Path: wn5!worldnet.att.net!feed1.news.erols.com!news.idt.net!usenet.logical.net!news.dal.ca!newsflash.concordia.ca!not-for-mail From: lori@vax2.take-this-out.concordia.ca (Lori Dupuis) Newsgroups: rec.food.preserving Subject: Re: Rumpot Date: Wed, 14 May 97 14:10:07 GMT Organization: Concordia University Lines: 106 Distribution: world Message-ID: <5lch3t$a7u$1@newsflash.concordia.ca> NNTP-Posting-Host: pc-ldupuis.concordia.ca X-Newsreader: News Xpress Version 1.0 Beta #2 Sorry it has taken me a little longer than I promised to get this recipe posted. I was hoping to scan it, but the office scanner is broken... This is exerpted from the April/May 1995 issue of Fine Cooking, and was written by Marlene Parrish, a former food editor and reviewer for Pittsburgh Magazine. (to reply, remove the take-this-out from my address.) Lori ================ My version of rumpot consists of whole berries and cherries preserved in a rum and sugar syrup. The sugar and alcohol preserve the berries while adding a flavor of their own. There's no set recipe, but the technique must be consistent. Select only perfect berries as they come into season. Weigh them, put them in a crock or jar, add an equal portion of sugar, douse with rum, cover the container, and set in a cool, dark place. When you get the next lot of berries, repeat the process, adding everything to the same crock. For the container, you'll need a two to four quart crock, such as a heavy bean pot or a heavy, wide-mouth jar. If you want to be authentic, check country stores for a ceramic German crock labeled rumtopf. Glass is less traditional, but it works just fine. Since the pot must be kept covered, it's best to use a container with a tight fitting lid, but you can always cover the pot wth foil or plastic wrap. Since fruit in sugar are in equal weights, you'll also need a scale. Anything from a handful to a whole basket of berries can be added at any time. There are no rules for amounts, but a good proportion might be a quart of strawberries, a quart of raspberries, two cups of cherries, a cup of blueberries, and two cups of blackberries. The fruit will shrink somewhat during steeping as the sugar solution pulls water from the fruit by osmosis. Apples, peaches, plums, citrus fruits and pineapple are often added to rumpots. They're delicious, but because they must be peeled and chopped, they tend to change the character of the mixture as they steep. And because they let off so much of their juice, they also cloud the syrup. Whether you use a light or dark rum is a personal preference. I've used all light, all dark, and a mixture of both. Start your rumpot as soon as the summer fruit comes into market, beginning with the first strawberries of the season. Choose unblemished berries with an even red color and heady perfume. Handle the berries gently - bruised fruit will spoil the clarity of the syrup as it steeps and spoil the rumpot. Give your berries a light rinse and let them dry. Remove the hulls and weigh the strawberries before putting the fruit in the pot. Scatter an equal weight of sugar over the fruit and pour on enough rum to cover the sugar. Don't shake or stir. There is no exact measurement of rum; add just enough to cover the fruit. To keep the fruit completely submerged, choose a plate just a little smaller than the circumference of the container and set it on top of the berries. You want to be sure that the fruit is completely immersed in the rum to prevent it from being exposed to the air and spoiling. Put a tight fitting lid on the container if you have one; otherwise, cover it with foil or plastic wrap. If the pot isn't tightly covered, the rum will evaporate. If this happens, just add more rum. A fruit cellar is the traditional place to store a rumpot. Keep it in any cool dark place. Add cherries next when they come into season in early July. Red Bing cherries and white Rainiers are both good candidates; save sour cherries for pies. Rinse and dry the fruit; remove the stems, leave the pits intact. Check the pot for any undissolved sugar before adding any more fruit. Use a chopstick or rubber spatula to soften any lumps you may see, but be gentle - overstirring can damage the fruit and make the syrup cloudy. Add the cherries, an equal weight of sugar, cover with rum, replace the plate, reseal the pot, and return to a cool dark place. Add black and red raspberries as they come into season. Be sure they are plump and juicy; avoid any that are dry, seedy or show signs of mold. By now the sugar and rum should have marred into a syrup. If, when you add a new batch of berries and sugar, they're covered with syrup and well below the surface, don't bother adding more rum. The point is to be sure that the fruit is submerged not drowned. Too much rum makes the syrup weak. (If there is too much liquid, leftover syrup can be strained, bottled and refrigerated to use. Or, drink it as a liqueur.) Next add the blueberries, but not too many, because they can get stiff and rubbery as they steep. Since blueberries are so small and easy to pick over, it's tempting to add more; resist the urge or you'll end up with an unbalanced ratio of fruit. Blackberries ripen in August and are usually my last addition to the pot. Other parts of the country have an abundance of native berries that are good rumpot candidates. Use whatever is plentiful and luscious in your area. Follow the same procedure as above. Think about serving the rumpot in late fall. I open my crock after Thanksgiving dinnner, although you could begin sampling as early as the end of October. Remember that the rumpot syrup is still an alcoholic beverage. Its alcohol content is closer to liqueur than of rum, however, because the sugar draws the juice out of the berries and dilutes the rum. Ways to serve rumpot: Top a slice of poundcake or angelfood cake with a spoon or two of rumpot and garnish with whipped cream. Sneak some into the center of a filled cream puff. Spoon whipped cream into a small wine glass. Top with a spoon or two of rumpot. Add elegance to ice cream with a ladleful of rumpot. Try it with vanilla, cinnamon or berry ice cream. Spoon rumpot over any cheesecake, moussee, or soft pudding that needs a lift.