Transplanting a Seattleite

Crosse & Blackwell jarred mincemeat, which I'm pretty sure is the brand we used to use when I was growing up, includes "INGREDIENTS: PIPPIN APPLES, HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, CORN SYRUP, RAISINS, WATER, DISTILLED VINEGAR, CORN STARCH-MODIFIED, ORANGE PEEL, SALT, SPICES, CARAMEL COLOR, ORANGE JUICE, SODIUM BENZOATE (PRESERVATIVE)." In other words, not even suet, much less actual chopped meat. (I think it used to have suet; not sure.) Borden's None Such condensed mincemeat has "Raisins, Brown Sugar, Dried Apples, Dextrose, Water, Salt, Beef, Corn Starch, Dried Citrus Peel, Apple Concentrate, Spices, Distilled Vinegar." So beef is on there, but less of it (by volume? weight? not sure) than there is of salt.

Seems to me one of my sisters made mincemeat from scratch once, but it may well have been during her vegetarian period anyway, so I am not sure I have ever eaten mincemeat with any appreciable amount of beef in it. We did not have a food processor then, and she came to the conclusion, as far as I recall, that it was too much work for a couple of pies -- making chutney or jam that you could use all year was worth a big chopping session, but not something that would be gone in a day or two.