Damson gin

A chance meeting with a kind lady who let us plunder her damson tree in Herefordshire at the weekend has led to a jar of purple booze in my kitchen. It's a good feeling, returning to London with some countryside bounty. Free, as well. Being someone who is almost as greedy as I am frugal, it makes me happy. Shame I've got to wait for three months before I can tuck in. Last year, I was pleased as punch with the two bottles of sloe gin I made. Sweet heady and not unlike cough mixture, it was a fun thing to whip out at the end of supper. Just when you think there are no more good things to come until breakfast. This year, I thought: why not branch out, try something different - to my knowledge I've never eaten a damson. It's too early for sloes - you're supposed to wait until the first frost, usually end of October or early November, so I busied myself last night, pricking damsons and poking them through the top of an old Amaretto bottle. Then you add gin and sugar and you're done. No need to buy special kit. Like making chutney, it's a satisfying way of using up old bottles and jam jars.  Having never made the stuff before, I had a quick scout around Google to look for a recipe. The one I followed is here. It is one of many delicious sounding creations on Woolfit, a food blog. I'm sure I'll be back for more. Now my gin is made, it's up on the kitchen shelf. I gaze at it longingly, wondering what a damson tastes like. 

Comments

[Kitchen Witch]

Well, I know you're supposed to wait (although we had our first frost the night before last), but last year I made five gallons of sloe wine in early September, and the astonishing thing is that on closer inspection, I appear to have made sloe gin, WITHOUT THE GIN! It's fantastic. Needless to say, I shall be out stalking sloes again this weekend...

[hedgewizard]

Pricking? Not for me, although it's hardly an arduous task. If you're doing a lot it's easier to freeze them overnight and then plunge them into warm water to crack the skins - then just strain them off and continue as normal. The gin looks fab, Anna!

[ecoworrier]

THanks Hedgewizard and Kitchen Witch. One thing I didn't mention - and has been worrying me - is that due to the small neck of the Amaretto bottle and the relatively large, juicy damsons I had picked, I ended up shoving them in, sometimes even cutting them in half. Instead of a pile of whole fruit at the bottom of the bottle, I have a sludge of damson puree. Hmmm, will this matter, do you think?

[Kitchen Witch]

Hmm, I've got a similar substance at the bottom of a jar of plum brandy; so far, I've just syphoned off the non-sludge liquid, but I plan to eat the sludge itself with ice-cream.

See? Nothing wasted. :)

[program]

Thanks You All You News Blog İs World 1 Number

[hedgewizard]

If the sludge is too nasty, you can pour the stuff through a funnel lined with wet kitchen paper or a coffee filter. Works fine.

[Dr Tom McEwen]

Can Anna take a look at the Wightlink ferry co which is intending to introduce 3 huge ferries into the Lymington River next spring. This is the National Park which has just won the ecotourism award!Globalisation at its worst, in the New Forest! Heard of MacQuarie? They've bought Wightlink.And, they think, our river and our children's future. Hmmm!