The Unexpected Sweet Addition For An Elevated Grilled Cheese

There's no denying the nostalgia factor and sublime texture and flavor of a grilled cheese. While there are tons of ways to elevate this sandwich, one of the easiest may be lurking in your pantry, waiting for its moment in the spotlight. It's about time that fruit preserves made their way into the modern grilled cheese lexicon. Fruit preserves will not only add a unique sweetness to this savory sandwich, but they will also complement the different types of cheeses you use for your grilled cheese. The key factor that sets this condiment apart from other types of spreads, like jams and jellies, is that the fruit is much larger in size. So, you'll get large hunks interspersed within a sugary syrup. That way, every bite into your sandwich is unique. 

Adding the preserves is simple. Just add a schmear on your slice of bread before layering in your cheese and closing the slices together. Though, if you're worried about the preserves leaking out of your sandwich and burning on the pan, you may consider serving them up as a dip. However, you can't just match the cheese and the fruity filling willy-nilly. You have to find ways to perfectly match the flavor of the fruit with the tasting notes of the cheese. 

There are tons of different preserve flavors out there to mix and match with cheeses. For example, if you're working with a grated cheddar cheese, preferably one that's on the sharp end of things, you may try to pair it with something that's very sugar-forward and has less herbaceous notes, like grape preserves. Or, if you're making a sandwich with ooey gooey fontina, you'll want to select a preserve that can hold up to its richness and offer an acidic bite, like fig or raspberry. 

There's also something to be said about bringing the nostalgia of a grilled cheese and tomato soup by adding a tomato jam to this sandwich. If you don't yet feel comfortable with playing with different cheese varieties and are sticking to cheddar, mozzarella, or American, the tomato jam will be an easy way to step this sandwich up. Moreover, you can channel extra savory flavors with a bit of chutney, which is seasoned with spices like cumin, coriander, and turmeric. Chutney is still technically a "preserve," though it doesn't contain nearly the same amount of sugar as other preserves. Rather, it's a vector for warming spices and tangy vinegar, which will complement the richness of the sandwich quite well.