A jam tart is small and open English tart variety. The term "jam tart" came into common use around the s, but the dish itself predates the term. Jam tarts are considered a "quintessential" British food, [ 4 ] although possibly they are known to have been consumed in eighth-century Xinjiang , China, and used as a burial offering to the gods. This was because until sugar became widely available for common use, the usual medieval sweetener was honey , but, unlike sugar, honey was a limited preservative.
By the Victorian period jam tarts had become a staple of the domestic menu. Recipes from cooks such as Hannah Glasse popularised baking with jam, [ 11 ] as until then sugar was most commonly known as "a medicine, a spice, or a plaything of the powerful". Larger than 20th century tarts, it was divided into 13 equal slices, representing Jesus and his disciples , with each section filled with a different variety of jam.
It is probable that it was an erroneously made jam tart that led to the accidental creation of the Bakewell pudding , in Bakewell , Derbyshire. Supposedly one Mrs Greaves left instructions for her inexperienced cook to make a jam tart, but, instead of mixing eggs and almond paste for pastry, she spread it on top of the jam where it formed a crust on baking. Jam tarts have entered British culture. In an episode of the television series Midsomer Murders , 'Secrets and Spies', one of the characters refers to Mr Kipling as being not "just a jam tart"; this was an allusion to both the confectionary company who produced the cakes and Rudyard Kipling , who wrote spy novels.
According to Barry, Cleall"carried the jam tart over to Richard Everett 's character, and said threateningly, 'Did you say something, you pasty-faced pillock? The pastry is also an essential component of the English nursery rhyme , The Queen of Hearts , in which the eponymous Queen bakes some jam tarts. The King of Hearts wants to dine, only for it to be discovered that the tarts have been stolen. Investigation reveals the Knave of Hearts as the culprit; the King proceeds to "beat the knave full sore".
As a result of his beating, the knave promises to desist from his life of crime in future. This followed a previous attempt by the town three years previously, when participants made and ate tarts. Its use expanded to include usually young women generally, and thus the term of endearment "sweetheart". No probs! This further led to the combination of the two to mean a girl of loose morals , [ 28 ] or even a prostitute.
