Fruit & Flower Infused Alcohol ~ Now is the Time to Start!

In my last post I mentioned an alcohol tasting session that spontaneously broke out at my sister’s house when someone brought along a bottle of blackberry gin which, of course we all politely tasted.

Naturally this prompted the opening of some delicious Damson Vodka my nieces had made a year or two back, followed by 12 year old Sloe Gin made by my late father, which was beautiful.

Next came some Limoncello and then, in keeping with the fruity scheme, Calvados. As this was less sweet than the others we all felt the Calvados should have been first so probably need to have another go soon and do the thing properly.  It’s OK, by the way, we used tiny little glasses!

Anyhoo this pleasant evening got me thinking that I really should give fruit (and flower) infused beverages a mention as it’s time to get started on some of these.

Firstly then, as the time really is Now to start on this …

Elderflower Cordial or Champagne

Elderflowers are flowering even as I type so on a lovely sunny day (you want the flowers to be dry and fragrant) go and pick some and make cordial or champagne. 

For the cordial …

20-25 large dry elderflower heads
(some open flowers, some still in bud, not much stalk, shaken to remove insects)
1 ltr water
900g white sugar – granulated or caster
4 lemons (or 3 lemons and a lime or 2 lemons and an orange)

~   Bring the water to the boil.
~   Put the sugar into a large bowl and pour over the boiling water, stir to dissolve.
~   Grate the zest (brightly coloured outer skin only) from the citrus fruits and add to the syrup.
~   Slice the fruits and add those too.
~   Leave to cool.
~   Add the thoroughly examined and picked over elderflower heads.
~   Cover and set aside for 48 hours.
~   Strain carefully and gently through a nylon sieve lined with clean muslin down through a funnel  into clean, sterilised bottles.
~   Keep in a cool dark place for 6 weeks or freeze in ice cubes for several months.

Elderflower Champagne is a little more complicated so I think I will direct you to an expert in this field  where you will also read about a usual technique known as “forking off”! Alternatively just dilute your homemade cordial with sparkling wine.

Moving on, the next item that needs your consideration as soon as possible is …

Rumpot/Rumtopf 

I have written about this gorgeous rum concoction before – here. 

This is made from a variety of summer fruits as they come into season which some are doing right now.

Cherry Bounce 

This is a delicious variation on Rumpot using cherries – did you guess?

In September you can get on with all sorts of delicious drinks based on the following simple recipe …

Blackberry/Damson/Sloe Gin/Vodka

500g fruit (sloes, blackberries or damsons)

250g sugar
1 ltr gin or vodka – but 2 empty bottles!

~   Sloes and damsons will benefit from either being pricked with a darning needle (if such things still exist!) or frozen and thawed so that they split – either way helps release their juices into the booze.

~   Divide the fruits and sugar between the two bottles and top up with the gin or vodka.
~   Seal tightly.
~   Put the bottles in a cool, dark place and give it a good shake every day or so until you are sure that the sugar has completely dissolved.
~   After about 3 months carefully strain the liquid from the fruit (through a scaled muslin) and decant into clean and sterile bottles.
~   Leave it alone for as long as you can – a few months at least but, as our experience with Daddy’s 12 year old sloe gin proves, several years is a good idea.

  

Limoncello 

Make Limoncello any time you like – the recipe is here.

Calvados 

This probably better bought in but here’s recipe for Blackberry and Apple Vodka.

An Easy Way to Sterilise Bottles

An hour or so before making or decanting your drink wash and rinse the bottles and put them on their sides in the oven.  Turn the oven on to 160ºC/325°F/140ºC fan/gas 3 for 10 minutes then turn it off and leave the bottles in there till cool. Metal lids can be boiled.

In Other News …

We went for a glorious walk along the coastal path from Caerhays the other day – it’s a part of the coast I’ve never explored and was very, very lovely.

10 Gorgeous Ideas for the Blackberries you just Picked!

These delicious ideas for blackberries work just as well, of course, if you bought the berries from the supermarket but it is so satisfying (and free) to forage for them yourself!

