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!)
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| On the way there- watercress beds on the right |
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| Add the entrance |
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| At the entrance of my wild plot |
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| My lovely blue shed |
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
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| The snow is going! |
6 comments:
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
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!
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.
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...
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!
hi Mark you are right the blackberry gin is lovely with tonic water! Its also very nice on its own on a cold day!
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