A while ago I found another traditional German recipe I thought I'd give a go. It translates literally as 'Rum Pot', because you basically add rum and fresh fruit in a stoneware pot and leave it for 4-6 months.

Originally fruits would be added in batches as each variety came into season, with more sugar and rum added each time. Modern supermarkets have kind of rendered that unneccessary, but I decided to follow the stage-by-stage approach anyway.


Ingredients: Rum, fresh fruit, sugar and a 3-litre rum pot.


The first fruit to be added (that's strawberries, if you're agriculturally challenged). The first batch gets double its weight in sugar; the remaining batches only get 1:1. Coat the fruit in the sugar for about an hour before adding it to leech out some of the juices.


A couple of weeks later I added some blackberries. A bit early for the real season - the ones in the wild brambles next to my house are only just coming out now. Blackberries should be added sparingly because they can discolour the rum, and they're normally a little bit bitter (or so I read).


The rumtopf so far...


My dad used to grow raspberries in the back garden when I was a kid. They're my favourite fruit, so I added a shed-load about 2 months after the strawberries.


The rumptof so far, again. The colour is being drawn out of the fruit into the rum so the strawberries look a bit pale now.


Store the pot with something holding the fruit under the rum to stop it spoiling, then cover with clingfilm. You can see how red the rum has become so far.

Still to add later are cherries, pears and plums, although there's not much room left for them. My plan is to make a trifle with some of the fruit when it's ready, then puree some more to make a coulis and serve with the rum as an after-dinner liquer.

*smacks lips*