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Fruit Full, art and science

a photo essay about making jam

Fresh fruits are seasonal and they don’t last. To prevent them from going to waste, they must be preserved. Many methods have been used over the centuries, with variations across countries and cultures.

In the past, the predominant way of preserving fruits was to dry them. Drastically reducing their water content makes it harder for bacteria and moulds to grow and colonise them. Also, fruits contain sugars and when dried, the amount of sugar in their cells becomes proportionally very high. Bacteria rapidly dehydrate and die in this environment, through the action of osmosis which they are not able to counteract. So sugar in itself is also a preserver.

The invention of canning in the 19th century enabled a new type of preservation. This involves putting the food in a hermetically sealed jar or tin and heating it until all micro-organisms inside are killed off and none are able to enter. The jam era had begun.

Nowadays there are many ways of preserving foods but drying and canning methods remain central to the process, as is the importance of sugar.

To add or not to add sugar, that is the question. Here are two answers, one from Britain and the other from Bulgaria.

To discover the five fruits celebrated here, go to these pages:

Fruits 1 (plums and cherries), Fruits 2 (raspberries, quinces and mulberries)

To discover how fruits are grown, go to: Farms

For an overview of this art and science project, go to: Fruit Full home page

You can download the following texts, as pdf documents:

Fruits Talk is about fruits and the origins of fruit farming.

Five Fruits is a longer text about the five fruits featured.

This page presents two very different ways of preserving fruits: the Tiptree jams of Wilkin & Sons, preserves makers based in Tiptree, Essex, UK, and a traditional Bulgarian plum preserve called Pestil.

 

As part of the project, two focus groups were set up to explore nutrition topics related to sugar. One group, based at the University of Reading, included older participants. Another group, at the University of Oxford, had younger participants.

Here, the Reading group explores the question of "why do we eat":


play the above interview in a new tab

Tiptree: cooking jam

Tiptree: cooking jam


Above is raspberry jam cooking in the boiler room at Wilkin & Sons in Essex, to become one of their famous Tiptree jams.


making Pestil

making Pestil


Above are plums being cooked in Bulgaria, to be made into a traditional plum preserve called Pestil. You can discover the whole process on this page.


Tiptree: preparing cherries


To be made into jam, fruits must be pummelled into submission. They are washed and the stalks and other bits removed. Hard stones are taken out, tough skins peeled. Even small pips may be removed, such as for seedless raspberry conserve. At Wilkin & Sons, this work is done by machines, some new, some old, and by hand.

The fruit farmers Wilkin family started making jams in 1885 with its now famous "Tiptree" preserves, which include a rare mulberry jelly, a quince conserve and the unique "Little Scarlet" strawberry jam.

Here cherries are being prepared.


Tiptree: preparing cherries


At Wilkin & Sons, the crate room is where the fruits, either fresh or frozen, are prepared prior to cooking. The name is historical: in the past, fruits would have been brought in from the farm in wooden crates. Workers at conveyor belts spend time making sure that only the part of the fruit which is wanted is left. Finally, machines crush or dice fruits, depending on the fruit and the type of jam being made.

Plums are prepared entirely by hand by cutting open each fruit.


Tiptree: preparing plums
Tiptree: in the crate room

Tiptree: in the crate room


A traditional fruit conserve has a high fruit content and includes good sized chuncks of fruits. To achieve this, the fruits must be prepared carefully, sometimes by hand. At Wilkin & Sons, plums are cut individually with paring knives and the stones removed. For mulberry conserve, each small berry must have its tiny stalk cut out with scissors. This is because the stalk is hard and would affect the taste and texture of the conserve if left in. You can see this being done below.


preparing mulberries
Tiptree: preparing quinces
Tiptree: preparing quinces

Tiptree: preparing quinces


Above: preparing quinces for making jam at Wilkin & Sons: their thick skin is peeled by a machine which produces a mashy waste. The fruits are then blanched and cored. The cores and reject fruits are used to make quince jelly.


The slow fruit preparation described here is one of the reason for the higher retail price of traditional fruit preserves. This labour-intensive process is very similar to the way traditional preserves are made at home in Bulgaria.


Tiptree: quinces for making jam

Tiptree: quinces for making jam

Bulgaria: cooking Pestil

Bulgaria: cooking Pestil


In the Balkans, every country has its own traditions of preserving plums, a popular fruit. I went to Bulgaria to discover Pestil, the Bulgarian plum preserve.

