Paul’s Jam [Clementine Marmalade] — part of the Friendship Series

**FRIENDSHIP SERIES!**

Paul Duffy… I have looked forward to this month!  For Paul is… my Husband; my Best Friend… the most special person in my life.  So it goes without saying that he would be one of my spotlighted friends… And the month of July naturally became his; his birthday is the last day of this month, and our anniversary falls on the 11th of this month!  So, without further delay, let me introduce Paul, my inspiration for the July edition of my Friendship Jam Series…

I met Paul in 1996, when he joined the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus.  The Chorus has a program where new members are paired with existing members, who become their ‘Big Brother’.. our Director felt that I needed to spend some time working on my lower register, so I was moved to the Baritone section for a season, and subsequently got assigned to Paul as his Big Brother.  From the onset, it was an adventure… Paul attracted A LOT of attention when he first joined, and I was constantly helping him beat off the men with a stick!  It was a crazy time… but we became fast friends; and we were both caught by surprise when we realized we had feelings for each other.  He was single, I was getting out of an 8 year relationship, but slowly our friendship evolved into a full blown relationship.  Paul proposed to me in 2000, but we agreed that we wouldn’t actually get married until it was legal; we finally tied the knot in a small ceremony on the beach, in front of The Sunset Restaurant in Malibu, in 2018.  Our ceremony was officiated by my bestie, Sara [my February spotlight here in the Friendship Series]; and was witnessed by a small group of dear friends.  All in all, it’s been 24 incredible, fascinating, and wonderful years — I consider myself the luckiest person in the world, and I wouldn’t change a thing!

When examining what I wanted to do for Paul’s flavor, I had a lot of inspiration to choose from… ultimately the choice was made for me.  I first got the idea to do the Friendship Jam Series back in December when I was making my Sugar Plum Preserves to send out to my Friends and loyal Customers.  I thought it would be nice to pay homage to a small, select group of friends, and while I was formulating and bouncing the idea off of Paul, I watched him devour six clementines in one sitting without giving it any thought.  I thought back to the first time I saw him do that, during our first holiday season together.  He would easily go through a bag of clementines in a weekend; 2-3 bags of clementines a week… it was like he was addicted to them!  And there it was — Paul’s flavor had to have something to do with Clementines — his personal ‘crack’!  So I spent MONTHS working on the right approach to take with his jam… at first it was going to be jelly, but that lacked excitement.  Then jam, cause I liked the ‘whole fruit’ aspect, but it still lacked that ‘wow’ factor… until I decided on marmalade; but a whole fruit marmalade… so you still got the shreds of peel, but you also got the flesh and pulp of the fruit, which gives the marmalade substance.  I cooked it low and slow, to take advantage of those marvelous oils in the tangerine peel.  And the resulting marmalade is GLORIOUS.  Paul doesn’t really go for jelly or jam all that much, but he likes the flavor of this one so much that he eats it by the spoonful, straight out of the jar!  The flavor is deep, rich, full bodied, and bursting with tangerine flavor; it packs a serious, wondrously flavorful punch… and it is a marmalade that doesn’t have any bitter elements to it… even the strips of peel taste candied; I am INCREDIBLY proud of this marmalade!

A worthy addition to the Friendship Jam Series lineup; and a fitting homage to the most special man I have ever met; a man I am proud to call my Husband.  This is for you Paul.

Follow this link for a video announcing this flavor — Paul’s Jam, the July flavor in the 2021 Friendship Jam Series!!