The pandemic is over. The lies have been exposed. It's time to go on with life.

During the pandemic I was forced by my "boss" to sanitize my hands at every stop as a condition of my contract. Hand sanitizer, and its main active ingredient were impossible to come by. So I stocked up on ethyl alcohol to make my own. Now I am looking for a use for the leftover stuff besides drinking it.

Enter; Rumtopf. (German practice of preserving fruits in alcohol). I've never made it, but, now is the time with all the sweet fruits and berries ready to harvest. The "recipies" are brain dead simple. I've seen examples of stuff like:

• cherries
• strawberries
• raspberries
• Peaches
• Plums

You get the drift. Does anyone here make it? Any suggestions for maybe combinations, unique fruits, etc.?

You use the fruits as they come in season. I don't use plums as I don't like the texture of them in a Rumtopf. You layer them in an earthenware pot, cover them with rum and add some sugar ( brown ) then put a plate that fits inside the pot on top to keep them under the rum and close the lid of the pot. Repeat as things come into season. Then open it up for Christmas. Tastes great over vanilla ice cream. Blackberries and raspberries go in next at this place
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edit: I also add a couple of vanilla beans they go in with the first fruits .... strawberries

Don't know anything about rumtopf, but I make a beach plum liqueur with equal parts of plums and sugar covered with high proof vodka... For a quart it was 1 cup plums, 1 cup or a little less sugar...
beach plums don't break down, the skins are tough and holds them together.

What you describe is the Americanized version on rumtopf.

I went ahead and made four jars last night. I used a lot less sugar over packed jar of:

• cherries (2 quarts)
• strawberries (1 pt)
• raspberries (1 pt)

I think I will start a batch like Scuba describes, in maybe a 1gallon jar. I figure glass, being made from sand is close enough to earthenware to qualify as traditional. The alcohol acquired was intended for hand sanitizer, so wasn't exactly the finest sipping stuff. It's the equivalent of Everclear® diluted down to 50% (100 proof).

I understand it doesn't sound the best to everyone.

The way I see this stuff is, canning two products at once (liqueur and fruit) without all the hassle of all the sterilizing, boiling/sealing like water bath.

A big thing here is putting plums into Armagnac, (a type of Brandy or Cognac from our part of France). They let it sit for as long as they want, but usually a year, and I can tell yuo first hand it is great. You can drink the liquor or eat the fruit over ice cream or a cake.

Pete

Once I was in a hurry for a birthday present. So filled a large jar with Rumtopf, put a lid on it and cut up a towel to cover the lid with a rubber band. The woman I gave it to was from the southern part of Germany and did not know what it was. She did not turn up in school the next day ( being a teacher ) So I called her in the afternoon. Turns out her and her sister thought they would just eat the fruit and not drink the liquid. They polished most of that jar of that night and never woke up till past mid day the next day with a bit of a hangover.

Cool! I've been looking forward to a day off.