Peach and Pear Preserves with Rum and Cinnamon

It’s nearly peach season here in Southern California, and while I’m planning on going peach-picking next month, I couldn’t wait that long to try my hand at making another kind of jam, or preserves, to be precise. I always think of jam as smoother and more pureed than preserves, and I kept nice chunks of the peaches and pears in this one which is why I’m not calling it a jam. This is my new favorite fruit spread though, and while it came out superb, it was not without errors. For example, when I went to add the cinnamon, I grabbed the cumin instead and dumped a teaspoon of it into the pot, before instantly realizing that whatever I’d just plopped in definitely did not smell like cinnamon. So, I promptly freaked out for a full 10 seconds, then managed to calm myself enough to scoop out the vast majority of the cumin and add the cinnamon to remedy my error. But when I tasted the preserves I could kind of taste the cumin, not at all a strong taste, and probably not even identifiable if I didn’t know about the cumin already, but it was actually weirdly nice. Kind of added another layer of flavor to the preserves. So I kept a “pinch” of cumin in the recipe here. Thank goodness some mistakes actually end up working out for the better! Unlike those sage green clogs….Also, a tip on peeling the peaches, drop them whole in boiling water for 1 minute and then remove them with tongs and allow them to cool enough to be handled. Make a cut in the skin of the peach, and you should be able to peel off all the skin easily with your hands.