Fruitcake, Day 1

Now there are the makings of one fine fruitcake (actually two, I cut the recipe in half). You may notice there are cranberries in there. The reason for that is I couldn’t find any figs at Kroger yesterday afternoon. I could have gone somewhere else, but I’d already spent enough time in the supermarket. The first Wednesday of each month is old folks day, you see, and the place is packed with cranky octogenarians bumping their carts into one another. Slowly. It took me almost half an hour to navigate around them all to pick up what I needed for this shot. Fortunately none of them could figure out the self check-out computers, so I was out of there in a flash after that. Still, I’d had enough. And anyway, you think Medieval fruitcake makers were choosy? They took what they could get, bub, and so did I. Anyway cranberries add a nice color.

So then, once you’ve got your fruits and nuts measured, your zest zested and your spices in, pour in the wet ingredients…

…and stir to combine.

Easy. Wrap and let macerate overnight. What’s the difference between macerating and marinating? The former involves sweet ingredients and the latter, savory. That’s all I know.