Fruitcake Season

Day 34: It's fruitcake season, and I mention that, expecting one of two responses. The camps are strongly divided into those who love it and those who hate it and, quite honestly, if I had only been exposed to the commercially-produced varieties, I'd probably be singing a different tune. Homemade is always better, whether it's jams and jellies, biscuits, buns or bread, and fruitcake is no exception. Mine is never the same twice, although the basic recipe is for a "dark" version made with grape juice. The fruits and nuts I use depend on availability and budget. This year's cakes feature only two types of raisin (regular and golden) but have an extra measure of pecans in addition to the candied peels which give a good fruitcake its character. Therein lay an obstacle which nearly made me abandon the project. The only glacé fruit I could find was diced far more finely than I wanted, and never mind that it just came on the market recently when it should have been on the shelves by mid-October when any fruitcake-builder should be baking. After chasing around to every grocery chain within 50 miles, I realized that I was going to have to make do. The larger S&W glacé mix was simply not available, and all of the "house" brands looked as if they had come from the same source. With all the ingredients finally in hand, I baked this morning, two and a half hours for the small loaves, three and a half for the large. They've had their first dose of rum, and I'll add more weekly until Christmas when they'll be ready to eat.