1. Put a litre of really good rum into a large mason jar, along with 500 grams of rock candy, which you stir with a wooden spoon from hour to hour until it has completely dissolved.

2. The strawberries make the start. The best way to do this is to use not too ripe, stemmed fruits that are placed in the jar as the first layer.

3. My great-grandmother gave a layer of red currants, a layer of black currants, then raspberries, sweet cherries and sour cherries over the strawberries.

4. The pitted plums, apricots and peaches, the latter even peeled, followed next.

5. Grapes, pears and apples made up the last layer. My great-grandmother recommended Muscatel pears as the pear variety, which she peeled finely, with a clipped stem, but placed whole in the glass jar. The apples, peeled and quartered, formed the end of the rum pot.

Note: All fruits should be spotless, well washed and sorted. The fruits should be drained and if necessary dried, so that no water can get into the rum pot.

My tall mason jar only reached up to the cherry layer, then it was already full. After almost 6 months, however, I can say that the outcome is very tasty, even without the September and October fruits.