Rumtopf (Traditional German Fruit Preserve & Beverage)

OMG, this is so wicked! It has actually been a lot of fun check to see how this developed. My batch included apples, pears, blueberries, strawberries, dried plums, dried apricots and maybe one other thing I forgot. I used an assortment of dark rums including Bacardi, Myers Spiced Rum, and Appleton Dark. After week 2, yes I checked, the fruit still had all its flavor and a nice kick of rum to boot. Started having visions of myself getting soused eating fortified fruit salad. By week 4, the fruit was beginning to lose flavor and color. And my dried fruits were looking quite swollen. The rum was taking on a reddish hue as well. Hmmm. Week seven is here. Fruit is grey and unappealing - no more visions of fruit salad. But the beverage, this is a drink afterall, is rich and syrupy and has all this wonderful flavor that while strong is quite smooth. It tastes more potent than my original rum - so I'm guess a little addition fermentation took place. The color has also deepend to a lovely reddish amber. Now I wish my batch had been bigger to give as a holiday gift. Thanks! 2006 Update: Made this again starting my crock in March for Christmas. Yes that's nine months. Put it away and just left it alone. Amazing stuff. Packed up up with some stollen and it was the perfect gift for a German friend. The biggest challenge was we all fought over the 80 proof fruit which ufter being yucky became wonderful all over again. For eating purposes, the fall fruits and dried fruits worked best. Maybe I should start the 2007 batch now. Thanks again.

This was easy to throw together since I made it in one batch, not adding seasonal fruit during sommer whenever something were in season. I started in October, so I took what fruits were there.- ONE REMARK CONCERNING THE METHOD WHEN YOU PUT THE RUMTOPF TOGETHER THE TRADITIONAL WAY: Do add 2 parts fruit and 1 part rum whenever fresh fruit is in season,stir very carefully, BUT ONLY add enough rum to cover the fruit completely . This is actually more a fruit preserve than a beverage. Drinking the rum is "just" an nice side effect. :) - - I review this for the World Tour 2005, but due to the fact that it has to steep 6 weeks and Thorsten is my husband, too, I'll not give it any stars.

This is FANTASTIC!!! I really am not a big rum drinker so was a little worried if i would like it or not! No worries... this stuff is smoooooth and tastes so good! We tried it over ice cream tonight and it was awesome!!! I did put more cherries in it than the other fruits and berries... We also tried it hand warmed in a sniffer and liked that as well. This is an excellent drink!!! Thank you so much Thorsten for posting this FABULOUS recipe!!!!

I added fruits starting with papaya,following with mangos, grapes, strawberries, pears, apples added a vanilla bean and cardamom that I ground. (Take note in the pictures you can see the beans and cardamom floating). The fruit did get very soggy, lost its color and not eye appealing at all. And was very strong to taste! So I did squeeze the access liquid from it into the rest of it. Then I strained the liquid. I froze some which became very thick and rich like syrup. Tasty! I had some at room temp. as well and this to was quite delish. Would be nice heated or in hot herbal tea. Very relaxing! Thanks for the comfort!

Worked out great! I did not expect it to be so smooth. I used Groslings 151 proof from Bermuda. This rum had such a strong taste and smell I could’ve never imagined it mellowing the way it did. We kept ours in the refrigerator but allowed it to sit covered on the counter the afternoon that new fruit was out at each time. Thank you