The French term Confiture de Vieux Garçons translates as 'Bachelors' Preserve' or 'Old Boys' Jam'. Essentially it's an alcoholic drink containing preserved fruit, which is thought to have been named after time-rich bachelors (preparation can take over a year) who also have a greater inclination to consume said beverage instead of their morning butter and jam on toast.

A Family Recipe Handed Down from Past Generations...

Confiture de Vieux Garçons is an adult dessert as much as it is a drink, best enjoyed after dinner in delicate sherry glasses. It is served with a ladle, wine and fruit together. The embarrassment of not knowing how to fish out the pieces of fruit without making too much of a mess is part of the pleasure...

The ideal container for this confiture is a tall dark-green glass jar, closed with a large cork which is wrapped in a thick, white piece of cotton cloth.

Creating the wine element can take up to a year, with the four seasons bottled for the eventual pleasure of all to taste. Over 12 months, as the best fruits of the season become available, they are carefully picked, washed, diced or sliced if they are big, and put into the jar in regular layers, each one topped off with a little brown sugar and completely covered with a good fruit liqueur. Fruit that would be mashed too easily, or might dissolve (bananas, say) are best avoided. Only European fruit was available when this recipe was invented, but exotic additions are worth a try.

Variations on these fruit-preserved-in-alcohol drinks include the Rumtopf, or the 'cerises à l'eau de vie' (preserved cherries) advocated by Alphonse Daudet, a French writer of the late 19th Century.

Four Seasons in a Jar

The preparation process for Confiture de Vieux Garçons starts, logically, in Spring, with the first fruits of the year. Plums, wild strawberries are added to the jar.

Summer then brings its bounties, filling up more than half the space with delicate berries, cherries, peaches and apricots.

Later, in early autumn, grapes, sliced apples and pears make up further layers.

On the very top, the last fruits of the earth before winter sets in, include nuts, almonds and possibly dried figs and dates (imported of course). Over the next few dark months, these fruit and nuts add their rich and sweet fragrance to the bottle that is now corked tight and will lie in a preserved state until the next spring, in the cool protection of the cellar. Then it's time to give it a try - à votre santé!