Boil the red wine, water, cinnamon sticks, cloves, sugar, vanilla sugar, dried pears, and dried plums.
Remove from heat and flavor with ginger, lavender juice, and Poire Williams.
Fill hot rinsed canning jars and close tightly.
Notes / Tips / Wine Advice:
The fruit can be thickened to the desired consistency with a bit of cornstarch.
Acidic, Bitter, or What?
The apricot (Prunus armeniaca, Latin for Armenian plum) is native to Europe and is known as an Austrian specialty, but it originally came from Asia Minor. From there, the proto-apricots were spread through Rome by merchants. And the ancient Romans brought the “amerellum” (which, unbelievably, means acidic, sharp, and bitter) north. When Lauriacum was excavated near Linz, ancient apricot pits were found in amphoras. Wachau apricots were first mentioned in writing in 1679. Since then, apricots have become a pillar of Austrian dessert cuisine thanks to apricot dumplings, strudel, cake, and marmalade. (See recipe on p. 188.)