Rumtopf update

We added 1 lb dark cherries and another 1/2 lb sugar today - our first check on how it's doing. It smells AMAZING. It tastes AMAZING (shhh - it was only a a tiny taste - for science - honest). The strawberries have turned white. One forum post I read said that within days, the rumtopf was no longer rum. I see what they mean. It is already delicious.

One slight concern is that the fruit floats, thus making it difficult to keep covered by a finger-width of rum. Some sites recommend putting a saucer in to hold down the fruit, but our rumtopf narrows at the top so this is not particularly helpful. We do it anyways, if only to be able to legitimately lick our fingers, but I hope this is not going to be a problem. The eminent CJJ Berry writes, "If you want to make a particularly good job place a plate over the fruit so the fruit is submerged if the shape of the pot allows it." This does make it sound optional.

In other news, I have stripped the dried lavender flowers off of the first batch that I've dried this summer - the whole downstairs smells like lavender - we are all especially calm this evening!