Photo credit: Sven Wolter

A German Christmas tradition, usually requiring months of layered additions to preserve the fruit as it comes in season. Almost any fruit will work, but avoid dark berries, which stain the lighter fruits; kiwis or bananas, which are too soft and go mushy; and citrus fruits, which tend to make the batch too sour.

INGREDIENTS

• 4 pears, peeled, cored, and sliced
• 8 to 10 apricots, pitted and halved
• 4 plums, pitted and quartered or sliced
• 24 cherries, pitted and halved
• 1 cup (192 g) castor sugar
• 1 cinnamon stick, broken into pieces
• 2 star anise pods
• 3/4 cup (180 ml) rum, white or dark

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Fill and preheat the SousVide Supreme to 180F/82C.
2. Put the fruit into a large (gallon/3.8 liter) zip closure cooking pouch. Add the sugar, close the seal, and shake to disperse the sugar.
3. Add cinnamon, star anise, and rum to the pouch and use the displacement method (Archimedes’ Principle) to remove the air and zip the seal.
4. Submerge the pouch in the water bath and cook for 45 minutes to 1 hour.
5. Remove from the water bath and immediately submerge in an ice bath (half ice/half water) to stop the fruit from continuing to cook.
6. Refrigerate in the pouch for up to a week.
7. Serve the fruit on its own or over vanilla ice cream.

You can also strain the delicious pouch liquor, which makes a lovely cordial or add an ounce (30 ml) of it to a glass of champagne for a Rumtopf cocktail.