We recently discovered a lovely footpath not far from our home with all sorts of interesting old waterwheels and other abandoned buildings hidden away amongst the somewhat industrial landscape of clay country, where we live.


We’ve been back several times just to walk and explore but particularly now while the blackberries are ready for picking, all clean and undisturbed being far from the road. I have really stocked up.  Now what shall I do with them? 

Blackberry and Apple Thing
obviously!

Could be a crumble, a pie, a cobbler or, as we had just now a sponge pudding.  For 4 people put 750g fruit (in this case sliced apples with stemmed and washed blackberries) in an ovenproof dish.  Add the appropriate topping and bake.

Crumble Recipe

240g plain flour

160g cold butter or margarine

120g sugar

~   Preheat oven to 180ºC/350°F/160ºC fan/gas 4.

~   Rub in the flour and butter till the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.

~   Stir in the sugar.

~   Put peeled and sliced apples and some blackberries in a pie dish.

~   Sprinkle over the crumble mix.

~   Bake till the fruit is hot (and cooked, if using raw) and the crumble is golden.

Cobbler  Recipe

So called, apparently, because the scone dough resembles a cobbled street!

225g self-raising flour
a pinch of salt
60g cold butter or margarine
25g caster sugar
100ml milk

~   Stir together the flour, salt and baking powder.
~   Add the butter or margarine and “rub in” with your fingers until a breadcrumb texture is achieved.
~   Stir in the sugar once you have finished rubbing in; if you add it earlier it’s uncomfortable on the hands although, of course, it does exfoliate.
~   Add the milk and mix in, by hand is easiest, add a little more milk if too dry or a little more flour if too wet – work just enough to form a soft dough.
~   Either form into rough dollops or on a floured surface press or roll the dough out to about ½” thick and cut into rounds.

~   Lay the pieces of dough on top of the fruit and bake till risen and golden and wonderful.

This picture shows an apple and raspberry cobbler I made whilst wiring The Secret Life of Scones which gives an amazing range of delicious things that can be made with this dough.

Blackberry Pie

Just stick some pastry on top and bake it!

Sponge Recipe

75g soft butter

100g caster sugar

100g self-raising flour

2 eggs, lightly beaten with ½ tsp vanilla extract

1 tbsp boiling water

~   Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350°F/160ºC fan/gas 4.
~   Cream together the butter and sugar till light in both senses; pale and fluffy.
~   Briskly stir in the egg mixture plus 1 tbsp of the flour (this helps prevent curdling).
~   Fold in the rest of the flour.
~   Spread lightly on top of the fruit and bake till it is risen and golden and bounces back when (if) you poke it – about 40 minutes.

Serve all these darlings hot with custard or cold with cream, clotted cream or ice cream.

Blackberry Pancakes

See here for how to make pancakes without even having to buy the mix!

  

When cooking them sprinkle blackberries onto surface of the pancake just after pouring and then drizzle over a little more batter. This protects the fruit from the harsh heat of the pan.

Blackberry Mess

I mean this in a nice way, a great autumnal variation on the Eton variety. Simply fold crushed meringues and blackberries into whipped cream plus an optional drip of vanilla extract.

Blackberry Coulis

It is said that the word “coulis” either referred to ‘the juices that flow from meat when cooking’ or that it came from the Latin verb to strain. These days, however, it is just a posh word for fruit purée. 

fresh blackberries (de-stalked and washed)
sugar (approximately half the weight of the fruit)

~   Put the prepared blackberries in a small saucepan.
~   Add the sugar.
~   Bring to a gentle simmer over medium heat giving the berries a helpful squash now and then.
~   When the fruit is soft and collapsed strain through a fine nylon sieve pushing on the debris to extract as much coulis as poss.
~   Cool, cover and chill till needed.

Drizzle on ice cream, top with fizzy water for an different sort of cordial …

… or make ice cream.