Bulgarians love good food and they know how to make it. Although some of the traditions are disappearing, people still make preserves at home and delicious dishes using family recipes passed down the generations. Everyone will tell you that the most tasty food is made at home but in Bulgaria, this is really true!

In a small village near the town of Gabrovo in central Bulgaria, people showed me how to make Pestil the traditional way.



Traditionally in Bulgaria, the only things you need to make Pestil are plums, an open fire, a large pan, a sieve and a wooden plank. A sunny day outdoors is also a must and helpers are welcome!


Bulgaria: preparing the plums
Bulgaria: preparing the plums

Bulgaria: preparing the plums

Bulgaria: traditional sieve

Bulgaria: traditional sieve


When making Pestil in Bulgaria, nothing of the fruit is wasted: the stones are burned in the fire and the fruit pulp is used to make Rakia, the famous Bulgarian fruit brandy.

In each region, locally grown fruits are used to make Rakia, including plums, grapes, apricots, even roses, in the region where these are grown to produce rose oil for the perfume industry.

Here is a traditional wooden sieve to prepare the plums for Pestil.


glorious plums

glorious plums


At Wilkin & Sons, sugar is the next ingredient to be added to the fruits for jam making. The sugar is stored in large silos before being made into a syrup.

Here is a sugar delivery to the factory.


Tiptree: sugar delivery
Tiptree: sugar silos

Tiptree: sugar silos

Tiptree: making sugar syrop

Tiptree: making sugar syrop


Here are the sugar silos inside the factory, viewed from below and from a platform on the top of them. The sugar is delivered by lorry and pumped to the top of the silos. Access inside is possible from above, when maintenance is needed.


The sugar is made into a syrop, with much steam generated in the process. The syrop is then added to the fruits at the cooking stage.


Sugar Habit (1 of 2 artworks)

Sugar Habit (1 of 2 artworks)


In Bulgaria, to make Pestil, the plums are cooked, then sieved. The fruit pulp is kept to make Rakia, the Bulgarian brandy, and the thick plum juice is what becomes Pestil.


Bulgaria: cooking the plums
Bulgaria: cooking the plums

Bulgaria: cooking the plums

Bulgaria: sieving the plums


The plum juice is then put back on the fire and stirred continuously until most of the water has evaporated. For this traditional recipe, no sugar is added and plums are the only ingredient.


plum juice cooking

plum juice cooking

Bulgaria: cooking Pestil

Bulgaria: cooking Pestil


The plum juice is cooked until it becomes a paste. It is then spread on a wooden board in a thin layer, outside in the sun. When it starts drying, the layer is turned over and another layer is added on top from a new batch of plum paste freshly cooked. The process is repeated until six layers have been added.

The board is then stored in a well-ventilated, dry, dark place for the Pestil to finish drying and mature. Several months later it is taken from the board and rolled, then stored. It is now ready to eat.


Bulgaria: cooking Pestil

Bulgaria: cooking Pestil


Below is a traditional Pestil made of dried layers of plum paste. You can see the layers in close-up. In the background are sugar crystals which have formed on the surface, a sign of good quality in the product.

Pestil will last for many years as a preserve, high in natural fruit sugars and plum nutrients. Its consistency is similar to that of a hard cheese. It tastes of plums, with a touch of smoke from the fire: a fabulous taste!


fresh Pestil drying

fresh Pestil drying

Bulgarian Pestil

Bulgarian Pestil

Bulgarian Pestil

Bulgarian Pestil


At Wilkin & Sons, jams are being cooked in the boiler room. These jams contain only fruits, sugar, pectin (gelling agent) and citric acid (acidity regulator). Although made in a factory, their taste equals that of great home-made jam.

After each batch of jam has been made, all the equipment and machines must be thoroughly cleaned.


Tiptree: the boiler room

Tiptree: the boiler room

Tiptree: cleaning after a batch

Tiptree: cleaning after a batch

Tiptree: the cooking pans

Tiptree: the cooking pans

Tiptree: the transport pans

Tiptree: the transport pans

Tiptree: cleaning after a cooking batch
mulberries close-up

mulberries close-up


Now at Wilkin & Sons, the jam has been cooked and is transported, through pipes, to the filling lines, where it is bottled into jars. Afterwards, the jars are labelled and then stored in a large warehouse.


