Better Brunch: Fruity Jam Syrup

One of the downsides to preserving is that I end up with more jars of goodness than I can use (I mean if you want to call that a downside).  Sure I can (and do) share with friends but every once in a while I’ll poke into the cupboard and find a jar of jam that’s a bit older than I would like.

About a year or two ago I made a batch of blueberry jam flavoured with a hint of liquorice and wine.  It had the promise of being amazing but I was making a VERY small batch and overcooked the lot and ended up with this super thick and hard to spread jam.  Le sigh.  I tried using it on breads and stuff but never quite got into it.  Then I forgot about it.

Recently I was making pancakes for breakfast and didn’t have any mix-ins on hand.  No berries, no bananas, nary a chocolate chip to be seen!   That’s when I got the idea that this blueberry jam could come in handy.  A lot of dessert recipes call for heating up jam to use as a glaze or spread over a tart so I thought about melting down the jam to make a syrup.

Clearly I’m brilliant.

I took out a small saucepan, added the jam and a bit of water and set the heat to medium-low.  After some stirring and a few minutes I was left by a most delicious blueberry syrup that was perfect as a topping for my pancakes. You could totally use this as your only syrup for your pancakes or waffles or you could be totally glutinous like me and use it with maple syrup.  We all make choices.

No recipe here just the advice to take some good jam, add it to a pan with a bit of water and heat it.  That’s it.