After generations of ambivalence towards home-made preserves, the art of jam-making seem to be having a comeback. Sales of top-end homeware products are soaring and domestic cooks are queuing up for classes to learn how to make their own.

This is not because the cost of shop-bought jam is soaring but because the home-made variety tends to taste so much better. It is also because there’s much pleasure to be had for those interested in making a batch themselves: the languorous stirring of softening fruit and melting sugar, the methodical cleaning of the pots and the slow, rich dribble of jam into warm jars.