I have posted before a peach-rum preserve with a mango-lime-rum variation. You do see a lot of jams and preserves with spirits in them. A lot of spirits are below the 4.6 pH boundary for acidity anyway. One issue is over-doing the spirits. Too much will overwhelm the flavor of the fruit. Also, as with prunes in armagnac or other spirit-based recipes, some aging is helpful in mellowing the flavor. I do agree on the assessment of Jamlady. She is very careful about food safety in preserving. Her book on pickles is an interesting study of the issues. I was disappointed in Ziedrich's new "Joy of Jams, Jellies and Sweet Preserves," because unlike her pickling book, almost no information is provided about acidity with low-acid fruits like figs. The recipes themselves seem fine and I would feel confident using them, but inexperienced preservers don't get the tools they need to make informed decisions. I could easily see someone looking at her fig jam and deciding they don't want the lemon juice, not realizing it's there for acidity as much as flavor. Or deciding to sub mango for peach thinking they're essentially the same, when in canning terms they're not at all. Jamlady is definitely superior in that regard. You can learn tons from her book, even if you never make a single one of her recipes. Carol

That's me, GardenLad, a mere child. I am old enough to drink, just barely. LOL However, I figure control of the rumtopf will be passed down to my generation soon enough. Gourmet magazine, huh? Wow, the humble rumtopf has been elevated in stature. As for the history in my family, I am told that the very first rumtopf was the result of my Aunt LulaBelle marrying a man from Germany. He was her first husband (number 5 just died last year!) and it was a tradition for his family to have a rumtopf yearly. He taught Aunt Lulabelle and a family tradition was born. Being heathen Michiganders we have used everything from vodka to brandy to rum, but the basic construction of the rumtopf is the same: fruit, sugar, booze. As for the ingredients, we just add whatever is ripe and we can get our hands on that might be compatible with the rest of the "pot". Annie

Here's a few. I can vouch for the Austin Margaritas...awesome! Austin Margaritas 1 12-oz can frozen limeade 1 12-oz can sprite 1 12-oz can tequila (or maybe a little less to taste. I use Sauza Gold) 1 12-oz bottle Corona beer. Mix all ingredients together in a punch bowl. Serve on the rocks with glasses rimmed in salt. Cape Codder Punch 1 (48 oz) bottle cranberry juice cocktail 1 ½ cups vodka 1/3 cup sweetened lime juice 1 (1 liter) bottle ginger ale Ice cubes Garnish: fresh cranberries and lime wedges on swizzle sticks Stir together first 3 ingredients. Stir in ginger ale just before serving and serve over ice. Whiskey Punch (makes 32 cups) 2 liters whiskey or bourbon ½ liter dark rum 1 ¼ cups sugar 7 cups strong-brewed tea 3 ½ cups fresh lemon juice or 4 (7.5 oz) bottles of frozen lemon juice thawed 2 quarts orange juice Stir together all ingredients in a large crock or food safe container. Cover mixture and chill for up to 3 days before serving.

I do like peaches, and we have a peach tree in the yard, so I'll have a good supply this summer. We had the biggest crop of peaches last year since we planted it a few years ago. I hope my costume turns out well. My friend (the one who's house where a couple of my high school friends get together at every so often-we haven't done that in forever) is helping me with it. She's great at sewing and better at it than I am lol. My best friend was over one day and he braided some of the wire for me and added a few icy blue acrylic jewels to it (I got them and a pack of white/clear ones at Wal-Mart on clearance one day). I like the look of it, but we shall see when the time comes how everything works out. I can't wait to start on it! Brad AKA Moonwolf