While other teens were busy jamming with a guitar, Fraser Doherty went out to the supermarket with a couple of pounds in his pocket, bought some fruit and sugar, and started making jam. In doing so, he used his grandmother’s recipe. This was in Edinburgh, when the boy was fourteen. Today, Doherty’s preserves sell at Waitrose, Tesco, and at some other large supermarkets. Last year, his product sales hit $750,000, and are on their way to doubling in 2008.

Doherty devoted himself to his offbeat avocation after his grandmother taught him a recipe for marmalade that had been passed down through generations. “I have always been a big fan of jam,” explains Doherty. “Since I turned about eight I had little projects on the go, trying different ways of making pocket money. The catalyst was when my Gran taught me her secret jam recipe. The eureka moment was when I realised I could sell it door-todoor in the neighbourhood.”

The first time Doherty made jam, he did six jars and sold them all. His target customers were elderly neighbourhood ladies. And, as will happen with that sort of custom, word got around. Within a couple of years, he was making thousands of jars every month and supplying farmers’ markets and delicatessens. Even the Hibernian Football Club.

Helping him expand business, his parents drove him to various farmers’ fairs. Soon, and you had better believe this, he found himself in a jam because he was selling too much of it.