Brandy Fruit Sauce & Feed the Jar

Brandy Fruit Sauce
Time honored recipe to create and cultivate your own authentic brandy sauce.

Approximately 3 cups of Starter Sauce

1 can (approximately 20 oz.) pineapple chunks, drained
1 can (14-16 oz.) peach slices, drained
1 can (14-16 oz.) apricot halves, drained & quartered
1 jar (approximately 10 oz.) maraschino cherries, drained, no stems
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 1/4 cups brandy (regular or fruit flavored)
1. Combine all ingredients in a large, clean jar with a loose fitting lid. Stir gently with a wooden or plastic spoon.

2. Cover and let stand at room temperature for 3 weeks, stirring at least twice a week. Do not cover tightly. Safety note: As the fermentation process produces gas, it needs to escape or jar will explode.

3. At this point, you can serve the sauce over ice cream, sherbet, pound cake or angel food cake for a regal dessert, or “feed” the jar as shown below. To keep the starter jar going, maintain at least 3 cups of it in jar at all times. Store at room temperature. Do not refrigerate.

Feed the Jar: Once every 2 weeks, stir in 1 cup sugar and one 14-16 oz. can of pineapple chunks, sliced peaches, sliced and quartered apricots OR maraschino cherries (10 oz. jar), well drained*. Stir gently. Cover and let stand for at least 3 days before using. Stir daily.

*Add a different fruit every two weeks to maintain a balanced mix. You should not have to add more brandy. You can delay feeding for a day or two, but you should not feed more often than every two weeks.

Share the Jar: Whenever you have more than 6 cups of fermented fruit, you may divide it into two portions of at least 3 cups each into 2 large clean jars. Do this just before a normal feeding, then go ahead and feed each portion. Give one portion to a friend with feeding instructions and keep the other.

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Grandma’s Christmas Nut Cake

Grandma’s Christmas Nut Cake
Make this delicious cake 2 weeks before your tea party.

(makes 1 large cake)

32 oz. chopped walnuts or 24 oz. chopped pecans
3 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup rum or brandy
1 1/2 cups butter
2 cups sugar
6 eggs
Sherry
Cheese Cloth

1. Preheat oven to 275 degrees. Lightly grease bottom & sides of a 10″ angel food cake pan. Line the greased botton and sides with brown paper and grease the paper.

2. Place chopped nuts in a large bowl and set aside. Sift flour, salt and baking powder into a bowl and set aside.

3. Combine milk and rum(or brandy); set aside. Beat butter and sugar in large mixing bowl until fluffy.

4. Add eggs one at a time, beating at high speed until fluffy after each addition.

5. At low speed, alternately beat into the butter mixture, the flour and milk a quarter at a time. Begin and end with the flour.

6. Pour batter over the chopped nuts and fold the nuts into batter. Then pour into prepared pan and bake for 2 1/2 hours.

7. Let cake cool 30 minutes in pan and take out. Cool completely on a rack.

8. Soak cheese cloth in Sherry and wrap around cake. Next wrap cake in plastic wrap and finally in foil. Store in refrigerator for 2 weeks. Periodically check cheese cloth and re-soak as needed to keep it damp.

9. Serve in thin slices.

This cake is not only Grandma’s favorite, it’s very rich. Warn your guests not to eat too much at one time.

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