Jammin' in the Mornin'

I am a jam fiend. There's just no 12-step program for it. Spreading really good preserves on a warm piece of toast and then devouring it with a cup of coffee is probably the only sublime ritual of my morning.

I'm not crazy about the jams produced by the big national chains. My favorite brand is McCutcheon's, a small company based in Frederick, Maryland. Their apple butter is great, and their lemon-raspberry marmalade is out of this world.

Many years ago, I was pleased when Polaner came out with its "All Fruit" products -- jams sweetened with fruit juices instead of sugar. Sounded like a good plan to me. But two things happened.

First, along the way, I tasted preserves made by small producers that are much, much better.

Second, I've realized that the fruit-juice sweetening approach collides with the jam's flavor. Here's what I mean. If you buy Polaner All Fruit Peach, you want and expect it to taste like peaches, right? But the fact that it's sweetened by pear and grape juice means that those fruit flavors collide with the peach flavor.

The Mason-Dixon Line of Iced Tea

There seems to be such a line. And like the real Mason-Dixon Line, it's not marked so clearly that the typical American can see exactly where it is. But it's definitely there.

Somewhere between Washington, D.C., and Richmond, Va., servers in restaurants and diners start asking you "sweetened or unsweetened?" when you order an iced tea.

Sure, there are northerners who drink sweet tea, and there are southerners who don't. However, by and large, my observation is that southerners are much more likely to drink their iced tea sweetened than northerners. I have eaten at a restaurant in North Carolina where the default was sweet tea -- you had to request unsweetened tea or that's what you got.

I drink my iced tea unsweetened, although the thought of sweet tea doesn't bother me. But it's a little annoying that all of the iced tea beverages that you find in vending machines are pre-sweetened.

Yet the North-South divide over iced tea is not restricted to the sweetened-or-unsweetened preference. Consider this story.

I once ordered an iced tea at a restaurant in Massachusetts during the month of March. The waitress responded tersely: "It's not in season." Huh? I was flabbergasted. Peaches are not in season, but iced tea is always in season. If you want to make it, you just make it -- regardless of whether it's May or November. I thought to myself: How hard is it to get some tea leaves or tea bags and immerse them in hot water?

Apparently, iced tea is a seasonal beverage in New England. Not wanting to create too much of a fuss, I bit my tongue and settled for a cup of hot tea.

Earlier this month, the Roanoke Times newspaper (that's in S.W. Virginia) posted this survey on iced tea-drinking habits. It's a short survey so go for it.

This web page purports to give a "history" of iced tea drinking in America, but I can't vouch for its accuracy.