Australia has recently fallen foul of a food scare (someone with a strange grudge had put needles in batches of strawberries). Fortunately nobody was hurt, but it did have the effect of sales of the fruit across the nation.
Lish Fejer who presents on our local ABC channel responded by organising a strawberry jam competition within Canberra, both to encourage the eating of the delicious fruit and turn a negative issue into a positive story.
Due to her excellent lessons given her by Amy's old boss (Kathy jam) Audrey makes a pretty decent strawberry jam. It seemed a competition that she needed to enter.
We bought good strawberries from a greengrocer. They seemed firmer and 'fruitier' than some of the supermarket ones. We've also used frozen strawberries in the past which while adequate take some effort to get to gel because of their high water content.
Audrey made a couple of jars and we put one in for the competition. It was a blind taste-test so everyone was on an even playing-field.
The judging was live on the radio and as we sat eating our dinner, it quickly became apparent that one particular jam (no.10) stood out among all the others. All the judges, and listeners taking part all remarked that no.10 was the best.
When it finally came to reveal the winner we expected that it would be an esteemed Canberra jam maker with decades of experience. Lish the presenter removed the sticker and announced the winner....
"Audrey Hickman!"
We were so excited, Audrey had seen off tough competition to win. Her prize (apart from the recognition) was to choose a cake for Lish to make. Audrey of course chose a horse-theme and Lish of course responded a couple of weeks later with a fabulous hay bale (a delicious chocolate cake covered in desiccated coconut).
It was all great fun of course, but a fantastic experience for Audrey. She took her appearance on the radio in her stride. I was so proud of her.
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| On the radio collecting her prize |
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| Audrey and her prize! |
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| The jams being judged |
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