Jam and Booze Made Easier

ByShae

This isn’t what it looks like. Yes, it is a bunch of booze on a hotel bedspread. But I can explain.

Today, I’m on an impromptu road trip to enjoy some fall color in Northern California. Yesterday, I happened to be at BevMo, ho-humming around the aisles while Stewart chose a bottle of wine for dinner with my parents. Then I saw it: a rotating display of a hundred different liquor minis. I went crazy and bought about twenty.

I love to add liquor flavors to my jams and marmalades. In the past few months, I’ve made lemon marmalade with rum, blackberry mojito jam, apricot amaretto jam, peaches with bourbon and peaches in brandy. But it bugs me that every time a recipe calls for 1/4 cup of something, I have to run out and buy a whole bottle if I don’t have it on hand. This seemed like a nifty way to experiment with adding flavor to preserves without making a huge investment. I bought spiced rum, Frangelico, pomegranate liqueur, chocolate liqueur, honey bourbon . . .

Now, if I want to know what a raspberry jam would taste like with, say, a hint of Vermeer Chocolate Cream, I can stir a little bit into even a 4 ounce jar before I process it. Oh, the possibilities!

I guess I can’t really explain why I brought all the bottles on my road trip. They happened to be in the car from yesterday. Really. But I’m sure they’ll all make it back home. Except maybe the Frangelico.

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4 Comments

  2. Very smart! I have a bottle of bourbon from Thanksgiving 2002 that I used for a Martha pie recipe. Can bourbon last a couple decades?

  3. what would you suggest to “booze up” red grapefruit marmalade. I use Gran Marnier in a blood orange marmalade recipe and it was quite delicious

    1. Hi Ginger: My favorite thing to put in red grapefruit marmalade is champagne. Grapefruit mimosa! But your idea to go with Grand Marnier or anything else citrus based is good, too. I use Cointreau and/or Triple Sec a lot. Sometimes I taste the fruit and then put a drop of a liqueur on my tongue to see how the flavors combine. Have fun!

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