Mouldy Rumtopf

[jackie j]

As the title says my rumtopf has gone mouldy, where did I go wrong. I used some of it a few weeks ago.

[Hilary B]

air got in perhaps?

[jackie j]

I had covered the top with cling film then put the lid on.

[rustylady]

Not enough alcohol to preserve the fruit

[jackie j]

Plenty of rum lol

[shirlthegirl43]

I think I remember that happening to ours when I was younger - Mum picked out the mouldy bits and put more booze in it - nobody died!

[Two_Sheds]

when you took something out, did you use sterilised utensils?

[jackie j]

when you took something out, did you use sterilised utensils?

No just a clean spoon ( washed in dishwasher ) from the draw.
Gutted cos I was looking forward to eating it at christmas.

[Hilary B]

Isn't the fruit content supposed to be fully submerged under the alcohol? It's not something I've used, but if there is air in the top of the container, and fruit exposed to that air, I can see why it would go mouldy. It's probably penicillin anyway.....

[jackie j]

It was full to the top, with fruit and rum, couldnt get anymore in it. I took some out but not much and replaced with rum, fruit risen to the top. Maybe it needed more fruit so it was compact. Dont know if it will be ok if I take off the top or if I would fancy eating it knowing what it was like.
I had covered it with cling film and let the lid push it down a bit so the lid still fitted into the top and not stand proud.

[Two_Sheds]

No just a clean spoon ( washed in dishwasher ) from the draw.

I wouldn't trust "clean from the dishwasher". I always run spoons under a boiled kettle before poking my wine

[Alison]

It was full to the top, with fruit and rum, couldnt get anymore in it. I took some out but not much and replaced with rum, fruit risen to the top. Maybe it needed more fruit so it was compact. Dont know if it will be ok if I take off the top or if I would fancy eating it knowing what it was like.
I had covered it with cling film and let the lid push it down a bit so the lid still fitted into the top and not stand proud.

I always have a small dish in the top over the fruit to keep it all below alcohol level then the cling film on top (but not touching anything) before the lid. That way nothing will go mouldy as the fruit can't get near any oxygen. I've always understood that one of the most important things about them is that the fruit is submerged. Woulnd't worry about the sterilising bit though, always just use a clean ladle and haven't had any problems as the alcohol level is much higher than with wine.

[RichmondHens]

Just caught up with this. I did a Rumtopf once, spent ages piling all the lovely fruit in with loads of rum to cover and all the fruit weighed well down under the surface of the alcohol. It looked and smelled fantastic. It had lots of time to mature and still looked marvellous. Left it a bit more then went back to it and it had all turned sludgy brown, like dog poo, and I couldn't bear to eat it. It wasn't mouldy, just unappealing really. But I don't think it should have looked like that. All the pictures I had seen were of rich red berries in dark juice piled on top of ice cream and such. Mine looked, well ....... nothing like that!

[Scottishnewbie]

that's exactly what mine looked like this year and no-one would eat it! Still looking for ideas of what to do with it as can't bear to chuck it away!

[jackie j]

I have spoken to my sister about mouldy rumptopf and my nephew said ( chef on cruise ship ) the best thing to do is when you put the sugar in, pop the jar / container into a pan of warm ( not boiling ) water off the heat, this warms up the sugar. Will need to speak to him some more about exactly what to do but he is back at sea now.