and way up in Grizzly County folks were migrating from peach or native plum to the upstart kiwi which was taking off with its new hearty varieties.
This year was no exception to the cyclone of jamming energy. It just so happened that all five members of the Warhaven City Council were saps for this event. Both the Chapmans and the Holmans husband had wife rivalries! Gus Chapman had fifty bushes he nurtured with gentle care. George Ansbach used edible landscaping and had twenty plants around his foundation. Orin Holman's raspberries were the one thing that brought him to animation. He had over a hundred plants in his family garden. P.P. patronized the U-Pick just up the road from him, and Sheila bought a flat at the L & M Merc, whose produce was tops.
All entrants knew the importance of labeling and the utter essence of presentation, but, of course, it was the secret ingredients, the alternatives to cane sugar, and the covert canning strategies that melded so well the art and science of jam making that determined blue, red, or white ribbon appearance. Many a very tasty jam ended up out of the running for a cloudy look to the concoction.
It mystified Sheila Berry when she first became involved in the county fair, how a jam just needed to look good. It could taste like chalk or dirt, but if it looked good, that was the thing; rarely did the judges ever break a seal to actually taste a jam! But, she learned very quickly and not only made a beautiful jam, but a tasty one too. Her critics said she bought he recipe from one of the doddering old widows up at the Care Center. But that was bunk; she was just smart and inventive, and a really good cook, despite her oodles of inherited money.
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