Rumtopf Recipe – Fruit Soaked In Spiced Rum

A traditional recipe made throughout parts of Europe just in time for Christmas

A traditional Rumtopf starts during the summer months as a long-term project using the last of the summer fruits in an attempt to preserve their use. After soaking over many months, the mixture is ready to be consumed during the end-of-year festive season, served as a dessert or given as a present to friends and family. At one point in time, a rumtopf was a yearly tradition for many families in Germany, Austria, Denmark and some parts of Italy.

What is a Rumtopf?

Rumtopf, meaning Rum Pot in the German language, is a strong alcohol-based fruit compote. Sugar, fruit and spices are combined with rum and stored in a ceramic or clay pot. The pot is then stored over many weeks or months until the fruit is completely saturated in rum. If started in the summer, a rumtopf will most likely always contain strawberries and other fruits from the season. As the weather changes and months roll on, additional autumn and winter fruits are continually added to the pot producing many layers of fruit flavour.

How to make German Rumtopf

The process is very simple. Cut your chosen fruits into bite-sized pieces (if using berries then leave them whole). Cover in sugar and rum, then store somewhere dark and cool for a minimum of 2 weeks – 5 months. What’s important is the sugar– fruit–alcohol ratio, without this, the fruit will go rotten. Too little sugar will amount to dry sour inedible fruit. Too much sugar will remove the flavour balance.

As a general rule using 500g of sugar to 1kg of fruit produces a beautifully sweet fruit rum where the taste of the rum is still prevalent, but not too sharp. There will be a balance of spice, fruit flavour and enough sugar to make the whole eating experience very pleasant (and very boozy).

Important note: Each time new fruit is added to the pot it will need to be weighed with the correct ratio of sugar added along with it.

What rum should I use for a Rumtopf

So the fruit doesn’t start to ferment, a minimum of 54% alcohol ABV strength is necessary (this is found in many supermarkets and online) A rum of this strength will aid in the absorption of sugar, keeping the fruit edible for many months on end. In the past, Rumtopf was famously made with Austrian Stroh, and overproof 80% rum. It’s still available for purchase now, however, there isn’t much point in using a rum of this strength as it will require at least double the sugar to remove the sharp taste as well as being a touch too strong (which could ruin a good dinner party pretty quickly!)

Spices for a Rumtopf

As rumtopf is heavily connected with the festive season the spices should have a warm Christmassy feel and taste. Cardamom, cloves, star anise, cinnamon, juniper berries, nutmeg, ginger and orange peel are all classic spices found in many Christmas drinks (mulled wine) and cakes.

How to store Rumtopf – Does Rumtopf need to be airtight?

A traditional Rumtopf pot is made of ceramic or porcelain, with a non-airtight lid that can easily be removed and replaced. Leaving room for a little air to get in is no problem at all – if sealed airtight there’s a chance gases could build up leading to bubbles and fermentation which is exactly what you don’t want. To find an original Rumtopf pot search websites such as Etsy and Ebay (The one pictured below was purchased off Ebay). If you think you’ll end up a dedicated Rumtopf maker, it’s worth investing in one. Otherwise, you can use a glass jar or plastic container, but just make sure the lid isn’t air-tight.

What fruit goes in a Rumtopf?

In theory, harder fruits should be at the bottom of the pot and softer fruits such as raspberries should be added last so they sit on top (and not be crushed by other layers of fruit). However, when adding fruit according to the season, this isn’t always possible. Below is a list of the best fruits for a Rumtopf.

Strawberries – After soaking in rum sadly the strawberries will lose some colour and may appear white. But this is normal.
Raspberries – Make sure the raspberries are firm otherwise they may turn to mush
Apricots – Remove pit and leave the skin on
Nectarines – Remove pit and leave the skin on
Peaches – Remove pit and leave the skin on
Cherries – Remove pit and stem and leave the skin on
Apples – Remove core and leave the skin on
Plums – Remove pit and leave the skin on
Blueberries – Add whole
Grapes – Add whole
Figs – cut into bite-sized pieces
Pineapple – remove rind and centre core and cut into bite-sized pieces

Fruit to avoid is:

Bananas – too soft and mushy
Oranges and grapefruit – too sour (although a little peel can be added along with the spices for flavour, as seen in the recipe below)
Melons & Watermelon – their water content is too high

How to serve Rumtopf – Rumtopf uses

Rumtopf is traditionally served over ice cream, sponge cake, poured over Bratapfel (German for baked apples), and in more modern times over pancakes, crepes and waffles. Once the fruit has run out there might be a considerable amount of spiced rum left which can then be drunk as a schnapps.

Quick Rumtopf Recipe

Because of the commitment needed to start a Rumtopf in the summer months, Rumtopf has fallen out of fashion with younger generations. This recipe on flaevor.com instead relies on winter fruits and a shorter storage time of 2 weeks. The fruits is adequately soaked with spiced rum over this period of time and it can be made during the first week of December just in time for Christmas.

For an impressive and easy Christmas or festive dessert, try this Passionfruit No Churn Ice Cream and Rumtopf Recipe in the photo below. Start by making the rumtopf recipe feature below in this post (scroll down) at least 2 weeks before you want to serve it, along with this super simple 4 ingredient homemade Passionfruit No Churn Ice Cream recipe here:

Like this recipe? Then you might also like these related recipes on flaevor.com

• Trinidad Rum Punch
• Crepes with Spiced Plum Rum Compote
• Passionfruit No Churn Ice Cream

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