Hark!!!
Did someone say
Manchester?
Did someone say
JAM?
The two are synonymous:
...I'm surpised at you ellpus, ya big southern softie, and YOU Walter!
FRENCH JAM!?
you need PROPER jam, and a proper recipe to put your proper jam in!
Robertsons Jams
The Story of Preserves
Fruit as been preserved in one way or another for centuries, and preserves (as their name implies) have their origins in the need to keep seasonal crops for consumption throughout the year. The first 'preserver' of fruit was Neolithic Man, who simply sliced and dried his fruit for storage. The Greeks developed preserves from this point. Quinces were peeled, pipped and wedged tightly in a container with honey. After a year, the quinces had softened and were known as 'wine honey' or Melomeli. It is from this that the Portuguese word for quince, Marmelo, was developed. And from that it was only a small step to marmelada which in Greece and Spain today, applies to the full range of preserves, from orange marmalade to apricot jam.
The History of Robertsons Jams
How It All Began
James Robertson's life was fated to be devoted to the making of the world's finest preserves, as the story of the birth of Robertson's (as we know it today) testifies. James' working life began in a thread mill, but because of the recession in the industry, he decided to cut his losses and took up an apprenticeship with a local grocer. The talent that was to make James his fortune, quickly surfaced and just three years later he made the brave decision to go it alone. Little did James know, on that day in 1859 as he stood outside his shop at 86 Causide Street in Paisley Scotlnd, what fate had in store for him. Despite being shrewd in business, James was a kind, charitable man and one day he took pity on a struggling salesman and agreed to buy a barrel of bitter oranges from him. James had known only too well that the oranges would not sell well, but what he did not realise was that his act of kindness would change his whole life. They say that behind every great man is a great woman and this could not have been more true than in the case of James Robertson and his wife Marion. Rather than see the offending oranges go to waste she hit upon the ideaq of making them into marmalade to be sold on the shop.
Marion's clear tangy 'Golden Shred' marmalade was an instant success. James was not slow to realise the full business potential that his wife had uncovered and set about perfecting her original recipe. It was then that the secret of the delicious Robertson's flavour was revealed. Somehow James had found a way to remove the bitterness of the orange whilst still retaining what he called "the highly tonic value of the fruit". It is the same secret which even today, gives all of Robertson's preserves their special flavour.
The success of James Robertson as a producer of the finet quality preserves was insured. During the remainder of the nineteenth century, business grew steadily and sales gradually extended from Scotland to the whole of Great Britain and beyond. James Robertsons and Sons Ltd opened its famous jam works in 1890 in Droylsden. At first, stone jars were used for the marmalade, but were eventually replaced by glass jars in the 1930's. The Robertson name was soon in demand for export by those who had tasted it on trips to Great Britain.
Manchester Pudding (Mrs Beeton)
(To eat Cold)
Very Good Puff Paste or Medium Puff Paste
285ml (½ pint) Milk
85g (3oz) Grated Bread
50g (2oz) Butter
1 Strip Lemon Peel
4 Yolks
2 Egg Whites
3 tbsp Brandy
Jam
Sugar, to taste
Flavour the milk with lemon peel, by infusing it in the milk for 30 minutes.
Strain it on to the breadcrumbs and boil for 2 or 3 minutes.
Add the eggs, butter, sugar and brandy, stir well.
Allow to cool.
Cover a pie dish with puff paste and put a thick layer of any kind of jam (as long as it's Robertsons of manchester) at the bottom.
Pour in the mixture.
Bake the pudding for an hour.
Serve cold, dusted with caster sugar.
Time: 1 hour.
Sufficient for 5 or 6 persons.
Seasonable at any time.
MANCHESTER PUDDING
(to eat Cold)
1300. INGREDIENTS - 3 oz. of grated bread, 1/2 pint of milk, a strip of lemon-peel, 4 eggs, 2 oz. of butter, sugar to taste, puff-paste, jam, 3 tablespoonfuls of brandy.
Mode - Flavour the milk with lemon-peel, by infusing it in the milk for 1/2 hour; then strain it on to the bread crumbs, and boil it for 2 or 3 minutes; add the eggs, leaving out the whites of 2, the butter, sugar, and brandy; stir all these ingredients well together; cover a pie-dish with puff-paste, and at the bottom put a thick layer of any kind of jam; pour the above mixture, cold, on the jam, and bake the pudding for an hour. Serve cold, with a little sifted sugar sprinkled over.
Time - 1 hour.
Average cost, 1s.
Sufficient for 5 or 6 persons.
Seasonable at any time.
