If this Bollenoise* façade was jam-colored, what flavor would that be? What is your favorite jam or spread (Nutella, chestnut purée… or just plain ol' beurre?) for your morning toast? Leave your answers in the comments box. *from the southern French town of Bollène.
la confiture (kohn-fee-tyur) noun, feminine
1. jam
Audio File: Hear the French word confiture in the following example sentence:
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La culture, c'est comme la confiture, moins on en a, plus on l'étale
Culture is like jam, the less you have, the more you spread it.
More on French pronunciation, here.
(Note: This story was written and posted in the summer of 2005)
I walk into the kitchen to find my husband kissing a bottle of vanilla extract. He'd been searching for this key ingredient and, in finding "her" (French vanilla is undeniably feminine), was overcome with emotion.
The cupboards are wide-open, baring their spiced, sugared and cereal-boxed souls. The sink is full and the countertops have disappeared under a bumpy rug of lemons, figs, odd jars and cooking utensils. A toy helicopter, some binoculars and a map of the French Alps figure into this chaotic scene, inviting the question, "What's wrong with this picture?" On the stove top four casseroles quiver and spit.
If real French men make confiture* they don't seem to wear aprons. Mine's got on a bright orange T-shirt which reads "Châteauneuf-du-Pape" and which does not coordinate with his two-tone swim trunks in teal and gris.*
My eyes dart back to the storm of ingredients and imposters scattered across the counter. "Do you know what you are doing?" I say, concerned.
"Non," Jean-Marc answers, casually, and with a smile. With that, he picks up a carton of sugar and swirls the downpour over the bubbling, frothing fruit.
If I were the one making jam, I'd have scoured the sink, cleared and disinfected the countertops, scrubbed the figs. I'd have worn a shower cap, a stopwatch and a furrowed brow. I'd have taken the phone off the hook and lined up all the needed utensils by order of appearance before hyperventilating over a well lit, perfectly propped open cookbook. But then, I would never get around to putting together such a perfect environment in which to make perfect jam. That's why Jean-Marc is le confiturier* around here: he gets things done.
I look around our imperfect kitchen, to the messy counter, where my eyes focus on the cookbook which has been tossed aside, landing face down. Jean-Marc is not even consulting the recipe. There is not a scale, a measuring cup or spoon in sight. He is cooking au pif* again, guessing his way through the jam-making process. But will the result be any good? It will if last year's batch is any indication and besides–quelle* question! I have lived the answer…
…by crowding the cupboards in anticipation–collecting odd jars and their matching lids (after speed-eating through the contents). In addition, I have crawled out from beneath our fig tree, my legs en compote*, my hair a nest of fig droppings (the tree's branches having teased it to heights and gnarls no fine-tooth comb could achieve), my knees scratched, my skin aflame (itching would follow), to arrange the harvest in a two-tiered basket at the feet of our Maître* Confiturier. Ah, the things a sous-chef does for lovely confiture!
***
Comments, corrections–and stories of your own–always appreciated. Share them in the comments box, for all of us to enjoy.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~Enrich your French Vocabulary~~~~~~~~~~~~~
la confiture (f) = jam; gris = grey; le confiturier (la confiturière) = jam maker; au pif = by guesswork; quelle = what a; en compote = tired (legs); le maître (la maîtresse) = master
Expressions: faire des confitures = to make jam
donner de la confiture aux cochons = to throw pearls before swine
La vérité n'est pas faite pour consoler comme une tartine de confitures qu'on donne aux enfants qui pleurent. Il faut la rechercher, voilà tout, et écarter de soi ce qui n'est pas elle. Truth is not made to console like the buttered bread with jam that we give to children who cry. You have to look for it, that's all, and distance from yourself all that is not (truth). –Gustave Flaubert
"Porte Costerouze" (photo taken in February
2009, in Tulette).
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Hello Betty,
– blackcurrant = groseille noire – cassis
– redcurrant = groseille (rouge)
– gooseberry = groseille à maquereau
– blackberry = mûre
– blueberry = myrtille
Hello Fred,
Nous aussi, nous tartinons notre pain avec de la compote! Si vous aimez la confiture, mais sans sucre, alors, la compote de pommes est idéale -délicieuse avec un peu de cannelle (cinnamon). Oui, c’est très bon pour la santé. Aaah! Je viens de lire que vous aimez aussi le houmous! Il faudra que j’essaye d’en faire avec des poivrons rouges. Thanks for the idea.
