Thursday Cottage Christmas Jam - 112g

Christmas jam lives in the same corner of a British larder as the chutney for the cheese and the mincemeat for the pies: jars bought once a year and opened with a bit of ceremony, usually by whoever got up first.

Christmas in Canada has plenty going for it, snow included. What it does not have is the larder you grew up with, and it is the small things that do the heavy lifting when home is a long way off. A jar on the table with an English label on it does more than its size suggests.

It comes in a small 112g jar, which is exactly right: enough for the Christmas week, gone before anyone gets bored of it. It sits happily in the cupboard until it is opened, then follow the label. Spread it on toast, dollop it on a scone, put it next to the cheese, or fill a tray of jam tarts and watch them vanish.

It pairs naturally with the rest of a British Christmas food shop: a Christmas pudding, a jar of mincemeat, a tin of biscuits. Put them in a box together and you have a Christmas gift for someone who misses home.