Les Fruits du Vieux Garçon

For the serious country cook, bachelor or not, these fruits macerated in alcohol are a summer-long project. First into the jar go cherries. Then, as the season advances, apricots, peaches, greengage or yellow Mirabelle plums, red plums, and finally plump green or purple figs follow. Each layer is sweetened with sugar and covered with white alcohol, which in the old days was locally distilled and could taste like rocket fuel. The spirit permeates the fruit and prevents it from fermenting, wh