About a year ago, Jen opened her own artisinal food business. I ordered a pot of damson butter from her posthaste, because I knew that something made by someone who loves food so much and writes so well could not possibly be bad. When it arrived (along with an impeccable sheet of relevant scientific/technical copy that I should have saved as an example for my students), it went straight into the pantry. I’m the only jam-eater in my house, and I was already working my way through a jar of muscadine jelly and a pot of fig jam. It’s taken me awhile to finish those off.

Today is rainy and dark, perfect for biscuits. And it was finally time to open a new pot of something sweet and preserved. This damson butter is magic — deep and complex, perfectly textured. Jen is an absolute master. I wish this could be an advertisement for Bakerina Kitchens, but the enterprise is shuttered. (With good reason: the profit margins were slender and the Bakerina is plotting to go to law school.) She’ll be brilliant at it, but I hope she eventually finds a way to return to her weekend chefery and food blogging. My day has been improved by it, and so will every other day that this pot of damson butter makes an appearance. (Thankfully, I eat preserves slowly. That means quite a few days for quite awhile to come.)