Jam-jar mobile homes

For tiddlers as a kid,

I speculated in vain

Whither went the lid

 

Sweet student summer

Molten and strawberry

Castor candy foundry

Damson, grape, cherry

 

Blanched fruit in drums

Pectin sugar and colour,

Without which your jam

Would look much duller

 

Buff overalls crisply caked

Treacly crystallised hair,

Boss boilers wielding long

Thermometers with flair

 

The bottling department!

Sally stuck on lemon curd,

Her expletives riper than

Any fruit she ever stirred

 

Boxes full of jam-jar lids

Labels cover every store

Same stuff when bottled

Even if it costs you more

 

Not all sweet and light

Hygiene made me wince,

Us temps up to all sorts

Not touched jam since

(Coronaverse No 206)