Tiptree: the filling lines

Tiptree: the filling lines

Tiptree: the filling lines

Tiptree: the filling lines


The layout of the filling lines is totally bewildering to an outside eye, a bit like a giant Victorian train set gone mad!

The lines holding the moving jars travel through walls, with safety ladders going up and down over them for people to cross the space. Jar lids descend from above and steam puffs away from sterilising machines. Everywhere there are danger signs and red emergency stop buttons, whilst workers stand on platforms and others move heavy crates on pallet jacks. But to crowd it all: so much noise...


Tiptree: the steam

Tiptree: the steam


And yet, everyone is so friendly and knows exactly what to do, down to a T - making jam.


plum juice cooking
Tiptree: production line

Tiptree: production line

Tiptree: quince jelly

Tiptree: quince jelly

Tiptree: after the break

Tiptree: after the break

a mouthful of cherries

a mouthful of cherries


In Bulgaria, the Pestil has been made and it’s time to celebrate with a meal.

The home-made bread has been baked on charcoal in the outdoor oven, the corn cobs are ready, the stuffed peppers and delicious Banitsa dishes are on the table. Let’s eat!


Bulgaria: let's eat!

Bulgaria: let's eat!


In a Bulgarian town not very far away called Troyan, the Plum Festival is in full swing: a yearly event to celebrate all things plums and to have a good time. This part of Bulgaria is the main plum growing area and the local people enjoy the fruit, dried as prunes or as Pestil, even if Rakia brandy is the main attraction!

Below are market stalls traders selling plums and home-made Pestil. The preserve is now also made in a small factory in Gabrovo, a local town. This Pestil recipe has added sugar, which makes it softer and sweeter.


Bulgaria: plum festival

Bulgaria: plum festival

Bulgaria: plum festival

Bulgaria: plum festival

Bulgarian plums

Bulgarian plums

Fruit Full, the exhibition, is the identical twin of this project’s website, with one major, fundamental difference: You can enjoy it in a real, physical space, surrounded by objects which are bigger than yourself and speak directly to you. Each one is unique and there to welcome you in person.

You can meet the fruits, the stars of the show, in the flesh, with their personalities filling up the space and following you around.

You can sit down and learn about the history of sugar and the work of nutrition scientists from books lovingly hand made by the artist. There, if you wish, you can also discover the work of fruit farmers through the seasons.

You can spend time eavesdropping on a focus group chatting about what people ate as children, all these years ago, whilst you walk around the installations, pondering over their meaning, wanting to touch them but knowing you shouldn’t.

And hopefully, by the end, you will understand why it is that most of us like sugar so much. But most of all, you will know that seeing art in the flesh, in a real space, will always win over dipping fleetingly into a webpage...

Fruit Full was due to be exhibited in several venues during 2020 and 2021, including in museums, art galleries and hospitals. Most shows were cancelled because of the coronavirus pandemic. If you are a venue and are interested in the project, please contact us at admin@artsciencefruitfull.uk.

The two images below show the exhibition at the Museum of East Anglian Life in Stowmarket, Suffolk, UK.

Museum of East Anglian Life

Museum of East Anglian Life

Museum of East Anglian Life

Museum of East Anglian Life

Françoise Sergy lives in London. She also spends a lot of time in Cambridge, UK, where her partner lives, and in the Jura mountains of Switzerland, the country she is originally from. She is both an artist and a gardener. For many years she worked as a dance and performance artist, developing her own practice through the prism of feminist aesthetics. Photography has always played an important role in her work.

At the age of 40 she fell in love with plants and trained as a gardener. Plants are now her main focus. Working part-time as an artist means that her projects take a long time to come to fruition but she doesn’t mind. She enjoys the scientific grounding horticulture has given her, using it as another tool in her creative process. Her aim is to work with scientists to reveal how important plants are in our everyday life, even if we are not aware of this, and to celebrate them.

Fruit Full was conceived, researched and produced by artist Françoise Sergy, in partnership with scientists and fruit growers.

The exhibition is looking for venues: For more information, please contact the project at: admin@artsciencefruitfull.uk

All the images on this page are available as prints: £40 / €50 for an A4 print, £50 / €65 for an A3 print (plus postage costs). To order, please contact the artist at admin@artsciencefruitfull.uk

Françoise Sergy has her own website with information about her past and current artwork: www.francoisesergy.uk

Links to the project’s partners and thanks to everyone involved are on the Links Page