Miep often allowed Anne to test the various recipes that had to be thickened with Opekta, the ingredient Pim’s company sold to ensure that homemade jam was as good as anything that had been store-bought. Many people made their own preserves now, using bruised fruit from the market or whatever grew in their own small gardens and had been saved for the winter in their cellars, kept cold in baskets or jars. Blackberry jam was Anne’s favorite.
