If you are after a Cocktail that is, shall we say, well preserved, then you can’t go past a Jam Cocktail.
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Dating back to the 1900’s Cocktails using Jams, Jellies, Preserves, and Marmalades as their sweetening agent are an older trend that has most definitely seen a comeback in recent years.
Now while it may seem a little foreign to take away the toast and add, for example, a Blackberry Jam to a Whiskey drink, it’s a great way to introduce the palette to harder spirits.
And while a little of the sweetness can be cut with citrus, don’t assume these cocktails are all child’s play. Sure, integrating some of your favourite childhood flavours into your very adult drinks may seem all sweetness and light, but bare in mind that that very sweetness can make some drinks pretty lethal.
If you are looking to make some of these jelly concoctions your jam, then there are some basic points to consider.
Jam up your flavour pairings
Traditionally, the belief was that you paired darker berry jams with darker spirits. So if you had Blackberries, Blueberries or Raspberries, they would go perfectly with Bourbons and Ryes. In the same way, lighter berries such as Apricots & Strawberries made better pairings with a lighter spirit like Tequila.
But then Gin throws that whole equation out of balance, as depending on the herbaceous make up of the Gin, it can go equally well with dark and light berries. And to confuse matters even more, Vodka, of course, goes with everything.
So how do you pair properly? Well, really any Jam can be paired with any spirits if done the right way or in other words, sip it and see.
We’ve seen a Pear Jam mixed with Irish Whiskey and equally successfully, we’ve seen Black Current Jam take the place of Creme de Cassis with Tequila.
Don’t be afraid to experiment and try any of your favourites. The worst that will happen is that the jam will simply add more complexity and an added layer of flavour.
Sweetener for Jam
Think you can swap in an equal amount of jam for the simple syrup in a drink? It’s not that simple. The thing you have to consider is that fruits have a major dose of acid, and when you reduce and concentrate the fruit, the acids also intensify.
This makes swapping out jams for sugars more of an art than a science, as every fruit preserve is going to be made differently. It’s really hard to say ‘remove sugar, insert jam’. But with a little careful tasting you can hone in on the right sweetness level by using more jam then you would have sugar while also slightly reducing the other acids, like lemon or lime juice.
What does that look like in practice? For a Tom Collins, first try removing the sugar, replacing it with slightly more than an equal amount of jam, and cut down the acid by half. Taste and adjust as needed, adding more jam or acid depending on your preference.
If you don’t shake, then you’ll be in a Jam
Because of the consistency of jams and preserves, they naturally follow the golden rule of cocktails: if it has fruit, it has to be shaken. Like all drinks with fruit juice, anything containing a jam should be shaken vigorously to evenly disperse the thick ingredient.
Simply trying to stir a spoonful into your Old Fashioned or Gin and Tonic will leave you with chunks of jam floating throughout.
Without shaking the jam thoroughly into the drink, you will inevitably get chunks and uneven distribution of the cocktails sweetener throughout the drink. What this means is that some sips tart and some sips will be sweet, but ultimately no sip will ever be just right.
