Winter warmers & Winter drinks!

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Winter warmers & Winter drinks!

With it, winter brings some wonderful recipes for drink!

By Ian Mason

Friday, 03 December 2010

Fellow Gun Ian Andrews converted me to Rumtopf, which literally means rum pot and is a traditional German recipe for preserving fruits of the season and supplying a tasty Christmas tipple.

RUMTOPF
You will need:
» A large demijohn or preserving jar

» A selection of fresh fruits such as raspberries, strawberries, cherries, blackberries, peaches (peeled and quartered ), apricots (stoned and halved), nectarines (sliced), plums (quartered), pineapple (cubed), pears (cored, peeled, sliced) grapes (seedless) red currants (removed from stem), gooseberries (remove stems)

» About half a pound of sugar (more if your tooth is sweet)

» 2-3 litres of dark rum

Method
Traditionally Rumptof was made throughout the year. As each fruit came into season a layer of it was put in a stone jar, sprinkled with sugar and covered with rum.

With year-round fruits from today’s supermarkets, the recipe can be shortcut.

Just build up layers of fruit, add sugar and make sure everything is always completely covered in rum.

Strain after many months to fill your hip flask. Keep the by now rum-marinaded fruit to eat with vanilla ice cream.

As with the other recipes on these pages, a funnel and coffee filter paper are useful for filtering the fluid – as are a pair of the Memsahib’s tights.

SLOE GIN
You will need:
» Pound and a half of sloes

» 10 oz granulated Demerara sugar

» Two pints of gin

» 6 drops of vanilla or almond essence

Method
Pick sloes in October or November when they are ripe. Many people say don’t pick them until after the first frosts.

Prick the sloes and layer them with the sugar in a large airtight bottle.

Add the gin and almond or vanilla essence seal the bottle, store in a cool dark cupboard, and agitate once a week.

The longer you leave it, the better it gets.

You can make blackberry brandy using the same technique but substitute blackberries for the sloes and brandy for the gin.

Blackberries are softer fruit and do not need pricking before being put in the bottle.

GINGER WHISKY
You will need:
» 2 Jars of Stem Ginger in syrup.

» 1 Piece of fresh Ginger, 2 inches long and about 1 inch in diameter, peeled and sliced.

» 2 bottles of very cheap supermarket own brand whisky.

Method
Pour the syrup from both stem ginger jars into a demijohn, finely dice the stem ginger from the jars and add them to the demijohn, add the sliced raw ginger.

Pour in both bottles of whisky and replace bung in demijohn, shake vigorously each day for a week, leave to stew for 1 month minimum but for as long as you wish - it will not spoil.

Richard has had some sitting for 4 years and it still tastes great.

Decant into original Whisky bottles via a piece of muslin over a funnel to strain the bits.

Add more raw ginger at the beginning if you like to add some more kick.

Retain the stem ginger (discard the raw) which has been in the whisky, it is great in a steamed syrup sponge with custard!