PS – plenty of recipes on the internet for houmous and red peppers. Wonderful! I’ll make some this w/end.
Salut Kristin
When we are in France and when queueing in traffic (not as often as here in London, thankfully) we occasionally have a joke about ‘un confiture des voitures’. Yes, we know it isn’t French but a literal (Franglais) translation of the phrase ‘traffic jam’. However, is there a proper French term we can use? As the traffic is generally so good perhaps you don’t have need of the expression!
Merci!
Shirley
It looks like apricot to me. My favorite spread is Nutella — with bananas! Besides crepes, it’s great on toast or bagels. I take care of two of my grandchildren, ages 2 and 4, and they both love Nutella.
Sandy
The Bollenoise facade is apricot-flavored! My favorite confiture is Sarabeth’s Orange Apricot Marmalade, manufactured by SBK Preserves, Inc. Bronx, NY 10474 USA (1-800-773-7378). It’s the best!
Fig is my favorite, followed by plum and apricot. Congratulations on your Gold Medal Jean Marc.
Absolutely love what you’ve done to your blog – very, very impressed!
French confiture is in a class by itself – surely you cannot debase it by referring to it by the very mundane name of ‘jam’, to which it has no relation!
Hi Shirley, I enjoyed your “confiture de voitures”. In French, a traffic jam is “un bouchon”. Here are some examples, from French news:
http://news.google.fr/news?ned=fr&hl=fr&q=circulation+%22un+bouchon%22
Mina, many thanks. As for confiture — I wasn’t aware of the difference, but continue to learn so much about the topic thanks to the helpful feedback here!
Margaret : thanks for the recipe. I will try it. I’ve only made jam (er… confiture? no, maybe that was jam…) once before. I’m now psyched to try again!
Larry: maybe we can trade apiculture (apicole?) lessons for wine? We’ve lost two hives since embarking on the bee adventure.
Marmalade!
Though, I’ll have to try pumpkin jam. I love pumpkins!
My young housemate (from Bretagne)loves Nutella on “authentic” crepes. 🙂
Betty B: according to LaRousse, blackcurrent = cassis (m.)
Et Je dois dire! grilling du pain in butter sounds tres tasty! I don’t need to know this, but thanks for grand l’idee, Annette!
I love apricot and black raspberry jam! The only time I’ve ever made jam was when I was an au pair and spending the summer in a little Loire village. We picked plums from the neighbor’s garden and I made la confiture! I remember reading the French cookbook and checking the dictionary for some translations. The confiture actually came out well! It is a fond French memory!
What I like about this site is that it brings together people who love food as well as French. a pleasure to read and glad to be going to France again soon!
The best I ever tasted was green and served at a chateau in Beaune. I was told that it was made of rhubarb. There was only one jar left for sale and my friend bought it. At least I thought she was a friend. I would pay a lot of money for the recipe.
To answer a question from Betty Bailey–
Blackcurrant en francais est “cassis.”
My mother used to make 72 one pound jars of blackberry jelly every year and so I loathe it now. My favourite food is five grain brown bread and Sea Salt butter from Brittany: I get up in the middle of the night to make a hot cuppa and toasted bread and salted butter before retiring again and sleeping like a babe. I recently found quince jam, which some people have never heard of. It is a hard perfumed pear shaped fruit only used in cooking.
Hi!
I went to a Health Food shop yesterday but not for buying jam. Did I have (unconsciously) this “confiture” newsletter at the back of my mind? -may be…
I discovered and bought for the first time a 300g tub of ‘SUNWHEEL’ 100% FRUIT SPREAD:
100% fruit
100% natural
No added sugar
I chose the combination: pear concentrate, 60%, abricot concentrate, 30% & apple concentrate, 10%.
We tried it on our homemade wholemeal bread and on rough oatcakes.
Lovely texture, very easy to spread and… natural fruit sweetness…
Absolutely de-li-cious!
We’ll soon be going to France and will look for some equivalent product – perhaps called something like –> “100% pâte de fruit à tartiner”?
Pumpkin butter, to be sure! But the color also brings to mind persimmons, so perhaps with enough sugar…
A confiturier is also a container, glass, crystal or china to present jam at the table.