Wednesday, September 14, 2022

Queen of Jam / Queen of England

I started collecting Christine Ferber jams (miniatures only) in 2008.

It took me longer to taste the real jam. 

Though now she is known as the jam fairy and queen of French jam/"la reine des confitures", when Christine Ferber was  8 she wanted to become a veterinarian.
Coming from 4 generations of boulangiers this was not an option at
Maison Ferber
She was allowed to go study pastry but it was not possible to study in Paris. 
There were no stages/apprenticeships available for women at the time. Christine went to school in Brussels for 2 years, won a pastry contest and found a place/stage in Paris with the top patissiere, Lucien Peletier, founder of the international Relais Desserts
Training is intense and consists of achieving expertise in the 5 arts: Pร‚TISSIER, CONFISEUR, CHOCOLATIER, BOULANGER, TRAITEUR, GLACIER, TRAITEUR. Everything in the shop is hand-made. Ferber personally fills every jam jar (to the absolute brim). She works 24/7 starting her day at 5:00 am, ending at 10 pm. Only seasonal fruits (mostly Alsacian 80% from vendors she has worked with for 20 years) are used. And no frozen fruits.
Christine is master of all 5 skills as evident in her shop,  Au Relais des Trois Epis in Niedermorschwir.
Naturally I asked Christine about the adorable famous Ferber bonnets/red polka-dotted hats on the jams. She started experimenting with making jams but her father thought is was a waste of time. Ha! 
She researched and found the unusual red dotted fabric, tied on a white bow, and put jars in the shop window simply for display. Pretty soon customers made inquiries. They wanted to buy her confiture and history was made. Maison Ferber has 250 distributors world-wide, Japan being their biggest customer. I believe 140,000 jars are sold annually๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿฅ‚❤️ 
You could say Elizabeth II, Queen of England and Christine Ferber are “joined at the hip” so to speak.
They are both queens and they both love jam. Especially strawberry ๐Ÿ“ jam.
Queen Elizabeth was eating ‘jam pennies’ since she was 5. What are jam pennies? Two small (British penny size) rounds of white bread with strawberry jam inside, always eaten by the queen daily at afternoon tea. 
We know the queen loved Corgis though she had no aspirations to become a veterinarian. She got her first Corgi, Dookie at age 7. 
And Queen Elizabeth was absolutely mad for color ๐ŸŽจ  
Friday, on the train to Colmar to visit Christine’s shop, I saw this lovely picture of the queen and was inspired to get out my watercolors. 
But I could not make a good royal purple. Fortunately in Colmar, a small craft shop had a lovely cobalt violet and a mauve from Daler-Rowney (my new favorite brand) to repaint the queen properly. On Sunday Suzanne asked me, “Do you think you would make prints available of the painting you did of Queen Elizabeth? I am sure quite a few people would love to buy it. I know I certainly would”. And that’s just what I did adding her Corgis and a sample of her favorite perfume! The Queen and Christine Ferber jams are up in my Etsy shop
Do have a look ๐Ÿ’œ๐Ÿ˜Š๐ŸŽ๐Ÿ’œ

24 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Carolg2:46 AM

      Thank you Kat. Lucky you! Christine Ferber will be attending the Salon du Chocolat in Tokyo.

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  2. Anonymous4:01 AM

    I can’t find the Queen on Etsy!?

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    1. Carolg6:11 AM

      It’s up now on Etsy. I had to go get prints made and draw the last Corgi dogs!
      Thanks

      https://www.etsy.com/listing/1291885020/queen-elizabeth-ii-watercolor-portrait

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  3. Bonnie L6:59 AM

    Thank you for the photo of la Reine des Confitures. I’ve long wondered. She appears as lovely as one would imagine. I’m hopeful that eating jam will give me a complexion as flawless as hers. I adore her confitures. ❤️

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    1. Carolg7:45 AM

      Her complexion is magnificent. I tried putting jam on my face last night but the results were not satisfactory.

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  4. Enjoyed seeing the Queen in the rainbow of vibrant colors she like to wear. Some one should do a book.

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    Replies
    1. Carolg7:46 AM

      I am sure there will be one Very soon. Don’t worry. She was a snappy dresser.

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    2. Anonymous3:43 PM

      There is one it was published last year and is called Our Rainbow Queen

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  5. I love your paintings of both the Queen and the jams. Christine Ferber and the Queen -- both truly amazing women. I love her packaging!

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    1. Carolg7:48 AM

      Jeanie, they say packaging is everything. In this case it’s what’s inside that counts.

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  6. Rachel7:44 AM

    I think your Queen illustrations are absolutely beautiful!

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  7. I see that you admired Elizabeth II. I ,too, think she was a grand lady with a great sense of humor and a zest for life. She loved her horses and her corgis--her family and her country. I appreciate the pomp and circumstance accompanying her demise. Good luck with your heart-warming depiction of her and her pooches

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  8. Suzanne12:20 PM

    Thank you so much for doing this Carol. It is just beautiful. I so love and admire the Queen

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  9. Love your water colors of jam and the Queen, of course.

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  10. Christine IS the Queen of jams..I wonder which came first..the check or the dots?:) Love both.In Provence at markets many home jammers cover their jars with colorful paper napkins..shining under that south of France sun they make quite an impact:)

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    Replies
    1. The Vichy checks are older

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  11. This jam sounds delicious, and seasonally made. Best tribute to the Queen so far is your colourful water colour and cute corgis.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you Kirra ❤️

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  12. Anonymous4:51 PM

    talk about work ethic! How does Christine do it? Jeanette sclar

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    Replies
    1. I have no idea! Workaholic

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  13. Anonymous7:55 AM

    Thank you ๐Ÿ’š so interesting to learn about Christine Ferber and these lovely fresh jams! I'll have to check if they are available here in Finland.

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  14. Anonymous8:23 AM

    Lovely post! I’m always so excited to read your articles!

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