Secret Ingredient! Toe Jam Is In The Jam!

When I was a teenager, my cousin Eddie was the family’s self-proclaimed “jam master.” He’d spend hours in his garage, brewing up batches of strawberry, blueberry, whatever he could get his hands on, and gifting them out in little jars with handwritten labels. One summer, he showed up at our barbecue with a new batch, grinning ear to ear. “This one’s special,” he said, plunking down a jar of reddish goo labeled “Secret Ingredient Jam.” We all figured it was some fancy spice or fruit combo, so I slathered it on a biscuit and took a big bite. Sweet, tangy… and then, a whiff of something funky hit me.