Blackberry and Clotted Cream Ripple

I use the clotted cream ice cream recipe from my ice cream book because these being Cornish blackberries, it felt appropriate.  See Luscious Ice Cream without a Machine for 100+ ices based on this one simple recipe.

250ml clotted cream
250ml single cream
200g condensed milk

150ml blackberry coulis

~   Slowly whisk together the two creams till merged and then up the speed and whisk till thick.
~   Fold in the condensed milk.

~   Decant the mixture in a shallow container and drizzle over cold blackberry coulis in a figure of 8 or any other enthusiastic swirly shape.

~   Stir it through just once or twice making sure to do a large expansive sort of stir down to the bottom and out to the sides of the ice cream. 

~   Freeze.

This is a little hard when it comes out of the freezer but quickly softens. When the ice cream is served the cutting, scooping and spooning will cause it to ripple further.

Blackberry Sorbet

Blackberry sorbet recipe here and here’s details of my sorbet & granita ebook which gives lots of sorbet recipes. 

Blackberry and Apple Vodka

This is an experiment. I really don’t like gin except when it is sloe gin so I have made plenty of that over the years.  Last year I also made a batch of blackberry gin and it too is delectable. This year I am going to make blackberry and apple vodka – it should work. This is what I am doing …

300g blackberries

1 peeled, cored and coarsely chopped apple

300g sugar

1 ltr vodka

~   Put all the fruit into a large sterilised jar – a Kilner or similar.

~   Add the sugar and the gin.

~   Seal tightly.

~   Put in a cool, dark place and give it a viddy sherrek (Cornish for good shake) every day until you can discern that the sugar has completely dissolved.

~   Leave it alone for as long as you can – a few months at least, but apparently the longer it sits the better it is and we are talking years here.

This is the blackberry gin that I made last year – if you look carefully you will see I took the trouble to store it in a bottle with blackberries on it!

If you can’t decide what to do or, like me, have loads of blackberries you’ll be pleased to know they freeze very well. One nice idea is to freeze some in ice cubes for pretty drinkipoos later.

Alternatively just drop frozen blackberries into your drink to chill and flavour it.

If you do have a lot of apples there is loads of info here.

More ideas for blackberries, apples and for 450 or so other possible gluts or leftovers in my book, Creative Ways to Use Up Leftovers.

P.S.  I think I might make blackberry brandy too!

It’s a Sloe Time of Year …

… at least it is in Cornwall where, I suppose, things come into season earlier than they do Up North.  People are out stripping sloes from the bushes even as I speak and I can’t say I blame them; to my mind Sloe Gin is the very best possible use not only for gin, which I dislike, but indubitably for sloes too as they are yuk to eat! 

Many people insist that sloes shouldn’t be picked until there has been a frost but if you wait that long you are in danger of someone less patient having already picked the berries.  One way round this problem is to freeze them yourself before thawing and using them, another is to prick each sloe with a clean darning needle!  Do people still have such things?

Sloe Gin

Pin for future reference!

500g sloes ***

250g sugar

1 ltr gin

~   Prick or freeze and thaw your sloes and put them into a large sterilised jar – a Kilner or similar.

~   Add the sugar and the gin.

~   Seal tightly.

~   Put in a cool, dark place and give it a viddy sherrek (Cornish for good shake) every day until you can discern that the sugar has completely dissolved.

~   Leave it alone for as long as you can – a few months at least, but apparently the longer it sits the better it is and we are talking years here.

*** If by some strange chance you don’t have scales then sloes weigh about 2g so count 250 of them and you should be OK!

There, that wasn’t difficult was it, apart from the waiting bit.  The trick is to make some every year so that you have some by.  Here is a bottle I have just started from last year’s batch.

I seem to have stored it an inappropriate whisky bottle, I can’t remember why. 

Sloe gin has a lovely rich sweet flavour, undisturbed by the original juniper taste of the gin and is a kind of autumnal Rumtopf and is perfectly delish on its own.  Some people who like messing with nature have come up with a number of cocktails using it, however, including one called the Hermione Granger containing pomegranate liqueur, grapefruit juice and Champagne!

