Rum Pot is such a nice gift to give yourself for Christmas.  It’s an even better gift to give to your holiday guests.  The fruit is wonderful served with ice cream, over pound cake or bread pudding or in a bowl with a spoon…just as long as you’re not driving!  Then there’s the liqueur.  But, you need to start a Rum Pot in the summer.  The idea here is that you’re going to let perfectly ripe seasonal fruit soak and macerate in sugar and rum for at least 6 weeks, but 6 months is even better.  Patience friends…patience.  The Goddess isn’t good with the patience thing, so she slides the jar into the back of the pantry and tries to forget about it.

What you need:  A pot, rum and great fruit.  I use a glass gallon jar with a tight-fitting lid as my “pot”.  You can purchase containers that are just for rum pots, but this works great.  However, do use glass, not plastic, as plastic can harbor flavors you don’t want in your rum pot.  By the way, I love this cherry pitter.You need rum that’s at least 108° proof, but I prefer 151° proof.  The higher proof prevents, or slows fermentation.  Spiced rum isn’t the best option.  If you want spice, add cinnamon sticks, allspice berries, star anise, etc.  I usually don’t use the spices, but that’s up to you.  I do use vanilla beans, though.

As to the fruit, stone fruits work best.  Some people use strawberries and raspberries, but I don’t.  I don’t like their consistency after they macerate.  I prefer to add sliced fresh strawberries and whole raspberries, when I serve the fruit at the holidays.  The ratio of fruit to sugar is one half pound sugar per pound of fruit.  First and foremost, remove the stems, pits or seeds from the fruit.  I slice the larger fruit and begin layering.  I started with about 25 cherries, 3/4 cup sugar, 3 apricots (sliced), 3/4 cup sugar, 3 large plums (sliced), 3/4 cup sugar, 3 large peaches (sliced), 3/4 cup sugar.  I’ll be adding nectarines, mango and pineapple, using about the same ratio of fruit to sugar.

I layered it all in the jar, poured the rum over the fruit.  You can see that the fruit is covered by about an inch.  The fruit needs to be completely submerged.  Now, a couple of layers of plastic wrap and cap off the jar.  I don’t stir the fruit, until the pot is ready to serve, but I don’t think it matters if you do.Then, I wrapped the jar in a dark terry cloth towel, put some rubber bands around the towel to hold it in place.  Now, it will sit and do it’s magic for several months in total.

Throughout the summer, repeat the process for each new fruit as it comes into season.  Layer the sliced fruit into your Rumtopf, until it is full, making certain to keep the fruit covered with rum by at least one inch.  You can complete the rum pot on the same day, if that works for you.  I did 4 layers today.  I’ll get the nectarines tomorrow, mangoes in August and then pineapple, until my pot is filled…I’ll keep you posted.

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