I was digging through the freezer for some frozen corn last night and vowed that I would do something this weekend with the huge stockpile of winter fruit crowding the freezer space.

Black currants, red currants and blackberries galore. There’s a reason why they’ve been in the freezer so long. I’m not a huge fan of currants, and the blackberries, foraged from the farm, were only so-so.

But I just hate wasting food! So I asked the folks on Twitter for some inspiration. Funny how almost every suggestion involved booze!

Carl Legge of Llyn Lines introduced me to an interesting concept called Rumtopf, a German dessert which literally means rum pot. Traditionally, Rumptopf is made filling a large stoneware pot with various fruit, high-strength rum and sugar, and then letting the mixture mature for several months until the fruit is very soft and completely saturated with rum.

Well, I didn’t have rum, or a stoneware pot, but I used the same principal with vodka and a glass jar instead (see above), following Carl’s proportions:

for every 500g of fruit 250g sugar and 1l rum/brandy/vodka. Put in a container you can seal & shake. Keep for 8 wks+

Erin suggested what I already had in mind: crème de cassis, a blackcurrant liqueur I was introduced to in France and that goes really with Rosè on a warm summer’s eve.

Cassis is also made by soaking fruit in booze, but the fruit eventually gets strained away and the mixture is boiled down into a thick syrup.

In either case, I’ve got to wait a few good months before the booze has steeped long enough with the fruit. Until then, I fortunately have plenty of last year’s sloe gin for when I feel the call for a cocktail.

Recipes:

• Crème de cassis
• Rumtopf