Pin this!

Sloe Gin Fizz

Shake sloe gin together with a quarter as much lemon juice and a little of sugar. Strain into a chilled glass and top up with sparkling soda water. Try to do this last bit as violently as possible to encourage the fizz.

3 More Ideas for Sloe Gin

1.   Top up with Champers, which works very well as sloe gin is quite similar to Cassis.

2.   I haven’t tried it yet but I think a G & T made with sloe gin might be far more palatable to me than the original drink. 

3.   I have however tried adding a modicum of Sloe Gin to the pan juices after cooking duck and it worked very well!

Please click here to tell the World how to make Sloe Gin!

Autumn Foraging (and Scrounging)

~  Menu  ~

Wild Mushrooms on Toast with Black Garlic Alfredo

Glass of Secret Red

Fresh Plums

Hasn’t the weather been amazing?  Last Thursday was the best day I personally have experienced since, um … early June or so.  My darling and I had a few hours holiday; we went to Porthcothan beach where he went kayaking and I laid about reading (an excellent book – Katherine Mansfield’s “The Garden Party”, I’ve read it before, what a writer!) then picnic lunch (of no particular foodie interest although I enjoyed it), then blackberrying and sloeing and we finished it all off with a drink at the pub, of course.

In the picture above – wild sloes, my real man off to the sea (just in case you were wondering what he looks like!), wild mushrooms and two wasps shagging *** on my darling’s foot – it was a romantic sort of a day!

In addition to the blackberries and sloes we also picked a few wild mushrooms (these, of course, add a wonderful frisson of danger to any meal) and have been given apples, plums, tomatoes and sweet, hot, long pepper things from people’s gardens and allotments.   

So these are the things I have done so far …

I cooked and froze half the apples and all the blackberries in usable portions – to brighten our winter although hopefully the weather will stay like this!  We picked so many blackberries the ones in the bottom of the box were crushed so I puréed them with a handful of brandy (approx 1 tbsp) and some caster sugar.  I now have a lush sauce for ice cream. 

I made Apple Chutney which I have never done before – it’s OK, very appley and goes well with cheddar, especially Cornish Crackler, but next time I shall be a lot more adventurous.

Sloe Gin 

This is a sort of autumn rumpot (see here for rumtopf/ rumpot recipe) now I come to think of it.  I really don’t like gin but my Daddy always made sloe gin and it was yummy.  This is my first go at it.  It’s dead easy; take 500g of fresh sloes and pierce each one a few times with a darning needle or, alternatively, freeze the sloes and then give them a good bashing – the idea is to open the skins up a bit.  Divide the fruits between 2 x 70cl or so clean, sterilised bottles.  Add 125g of sugar to each bottle and top up with gin.  Seal the bottles, give them a good shake and store in a cool dark place, next to your rumtopf.  Give them a shake every week or so.

With the tomatoes and some of the peppers I made my normal roasted tomato soup and I have done something yummy with a few more of the hot chillies but I will tell all about soon.

Now then – the mushrooms.  As you may know I am obsessed with black garlic so I made up a seriously yummy lunch based on a meal I had at The Basement in Padstow a little while ago. 

Mushrooms on Toast with Black Garlic Alfredo

I love this dish and will probably make it often.

Per person …

15g butter

1 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese

80ml double cream

2 cloves of black garlic – coarsely chopped

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

a handful of mushrooms – quartered

1 tbsp olive oil

A thick slice of great bread

~   First make the Alfredo Sauce – in a small pan simply heat together the first four ingredients till the butter has melted and a thickish sauce has formed.  Set aside for a few minutes for the garlic flavour to infuse into the sauce whilst cooking the mushrooms.

~   In a separate pan sauté the mushrooms in the olive oil till golden – sprinkle with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.

~   Toast the bread.

~   Top the toast with the mushrooms and pour over the sauce.

*** I do apologise for being so crude but I think “making love” would have been a bit too anthropomorphic!