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Spiking Summer Fruit in Order to Preserve It

From the NY Times.

"As much as I love the idea of a pantry full of homemade jams, jellies, pickles and syrups, I rarely have the patience for serious canning, with its macerating, simmering and sterilization of jars.

But there is another, easier way: boozy fruit. There are many incarnations but the basic premise is the same — simply mix fruit and sugar with enough hard spirit to keep the fruit well soused, and let it sit. You can sip the liquid as a cordial and eat the sweet, spiked fruit over ice cream or cake. Apart from freezing, it is about the simplest preserving method there is."

A new twist to rum cake and sorbets? If you were to combine strawberries and vodka, or lemons/limes with tequila, you'd already be halfway to a daiquiri or Margarita by now. Dump the contents in a blender, add ice and lid, push a button, and ta-DAH! Frozen mixed drinks, anyone?

"There’s drying, salting, canning and using alcohol, which kills bacteria, meaning you don’t need to futz around with creating an anaerobic environment,” she said, adding that preserving with alcohol is the “lowest rung of entry for beginning canning enthusiasts” because it’s hard to mess up."

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"Unlike making jam, which you can eat right off the stove, putting up fruit in alcohol is the slow road to dessert. The raw spirit and fruit need some time to get acquainted, traditionally from the end of summer harvest until Christmas."

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"When it’s ready, she serves the fruit in a large bowl and lets her guests nibble the rum-imbued pieces as they please.

“They’re like edible cocktails.” she told me. “People get smashed.”

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"I went to the farmers’ market and gathered peaches, nectarines, raspberries, plums, Concord grapes and even late strawberries. Then I swung by the liquor store and stocked up on brandy, rum and gin. (Any high-proof spirit will work, but these appealed to me the most.)

Finally, I stopped by the supermarket to buy jars. On my way out, I snagged several pomegranates, which a friend told me her mother used to preserve with vodka or Korean soju.

Then I got it all home and filled jars with fruit, sugar and spirits, mixing and matching as I saw fit, topping the grapes and plums, separately, with brandy, the pomegranate with gin, and tossing the rum and the rest of the fruit together into a rumtopf-manqué.

By December, if everything turns out as well as I hope, I will have gifts for my friends. But there is a chance I might go the way of Julia Sforza, who blogs about making preserves at What Julia Ate."

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"When It’s Time to Put the Fruit to Work

FRUIT preserved in alcohol makes a marvelous dessert topping, spooned over ice cream, poundcake, panna cotta or ricotta, and it has other uses:

BOOZY FRUIT TART Line a tart pan with sweet tart dough and fill with frangipane. Top with pieces of fruit and bake until golden.

CAKE GLAZE Mix the liqueur with enough confectioners’ sugar to make it thick and creamy, but still runny enough to pour, then spoon it over simple cakes.

CLAFOUTIS Use preserved Concord grapes in place of cherries.

COBBLERS, CRISPS AND PIES Add pieces of boozy fruit to fresh fruit.

DRUNKEN FOOL Purée the fruit and gently fold into whipped cream, to taste. Chill before serving.

FRUITY APERITIF Put a piece of fruit and a little of its liqueur in the bottom of a flute and top with sparkling wine.

HAIR OF THE DOG MUFFINS Add diced fruit to your favorite muffin recipe. If you are planning to serve these for breakfast, note that much, but not all, of the alcohol will evaporate.

ROASTS Warm brandied plums or Concord grapes and serve with roasted pork, chicken, duck, quail or venison.

TIPSY TRIFLE Use pieces of fruit in a traditional custard-and-cake trifle.

UPSIDE-DOWN TIPPLE CAKE Sprinkle a well-buttered cake pan with brown sugar, then layer with slices of drained fruit. Cover with your favorite butter cake batter and bake until done. Serve with cream whipped with a little of the fruit liqueur."

Posted by Cute at 8:18 PM

Labels: food preparation and use