Foodstuff: Mint Jelly – President’s Choice Brand | Sybaritica

When I was a kid growing up in England, a lamb roast was always served with my mother’s homemade mint sauce, or else a very nice mint jelly made by a Scottish company called Baxter’s. Once we moved to Canada, Baxter’s couldn’t be found and the only commercial variety we ever had in the house after that was a truly awful concoction I couldn’t stand. Honestly, I couldn’t understand why my parents continued to buy the stuff after the first time we had it as it was a horrible fluorescent green muck that tasted like toothpaste. Occasionally, over the years, I have managed to find imported varieties, including Baxter’s, in specialty stores, but I recently came across this domestic version from ‘President’s Choice’ that is really quite good…

The jelly isn’t quite attractive as I recall Baxter’s as being (that variety was a brighter, more emerald green in color), but it is quite dense with flecks of real mint leaf. The flavor is also nice and fresh and is actually a proper mint taste rather than the artificial, flat ‘toothpaste’ flavor in many other lesser products. It could maybe do with a little more acidity to balance the sweetness but is still, nevertheless, very good. It would be a perfectly acceptable accompaniment to any roast of lamb and could easily be adapted as a base for other, more complex sauces and condiments. The best I can say, I guess, is that I deemed this product delicious enough to serve with my Easter lamb this year…

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