Texture: smooth paste with berry seeds
Colour: purplish red
Taste: berries with a zing of booze
Sweetness: 7/10
Calories: 55 per tablespoon

Made with strawberries, blackcurrants, raspberries and redcurrants, this Scottish seasonal jam is something that I was waiting for as soon as I heard there was such a thing.  I splurged and bought two jars; the second jar was even more exclusive than this.  Earlier this month, that second jar slipped out of the kitchen cabinet and smashed itself to a red, gooey mess bristling with glass pins.  I am adding this digression because I am still sad I lost a fancy jar of jam and because I keep finding glass splinters all over my house almost four weeks later.

Back to Mrs. Bridges Christmas Preserve.  Infused with the minutest traces of red wine, I am certain that store clerks in Illinois would still card you if you tried to buy this stuff.  It has just enough zing to perk up a mouse on Christmas morning.  The adults might want a glass of something stronger.  But it is festive.  I will buy another jar next November to celebrate.