Tart for Tart's Sake

Photo © Rob Jones

So …

One of the great joys of my childhood in rural Wales was the treat of a shop bought jam tart.

Now we did occasionally have home made ones, but by preference I would always have gone for the shop bought samples, that came in packets with three colours.

Wandering into my local supermarket, after a particularly long Chinese film at the pictures (two hours I will never get back) I was drawn to a packet of tarts in the discounted section. Why they were discounted I don’t know. I couldn’t see anything about them that could possibly go off this side of 2035. There was nothing natural about them at all.

Back home, drawbridge up, trash binge tele selected, and the tart packet opened, no plate, eat straight out of the box. I had the best intention of only eating one or two, but that was not to be. I needed the emotional hug that only a packet of tarts could offer.

Now as an adult, I have dietary questions I did not have as a child, who would gladly eat anything that was put in front of me until it was taken away again.

What’s in a shop bought Jam Tart? I read the packet.

What are the flavours? As a test, I closed my eyes and sampled each of the colours to see if I could tell - firstly, what was the flavour, and secondly whether I could actually tell the difference between them.

Officially they are Raspberry, Blackcurrant and Apricot, and no… I couldn’t taste the difference.

But of course it doesn’t matter because you just need a sugar hit. That’s the reason you buy them.

Mental note to make some Jam Tarts - perhaps a little artistically created, and slightly more differentially flavoured.

R