Customer Reviews

Mes Confitures: The Jams and Jellies of Christine Ferber

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The recipes are very simple. Usually requiring a few steps for small batch jams and preserves. However, it is not for the inexperienced unless they have good back-up books like _Blue Ribbon Preserves_ which explains clearly how to sterilize and prepare jars and focus on a more scientific approach to preserves.

Ferber provides flavor inspirations and deceptively simple approach. However, there is no explanation in the book for pectin substitution. She relies on either the natural pectin found in the fruit or uses green apple jelly as a pectin base which means you get to make alot of green apple jelly adding a whole set of steps to the jam/jelly process. The book does not explain which fruits have enough natural pectin to set and what level of set.

If you know what it means to skim the juices already then the simple instructions are enough to work with but if you have no "feel" or previous knowledge of preserves making than the instructions seem skimpy. This is NOT a teaching volume it is an inspirational volume for the experienced preserves person.

The important thing though is that the flavors are fabulous. Just be sure to read the instructions first and research carefully your subsititutions and also your preserve process or else the simple instructions become too simple.

Recommended for the collection.

`Mes Confitures', subtitled `The Jams and Jellies of Christine Ferber' is written by Ms. Ferber herself, in French, translated by Virginia Phillips, and introduced with a foreword by Alain Ducasse. In case these circumstances are not enough to clue you in to what is afoot here, let me tell you that this book is not about your grandmother's strawberry jam. It is also not about your mother's Smuckers and certainly not about your Polaner jelly. This book is about artisinal products as carefully done as French wines and cheeses. In fact, the similarity between wines and these preserves are a lot closer than almost any other comparison, as the raw material of both is very similar.

Before going much further, I must give a word or warning that I do not consider this book a complete manual on how to make and preserve jams and jellies. In fact, it is telling that the title and subtitle DO NOT include the word `preserves'. While I am not an expert on preserves and canning, I have enough knowledge, acquired from a typically excellent episode of Alton Brown's `Good Eats' to know that successfully packing a confit in a sterile container is not the same as prepping a PRESERVE which can safely sit on an unrefrigerated shelf for up to a year. So, if you are serious about making confits and preserves, get a very good introductory book on canning, as Ms. Ferber's book is much more of a master class on the subject, which assumes you know a lot about the mechanics of canning and preserving. The book is primarily a collection of primo recipes for producing jams and jellies worthy of smearing on your artisinal breads or filling your handmade Linzer cookies.

The book's recipes are divided by season, and there is an extreme attitude about selecting the very freshest fruits at the very best time of the season and the day. I am rarely swayed about goings on about using fresh ingredients. I will only state that there is probably a much bigger connection between the quality of your starting ingredients and your final product in the making of fruit comfits than there is in the making of a soup or braise or any other cooking method using most meats from hoofed or winged beasts and using most vegetables, even the seasonally persnickety tomato. The one condition which tempers this fact is that unlike most pedestrian recipes for fruit confits, Ms. Ferber's recipes often contain several spices and other seasonings which may buffer the impact of a less than perfect crop of apples or peaches.

While Ms. Ferber lives and works in the fabled Alsace district of France, her seasons are not too different from temperate North America, so there should be few incongruities on the part of geography. There may be several difficulties in the fact that Ms. Ferber uses several cultivars that may simply not be available in a timely manner to us Nordamerikaners. But, we carry on with the best substitutions we can do.

Spring recipes open with a big surprise with two recipes for comfitted carrots. Otherwise, the stars of the show in spring are cherries, strawberries, raspberries, apples, and rhubarb. Here we first encounter green apple jelly, which is the `veal stock' of the fruit confit world. Just as veal is one of the richest sources of thickening gelatin, green apples are one of the best sources of pectin for gelling the confit, while the apple taste is tame enough to stand in the background, behind stronger tasting fruits. One puzzle Ms. Ferber does not elucidate is how one gets a supply of green apple jelly, a product whose season comes in the fall, when you wish to use this ingredient in the spring.

The stars of the summer recipes are Bergeron apricot, generic apricot, wild and generic (farm grown) blueberries, nectarines, currants, celery, zucchini, raspberry, melon, and apples. Some of the more important costars seem to shine in the summer recipes. These are vanilla, black pepper, chili peppers, anise, pinot noir, almonds, chocolate, essences of edible flowers and flower petals, and eau-de-vie. Citrus juices and zests, especially those from lemon contribute to a large number of recipes in all seasons.

The stars of the autumn recipes are dried fruits, nuts, pears, quinces, rose hips, figs, grapes, vineyard peach, honey, ginger, cinnamon, apple, tomato, and Gewurztraminer (wine). Winter is devoted to tropical fruits such as citrus (marmalade, marmalade, marmalade), pineapple, banana, mango, and passion fruit. It is the one season where there are recipes for a particular event (Christmas). It is also no surprise to find tea as an ingredient here, as bitter orange is, itself, an ingredient in Earl Gray tea.

The recipes are very well detailed. You should be able to do everything in every recipe if you have the tools listed at the beginning of the book. As canning is an old American rural custom, none of the equipment should be much farther than a good hardware store or good mail order or Internet source. The book gives an excellent list of American sources, although there is no guarantee you will be able to get some of the cultivars found in the Alsace.

