Watch It Wiggle

Round these parts, it seems a new artisanal jam company is born every other month. Jelly, though? A disheartening rarity.

Until now.

Kitty Myers spent much of her childhood on her aunt's farm in Indiana. There, she learned the homespun approach to making preserves. Now, she sells her lively jellies regularly at the Underground Farmer's Market and at the Castro's Thorough Bread and Pastry.

Myers' jellies--in variations like rose and lavender--are, as she calls them, "flavored waters." These are no insipid infusions, though. The floral essence hums delicately though them, and their gentle wobble is ideal for spreading on scones.

Her marmalades are also an about-face from their local brethren, dense as they are with fruit peels. Myers' base teeters like that of her jellies, but her sharp lime and lemon marmalades are speckled with blasts of grated citrus zest.

One of our favorites is the startlingly verdant cucumber marmalade--a refreshing seasonal specialty soon to return that could become smoked salmon's indispensable sidekick.

And if traditional jams remain forever your preference, Myers also makes alluring ones in flavors like pineapple and blueberry.

Thorough Bread and Pastry, 248 Church St. (bet. Market and 15th sts.); 415-558-0690 or thoroughbreadandpastry.com; Underground Farmer's Market, Friday, 4/16, 5 to 11 p.m., SOMArts Cultural Center, 934 Brannan St.