Friday, January 25, 2013

My Dad's Blackberry Gin !

This is for Mrs Thomasina Tittlemouse who kindly requested the recipe for the Blackberry Gin my Dad  made for Christmas this year. As explained to Mrs T, my dad is not known for his culinary skills - in fact  he has to look up the recipe to boil an egg!
However he was absolutely delighted to have been asked for his recipe-  Its more of a general method rather than a detailed recipe-so here goes!
My Dad's Blackberry Gin

Ingredients:
Blackberries - enough to fill 1/3 of container
White or unrefined sugar
Gin
Method:
Take your quantity of blackberries and remove stalks and debris. Place in a bowl and lightly squash with a potato masher. Poor / transfer into a sterilised demijohn or glass bottle and fill to one third of the container. Add approximately one sixth of the container of sugar and top the bottle up with gin. Close container with lid or cork.
Swirl gently and leave in a cool dark place. Swirl bottle gently a couple of times a week for several weeks and then leave to stand.  The resulting concoction will the need to be decanted after two to three months depending on how quick you want to drink it!
To decant- the mixture could be strained through a sterilised jelly bag, or just poured through a coffee filter paper and funnel as in my previous post ( boiling water  having been poured through first to make sure it was clean) into your chosen sterilised bottle. Although in the coffee filter method you would need to be careful not to pour the fruit pulp into the filter.  So as not to waste anything -the alcoholic fruit base could be frozen if so desired and eaten with ice-cream at a later date. Beware this could be headache inducing!

The sweetness of the liqueur can be adjusted at the bottling stage. I quite like mine to be not too sweet and have found this level of sugar to be right for us

 Having decanted and of course taste tested the blackberry gin I thought I would check on the allotment ( on foot of course!)
On the way there- watercress beds on the right

Add the entrance
The snow is starting to disappear !

At the entrance of my wild plot


My lovely blue shed
My lovely blue shed looks as if it needs some repair work- Mr H looks after the building and structural work- so once the snow goes I think he will be looking to repair the roof_ pretty please!

 It all looks so very pretty in the snow- disguising all the weeds etc!


 My lovely friend's shed - itsnt it pretty - I hope one day to get my girls painting flowers on my shed  so that mine is pretty too! Maybe I will just have to paint  mine in stripes for now!
 I am so looking forward to spending time down at my allotment  and making  it a pretty restful and productive area! roll on Spring!
 And at home the snow is disappearing - I hope the cyclamen and primulas recover


The snow is going!
I'm off to look at my seeds and next time hope to show you some I bought this week! See you then!

6 comments:

Thomasina Tittlemouse said...

Thank you so, so much Nikki! I am so grateful - we all adore blackberries and when I tried my hand at a version of a blackberry liqueur which involved cooking the blackberries first, the mixture went peculiar and separated into a sort of alcoholic blackberry sludge! Not a success! Your father's recipe looks beautifully feasible and much less hassle. Come the blackberrying season I shall be making this without fail. Please pass on my thanks to your Dad as well as to yourself! Have a lovely weekend considering plans for your allotment - that flowery shed is something else! And the lovely soft blue colour you've painted yours in is a perfect canvas! Thank you again for the recipe. E x

Mrs H said...

My pleasure Elizabeth - This just emphasises what blogging means to me- sharing appreciating , finding friends and learning new things! I've had a look and your millefleurs bantams are really pretty birds!

Beth of The Linen Cat said...

Blackberry gin sounds great, definitely one to try next year! I'm keen to get into our garden too, it's still mostly covered in the white stuff but I hope it melts tomorrow and I can see the damage. Beth (thelinencat)xx

oh and thank you for your lovely comments re my mum.

Mark Willis said...

I bet the Blackberry Gin is a bit like Creme de Cassis! Probably good made into a long drink with some tonic water. Must try this alongside my Sloe Gin next Autumn...

Mrs H said...

Hi Beth _ glad to hear you again! everything is so much greener here now the snow has gone! Hoping your snow disappears soon too and you are able to get digging in the garden!- it helps in many ways!

Mrs H said...

hi Mark you are right the blackberry gin is lovely with tonic water! Its also very nice on its own on a cold day!