Jezebel Sauce

My grandparents on my father's side of the family were foodies before they called them foodies. They were part of a gourmet club. They traveled around the country and the world and sampled every food they could find. They had a profound influence on my taste in food, and without them I don't know what kind of table manners I might have developed.

Recently, my Grandma passed away and I was fortunate enough to inherit all of her cookbooks and recipe boxes. There were more cookbooks than I could possibly keep - boxes and boxes of them that are now sitting in storage waiting for me to dig into them. And while the cookbooks were fantastic, the best thing were the recipe boxes, full of hand written recipe cards and menu plans, complete with dates and guest lists (just to make sure you didn't feed the same people the same meals twice!) Some of these recipes were cherished family favorites, and some were things I had never seen before.

Jezebel Sauce is one I remember the grown-ups eating. Us kids didn't seem to like it much back then, but now I find it addicting. The combination of sweet and hot is just... yummy. I understand why this recipe is listed frequently as the appetizer course on so many of Grandma's menus.

Jezebel Sauce

1 18 oz jar of apple jelly

1 18 oz jar of pineapple or apricot preserves (or pineapple-apricot preserves)

1 c hot horseradish (not horseradish sauce - you want unadulturated horseradish)

4 tsp dry mustard

2 tsp pepper

Mix together until combined. Let stand for 2-3 days so the flavors can blend. If you eat it right away it will have too strong of a bite. Store in the refrigerator. Keeps indefinately (at least according to the recipe card.) Serve with cream cheese or cold meats on Ritz crackers. Also good with caviar.