Preserving Fruit With Alcohol

I am a New Yorker. I read the New York Times.

I love the Wednesday NYT Dining Section.

If I date you and you read the NYT Dining Section, it ups your cool by like.........1000 points.

That said, this week, I was included in one of my favorite weekly columns (IN THE NY-bloody-TIMES!!!!!) by Brooklyn-based food writer, Melissa Clark. She writes the must-read Good Appetite every week (and is soon releasing a book of recipe favs!) and this week highlighting the technique of preserving fruit in alcohol. I love a boozy piece of fruit, I can't deny, and so I was thrilled to be included in her article. There are some great recipes that accompany it, as well. Also, for all you Pacific NWers plums are on their way OUT, so be sure to grab a handful and brandy them up - no fancy canning tricks applied. Just a little fruit, sugar & a shake. From the article………..

"For Amy Pennington, a professional gardener in Seattle and the author of “The Urban Pantry” (Skipstone, 2010), using booze to preserve fruit is just one more “branch in the preservation tree.”

“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.

She’s used the technique to preserve raspberries in vodka, which she plans to churn into sorbet, and greengage plums in brandy, to bake into an upside-down gingerbread cake as soon as they are ready — in, oh, about three months."