Blackberry Glazed Ham

I love ham. Not so wild about pork chops, ironically, but ham, bacon, prosciutto --everything in that family is great. So when I bought a ham this week, I was excited to roast it with a root beer glaze, something I had tried with pork chops before with great success (I still need to post that particular recipe...sorry, folks).

Anyway, when I got up this morning, I found the last can of root beer on the table. Empty.

I could have run to the store, but honestly, just for a can of soda? Instead I decided to come up with another recipe. I didn't have any apple juice, either, so that eliminated a lot of things I came across.

Then I started thinking about what I did have--and liked combining. I came up with a Blackberry Maple Mustard glaze that smelled heavenly and tasted great. I glazed the ham during the last hour, baking it uncovered for that last bit of time, and also boiled the extra glaze, to make a thick, sweet dipping sauce. On the ham, the glaze was nice and thick and caramelized nicely.

Yummy :-) I loved it, and think I might do my Christmas ham this way, too. Or some variation (though I still want to try the root beer glaze on ham). It's very easy, and I am sure would work fine with other kinds of berry jam:

Shirley's Blackberry Maple Mustard Glaze

1/3 cup maple syrup

1 teaspoon mustard powder (I substitute mustard itself when I am out of this)

1/2 cup blackberry preserves/jam

That's it! I tasted it as I mixed it, and adjusted the mustard a bit. Baste the ham in the last hour of cooking, then put any extra glaze in a pan and reduce it down for a dipping sauce.

I served this with homemade mashed potatoes, and creamed corn (we were out of other veggies too. Clearly someone needs to go to the grocery store around here, LOL). Thumbs up from everyone in the family for this one.

Shirley