Christine Ferber

Ferber was born in Niedermorschwihr, France.[1] Her great-grandfather moved to Alsace from Germany in 1870.[2] Her great-grandfather, grandfather and father all worked as pastry chefs.[2][3] Her father Maurice opened La Maison Ferber in 1959,[1][4] in a seventeenth century traditional French building.[1] Ferber speaks French, German, Alsatian and English.[5] Ferber's mother died in March 2020.[6]

Aged 15, Ferber moved to Paris to study with French pastry chef Lucien Pelletier.[4] She spent a year in Paris, before moving to Brussels, where she lived for three years.[7] In 1979, she won the French Cup for patissiers.[8] She moved back to Alsace in 1980,[8] where she started her own workshop.[1] She initially made jams, selling them in her parents' shop.[9] In 1998, Ferber was voted Patissier of the Year by the Guide Champérard.[3][10][11] In 2005, she produced a cookbook Alice's Little Kitchen in Wonderland, in reference to Lewis Carroll's book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.[11] The images for the book were intended to imitate Salvador Dalí style paintings.[11] In 2011, Ferber took joint ownership of La Maison Ferber with her brother and sister, after the death of their father.[4][7] In 2015, she built her own workshop.[12]

Ferber makes over 200 varieties of jam,[3] with traditional, regional, and original varieties. Examples of Ferber's unique flavours include celery and pineapple with rosemary.[8] She also makes pies, stollens, beraweka, gingerbreads, and kougelhopfs.[3] Around 35% of her revenue is from jams, and about 35% is from pastries.[8] Ferber is nicknamed the Jam Fairy.[1][4] She is also nicknamed Reine Christine by local Alsatians.[3] Ferber sells 200,000 jars of jam per year,[13] around the world, in countries including Spain, Germany, Japan,[9] and Singapore.[14] In Tokyo, her jam jars are sold in Isetan department stores, and are wrapped in red cloth and with a white bow.[7] Fellow French pastry chef and chocolatier Pierre Hermé has said that Ferber "sells the best jams in the world",[13] and he sells Ferber's jams in his shop in Paris.[4] Her jam is also bought by chef Alain Ducasse, the three Michelin star La Maison Troisgros restaurant, as well as Hôtel de Crillon and Four Seasons Hotel George V, and The Connaught in London.[15]

Ferber has also taught in France, Italy, Japan and the US. She has taught at the French Pastry School in Chicago, US.[16]

In 2013, British newspaper the Daily Mirror reported that Brad Pitt had become obsessed with Ferber's jams, and had flown to Alsace to meet her.[17][18][19] However, Ferber claimed that she had never seen Pitt in her shop.[18]

In January 2018, Ferber was awarded a Chevalier (Knight) of the Legion of Honour.[20] In 2020, Ferber hosted Luxembourgish chef Léa Linster at La Maison Ferber.[21]

• Ferber, Christine, Mes aigres-doux : Terrines et pâtés, Payot, 1999. ISBN 2228892408
• Ferber, Christine, Mes Confitures: The Jams and Jellies of Christine Ferber, Michigan State University Press, 2002. ISBN 0870136291
• Ferber, Christine, Ma cuisine des fruits, Marabout, 2003. ISBN 2501039106
• Ferber, Christine, Mes Tartes: The Sweet and Savory Tarts of Christine Ferber, Michigan State University Press, 2003. ISBN 0870136887
• Ferber, Christine, Model, Philippe, Winkelmann, Bernhard, La petite Cuisine d'Alice au pays des merveilles (Alice's Little Kitchen in Wonderland), Chêne Jeunesse, 2005. ISBN 2842777093
• Ferber, Christine, Tischlein deck dich!, Gerstenberg Verlag, 2008. ISBN 3836929856
• Ferber, Christine, Leçons de confitures, Chêne, 2009. ISBN 2842778006
• Ferber, Christine, Bernhard, Winkelmann, Die Marmalden-Bibel, Christian, 2010. ISBN 9783884729762