A slightly autumnal jam

An original comic imagined account of a food-tasting event.

The label described the jam as slightly autumnal. I looked at the small spoon and wondered how much of the year I ought to expect.

Around me, people were finding notes. There were notes of fruit, notes of something darker and one confident suggestion of a distant flower. My own contribution, when asked, was that it tasted pleasantly of jam. I delivered this judgement with the expression of somebody awaiting a second chance at an examination.

The maker asked which part I liked. I tried another spoonful. There was a sharp taste at the beginning, then something sweeter which stayed. Those were ordinary words, but they gave us something to discuss. She explained what she had been hoping to make, and I could connect the explanation with a taste I had actually noticed.

I have no objection to autumn arriving in a small jar. An unexpected word may make someone attend to a flavour differently. My difficulty begins when I search for the word so anxiously that I forget to notice whether I like the food.

I bought a jar and wrote sharp, then sweet on the lid at home. It was not an impressive description. It was one I could still taste when I read it.

Examine the methods the writer uses to question self-conscious language at the tasting event.