Rum preserved fruit recipes for spectacular hors d'oeuvres, desserts, and cocktail garnishes
It is officially fall, and traditionally now would be the time to start canning, pickling, and preserving whatever fruits and veggies are left in your garden. These rum preserved fruit recipes will add a little extra spice to your fall holiday cooking itinerary.
What are rum infused fruits?
Now that fall has arrived, it’s officially time to start canning, pickling, and preserving whatever fruits and veggies are left in your garden. One of the tastiest ways to keep fruit around for the holiday season is by making rum preserves! Start these rum preserved fruit recipes now, and you will have some truly spectacular hors d’oeuvres, desserts, and cocktail garnishes in time for the holidays. Of course, you can always crack open a jar the day after making them, but trust us when we say it’s worth the wait to get all those fruit sugars and flavors to combine just right.
Fruit preserves are typically made with a high ABV alcohol to prevent fermentation. Yolo Gold and Silver are both a bit lower than required at just 40% ABV, or 80 proof. You can monitor fermentation by watching for small bubbles in your preserves, but the easiest thing to do is add a little bit of everclear to your batches. This will provide the alcohol levels needed to save your fruit without taking away from the flavor.
Here are our Yolo Rum-inspired fruit preserve recipes for fall
Rum Cherries:
The traditional holiday treat goes perfectly on top of a dessert, floating in a drink, or just straight from the jar. The rum itself will transform into a sweet cherry liquor that can be used in cocktails. Fill a quart canning jar with about a pound of cherries and about 12 oz. of Yolo Silver. Adding a dash of vanilla extract will help pull out the complexity of the cherries. Leave in a cool dark place for about a month to make your rum-cherry liquor extra syrupy and sweet!
Rum Apples:
Use this preserve as a pie filling for the most incredible apple pie you will ever taste!
Coat thinly sliced apples of your choice (our favorites are Honey Crisp for a candied flavor or Granny Smith for a bright sourness) in white sugar and then submerge in a 50/50 mix of Yolo Gold and Silver. Add any holiday spices you want, like nutmeg or cinnamon. The apples can be enjoyed after just a couple of days of soaking or can be strained and used in a pie that is safe for the whole family as cooking will evaporate the alcohol.
Rumtopf:
A German tradition, this fruit compote is its own delectable dessert but tastes amazing as ice cream or cake topper. You can even blend it, freeze it, and serve it as a sorbet! Make a small jar for just you and your family, or make a huge batch to dole out into smaller mason jars as holiday gifts. It’s a bit more complicated as it requires adding the fruit in stages, but the result is sure to make it a yearly tradition for your family.
Rumtopf is made using any fruit you want! Just stay away from bananas, as they will disintegrate into a black slime after just a few days in alcohol. Tropical fruit is an option, but we recommend sticking to European and North American staples to keep the traditional German taste. Start with darker fruits: (berries, plums, cherries) and cover them with as much sugar as you like. We suggest about 8 oz per pound of fruit. In a large jar, submerge the fruit in Yolo Gold and a shot of everclear. Each week, add progressively brighter and more acidic fruits to the jar (Apricots and nectarines, then grapes, raspberries, peaches, or apple), adding more sugar, rum, and everclear each time. Prevent fermentation by leaving your rumtopf in a cool, dark place. You can also add walnuts, cinnamon sticks, star anise, allspice berries, and clove to taste for an extra holiday kick! When the holidays are here, dig into your boozy (adults only) dessert!
We hope you enjoyed these rum preserve recipes, enhanced by award winning Yolo Rum. We want to know what fruit you are preserving this fall, and what recipes are you using those rum preserved fruits for? Drop us a line and tell us how Yolo Rum has added a new and tasty layer to your festive fall recipes.
