How to Make Rumtopf (the 2011 Batch Arrives along with Redtopf)
I meant to measure our Rumtopf container last year and again this year. I imagine it`s somewhere between 1-2 gallons:
Rumtopf is an easy preserve to make – the majority of the labor is done by Mother Time. It`s biggest controversy comes from choosing which fruit to add to it – traditional recipes call for specific quantities of specific fruit where ours is more of an all-you-can eat fruit buffet. This years version includes strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, peaches, apricots, plums, and more.
Here’s the process:
- Buy the most beautiful fruit you can. Clean it and weigh it.
- Add 50% of the weight in sugar to the fruit. I.E. If you had a half-pound of strawberries, add a quarter-pound of sugar. I use brown sugar for it’s caramelly flavor. Yep, caramelly. Mix sugar well. Cover and store in fridge overnight. This will pull lot of the natural juices out of the fruit (maceration).
- Dump fruit, sugar and syrup into your rumtopf jar. It has to be a clean vessel that can seal airtight. I use a mason jar or a cookie jar with a seal (like above).
- Cover everything with rum. You don’t need to full the jar but you want to make sure you cover all of your fruit very well to prevent rot. I use dark rum, but that’s just preference.
- Continue through the season or until you jar is full.
- Wait about 4-6 months before starting to taste it. 6 is ideal but I generally crack it for the Holidays.
When complete, the fruit will have as high – or higher – percentage of alcohol than the super sweet liquid. The fruit is ideal for ice cream and we tend to serve cocktails with it (a bit of fruit in the glass which often becomes a shot as opposed to a sip).
When I completed this years version I realized I forgot to add my cherries and raspberries and I’d run out of room. So that become redtopf:
If the process is unclear, or you want to see pretty pictures of last years Rumtopf, here’s 3 posts (in chronological order) which show how-to:
We’ll get less boozy over the next few days – going to need to after this!
Comments
Enjoying your blog immensely. Much of the local fruit season is done here (things ripen much earlier here in Texas versus the northern climes), but will keep a sharp lookout – definitely want to try this recipe!
Sounds delicious! I wonder if you could use other liquors like bourbon or vodka?
Oh hooray, something I actually want to make and can imagine using. I know what to do with my peaches and strawberries now! Thanks.
All right – trying this now with peaches (and perhaps other fruit to be added later). I added 25% of the weight of fruit in sucanat and that seemed like a lot so I stopped there. We’ll see how that goes.
Just wondering…..I read the post (and the previous ones) and have started my first batch. Is there any suggestion or recommendation about waiting any specific period of time between adding the next batch of fruit/syrup mixture?
I started with blueberries and was ready to add peaches two days later. Tomorrow (two days since the peaches) I’ll be ready to add cherries. No problem?
Can you give me an idea of how this tastes when finished? And is it for sipping, mixing, or both?
Looking forward to the end result,
Jan
[...] This years batch(es) [...]
[...] Ice Cream with Rumtopf. You can’t go wrong with this. [...]
I’ve tried doing this several times now, but my fruit turns gray, very unappealing. Is this normal? The first time I was using 40 proof rum and thought there wasn’t enough alcohol. This time I used a mix of 151 and Kraken rum, which is around 50 proof, but the same thing happened. Too much alcohol? Can’t seem to replicate the appearance of your photos with colorful fruit. Any advice?
We make rumtopf every year with four parts fruit to one part sugar, which I find plenty sweet. We tried quite a few different fruit combos and vodka and gin as well, but the best by far is strawberry, raspberry and cherry, with amber rum. So good in the winter! I guess it could conceivably spoil with the lower amount of sugar (?) though with all that rum it has kept fine. I keep it in the fridge, because I’m a bit of a nervous nelly, and I have the space, but I’m sure it would be fine just kept in a cool place.
Can I use spiced rum?
Sure you can – let us know how it goes! This has been a winter staple in our house to warm up cold nights.