My mind's virtual taste buds tell me that this is one excellent collection of recipes for fruit confits, and, a fair amount of improvisation is certainly allowed. Which is even more of a reason to exercise your canning skills on a few simpler recipes before tackling the 20 plus ingredient Christmas jam.

Every food subject has its quality leader or artisinal high end. This is the high end for jams and jellies!

I love jams made with unusual ingredients and combinations, but I don't love making five batches to fine tune the taste. Christine Ferber has already done it for me in this book, and her inventions are *fantastic.* She has a true european appreciation for the concept of savory. Not every jam needs to be cloyingly sweet. Many of her recipes call for overnight fruit/sugar macerations to slowly combine the ingredients.

She does have a habit of seeming to forget that most of us don't live next to farmers and friends who can stroll about and collect fresh ingredients for us. Her recipes often call for specific varieties of fruit. Luckily the translator has written brief footnotes for most specific listings like that, and you can figure out a good substitution. If nothing else, head to a farmers market and tell them the flavor/consistency of fruit you want and they can help you find a native variety that matches.

Hopefully none of my family members will read this book, because if they do they're going to know what jellies they're getting for christmas this year.

This book is one of the most exciting cookbooks that I have used recently. Besides containing standard flavors such as strawberries and peach, it also has the more interesting combinations of Pear with a Balsalmic Vinegar and Spices, Carrot with Cardamom, Strawberry and Balck Pepper, and so forth. Every combination I have tried has been incredibly good, especially the Raspberry with Star Anise. Most of the recipes seem to make about 5-6 half-pint jars, but as it's not stated anywhere in the book, make sure to sterilize a few extra. These jams always come out fresh-tasting and with a slightly soft set, the benefit of using natural pectin in fruit and not adding one. However, since some of the low pectin fruits still require pectin, there is a recipe for green apple pectin stock to provide the needed pectin, great if you have access to underripe apples.

This is a great book, especially for those wanting to take preserve making one step further and try interesting combinations. In fact, trying those interesting combinations certainly got my creative juices flowing and inspired me to make some fun mixes of my own.

However, this is not a book that goes over the particulars involved in preserving foods and canning, and the necessary sanitation and precautions it entails, so any first-time canners need to pick up another book or do some research online for these techniques.

All in all, I would definetly buy this book again if it was ever lost or stolen by the many admiring friends who have borrowed it so far.

While on a recent trip to France, my first, I became infatuated with the jams and preserves they served for breakfast. I am a fairly experienced canner but had stopped doing any preserving except for freezer jam. Everything else seemed ordinary and things I could buy. I came home from the trip, immediately started searching for a really good book on jams, and found this one. This might have been a mistake. Since my book arrived I have made about 15 different kinds and I'm not finished yet. I have begun asking friends for sources for quince, elderberries, green tomatoes. I have raided the wine cellar in search of zinfandel and pinot noir. My pantry shelves have been taken over by little jars of the most delicious concoctions ever. I spend my days searching for jars at the thrift stores and labels at kitchen stores. At night I dream of combinations. It has become a sickness. The good thing is that people love to see me coming with my little jars. Toast is a delicious treat now, and I have forgotten about freezer jam.

This book, as others have written, is not for beginners. That being said, there is no reason why your first jam should not be from this book. First, read about how to make jam from a more basic book. Jam making is very simple, it is the recipes that turn it from supermarket to sublime. Try one of the basics like Blueberry with Lemon or Raspberry with Lemon. She does not use pectin so the flavor is more pure and the jams use less sugar. I'm so glad to have found this lovely little book.

I have been borrowing this book for over a year and finally bought my own copy. It's worth the price just for the overall technique, even without all of the individual recipes. I have made A LOT of jam out of this book and it always comes out great. Of course, in case you prefer it, this is not the tight hard type of jam - it's luscious and a bit runny. The flavors are delicious!

I don't like using pectin and I don't like paying for pectin. These recipes contain only fruits, sugar, and flavorings. You'll be proud of your product.

Because the recipes do not go into great detail regarding process, it is best if you know something about making jams and jellies. That said, if you've ever had a Christine Ferber jam or jelly (and my favorite is her Isfahan--a beautiful concoction of rose water, raspberries and lychees), and live neither in Paris nor Tokyo (where her products are available) then you just may be forced to making them yourself. It is worth it!

I just finished licking the last of the 'Rhubarb with Acacia Honey and Rosemary' jam from my fingers. I'm in heaven. It is that good. In fact, all the jams I have made from Mes Confitures have been fantastic. And I have made quite a few.

I've been inspired by the contents of this book: the jellies can be used as bases for meat glazes, toppings for ice cream, dessert flavorings, or would be the perfect finish over sourdough waffles. Amazing possibilities.

Her techniques for jam-making and her emphasis on fresh fruits and small batches make for truly wonderful jam. I made grape jam using her techniques and it is the best grape jam I have ever eaten.

If you are an experienced preserver and looking for jam and jelly recipes that are not your typical grocery store variety, this is the book.The canning instructions and times are not included that's why I suggested this book is for a seasoned canner looking for recipes to make artisan jams & jellies. There are combinations of ingredients that sound wonderful and I never would have thought of putting them together. Very glad I purchased this book.