To Steadfast Ahoy--Rumtoph

By Christine

A post not long ago on Steadfast Ahoy, a blog that Roy and I enjoy, told of making rumtoph for the upcoming Christmas season. It brought back so many pleasant memories that I just had to respond. If anyone was hoping for another biking story, please indulge me as I write to Rosemary.

As a young Lieutent stationed in Berlin, Germany in the early 1970's, I was told about the wonderful concoction of rumtoph by my German friends. Sigi hadn't made any while I was there but she'd said it was easy to make and delightful. She liked it even better if the fruits were mashed after the process was completed. (I never made it that way, and I can imagine that mashing the fruit wouldn't improve the color anyway.) She liked it especially over ice cream.

After I married Roy, left Berlin, and settled into domesticity I began my first rumtopf, layering the fruits of the season, in Silver Spring, MD. (I'm sure I never went to the trouble of pitting the cherries.)We lived in an apartment, and the rumtopf did fine in the corner of our little kitchen. During the holidays and thereafter we served the rumtoph over ice cream to our guests. We never thought too much about the not-too-attractive color of the fruits because back in those days our dinner parties included quite a bit of imbibing. (Ah...the excesses of youth.)

Anyway, having read Rosemary's post, and getting all excited about making rumtopf after all these years, I went to our cooking specialty store to get a cherry pitter. Rosemary, look how technology has improved cherry pitting! I wore only latex gloves! No muss, no fuss. Two big bags of cherries took me very little time to pit.

The pitter will de-pit four cherries at a time.

 One only has to line them up, push down, and voila--four perfectly pitted cherries.

The pits are contained in the receptacle eliminating a lot of the mess.

 Rosemary's post brought back so many pleasant memories of my Berlin tour: sitting around with our German friends, drinking, listening to Sigi's stories, and laughing into the wee hours of the night. They opened their home and their hearts to us. Ah...the friendship, the care-free years of youth (pre-marriage, pre-children).

Thank you so much Rosemary for the memories. I hope that your rumtopf will also provide you with pleasant memories for years to come. Forgive me for corresponding in such a public manner, but I just had to let you know about the cherry pitter! And thanks for all your wonderful stories.