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| Customer Reviews: | | Average Customer Review: ( 5 customer reviews )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 8 found the following review helpful:
Flavorful, Delightfully Textured Strawberry Jam. Maybe Even Worth the Price. Feb 14, 2009
By mirasreviews
I first heard of Tiptree Little Scarlet when Bonnie S. Benwick raved about it in "The Washington Post" in 2004, claiming that the little jar of preserve "happens to be worth the $10 to $13 it now goes for". Really? A jam? I've never cared much for jams. I find them too sweet for my taste and of invariably poor texture. Gross texture, really. But my curiosity was piqued when I found out that James Bond had Little Scarlet on whole wheat toast for breakfast in Ian Fleming's "From Russia with Love". The book, not the movie. Tiptree brand is owned by Wilkin & Sons, Ltd., a family business that has been farming in and around the town of Tiptree in Essex, England for 300 years. They started producing preserves in 1885, and the company considers Little Scarlet "the jewel in the crown of Wilkin & Sons delicious range of jams and marmalades."
Wilkin & Sons make a large and diverse line of preserves, jellies, and marmalades, including 6 different strawberry preserves and one strawberry jelly. Little Scarlet is distinguished by the berry from which it takes its name. The Little Scarlet is a particular variety of strawberry that originated in the United States. It's a fickle crop, and Tiptree is believed to be the world's only commercial grower of the diminutive berries. They are described as "a tiny, intensely-flavoured strawberry", no more than 2 cm in length. They're the size of raspberries, and you can see whole berries in the Little Scarlet preserve. They're grown on the Tiptree estates, which makes their quantity limited, and the company awards "vintage status" to the years that produce particularly good crops. 2006 was a vintage year.
Little Scarlet preserve has a stronger flavor than other strawberry jams and an excellent texture. It is very sweet. Even though I normally cringe at sweet stuff, I am attracted to Little Scarlet by the rich flavor. And the texture is incomparable to supermarket and most "gourmet" brands of jam, which tend to suffer an unappetizing gelatinous texture, the product of too much pectin. Tiptree adds pectin only when necessary, and they are careful to add no more than is needed. Little Scarlet has a smooth, substantial texture whether you're eating a berry or the stuff in between. It costs twice as much in the US as in the UK and is labeled "preserve" here and "conserve" there. But it's not Tiptree's most expensive jam. That distinction belongs to the Mulberry preserve, whose fruit is picked from fewer than 20 trees that grow behind the company's factory.
7 of 7 found the following review helpful:
Little Scarlet Preserve - the best ever? Aug 25, 2005
By Bad Minton
"jam mad"
Well it's not made from fraises des bois at all! Little Scarlet seems to be a specific variety of fruit that they grow only at Tiptree.
This must be the most expensive preserve I've ever tried and it's way, way ahead of anything else I know of. You can see the tiny individual berries suspended in a rich red jelly before you even open the jar.
Under the lid, mine said "Peter Wilkin, chairman, is the great grandson of the founder". Aren't family businesses just wonderful?
I tried Little Scarlet with fresh croissants and it was quite simply the best!
3 of 3 found the following review helpful:
Little scarlet fever Nov 24, 2007
By GreenGuy
I have been eating Little Scarlet for 41+ years, as our family has proudly enjoyed this gem as "our" family preserve. Is it worth $17? ABSOLUTELY! However, think twice before putting this with peanut butter! This is a jam best enjoyed on a warm,crisp plain english muffin in the morning, or sneaking a generous teaspoonful in the evening. As I write this, I am visiting friends in England. I am heading back to the States tomorrow with quite a few jars of Little Scarlet...at a price that, even with the dollar tanking miserably against the pound, is quite the bargain (though the most expensive preserve on the shelves here as well)!
absolutely HEAVENLY!!! Jan 17, 2010
By Campbell
This is the most fantastic creation of Strawberry preserve I have ever encountered. I grew up eating my grandmother's homemade scones with this precious Little Scarlet Strawberry Preserve. It was always a special treat. It truly is an experience of flavor intensity. This is NOT the kind of preserves used for a PB&J! Little Scarlt needs to be the star!! For those who are "preserve enthusiasts" if you will, Little Scarlet is a must try...if only once. The price is a bit of a shock to say the least, but it truly is worth it. The Little Scarlet is a rare and precious crop. Enjoy it. Feel special while you eat it. The Queen of England has it with her tea every day! (or so I've been told!)
0 of 1 found the following review helpful:
Steal This Jam... Sep 07, 2009
By B. Chandler
...if you can't afford to buy it. Bake some biscuits, butter them liberally, put a gob of jam in there, enjoy. It's worth the jail time!
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