A winter tipple in the making and maybe your next weekend project?Our village is full with octogenarians and beyond and even the gravestones mark 93 years, 94 years so there has to be something in the air. The secret I found out, is a regular tipple in the winter.
I have been writing a small article in our village magazine over the last few months and people have began to bring in produce as both gifts and challenges. Can I do anything with it? Will I share? I love these impromptu gifts of appreciation ( at least that is the spirit in which I receive them). They could just as well be a last resort for a glut of produce, but I am happy either way. The garden at the shop produces a small amount of food and I am only too pleased to take on surplus from our excellent local gardeners.
Today, a box of damsons arrived. Hmm, damson jam, damson jelly, damson cheese.....hold on, damson gin that sounds a bit more like it. As we recently cleared the large sweet jars from the top shelf they seemed the perfect jar to start with. Its easy really, you need gloves, a toothpick, a jar, sugar and gin. You prick the damsons, put them in the sterilised pot, add sugar ( as you go) and top up with gin. Stick in a dark cupboard for 3 months. Visit every few days to shake the jar and in 3 months time, when all the sugar has melted you will be left with a lovely liquid.Strain off the damsons, pour the alcohol through a funnel into a dry warm sterilised bottle and seal. Just an ideal home made present for Christmas. A more formal recipe follows :
Damson Gin
450g of damsons
710ml of vodka or gin
350g caster sugar
2 comments:
Looks wonderful ! A good use for the bit of vodka I have left - I cant get damsons but I think Italian Prune Plums would do just as well. Should be ready by Christmas..................
lizzie
Good to see you posting again.
I'm living in Germany now and will be heading to the farmers' market again in the morning - you've made this sound so simple that I think I'll see if I can get some plums (or damsons, have to go and look up the German word for that but it would probably work with plums, wouldn't it?) and buy a bottle of gin on the way home!
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