How to Make Fruit Gin

We recently took on an allotment, after a surprisingly short stint on the waiting list. I say surprisingly, but if you saw the allotment, you'd understand why the council might have struggled to find a taker. It's a bit of a dump, to put it mildly, but we love it and have big plans for it.

Being a dump, it needs a lot of work before we can start planting. We're currently in the process of removing tonnes and tonnes of mare's tail (hideous weed! Why had I never heard of this monster before?) and trying to clear all the rubbish, broken glass, smashed bricks and ancient, rusty garden tools from the plot.

Anyway, as I said, we love our plot, and can already see its potential. The huge, towering bramble bushes that take over the bottom quarter of the allotment? Think of all the blackberries we'll have! The overgrown cherry tree that should have been pruned to keep it manageable? Great place to sit in the shade on hot afternoons.

We also have an apple tree, a pear tree, a crab apple tree, and raspberry, blackcurrant, gooseberry and redcurrant bushes. Mainly redcurrants. Millions of redcurrants. I've never given much thought to redcurrants before, so set about researching redcurrant recipes. I'll be honest - I'm more of a vegetable girl than a fruit girl, and while I eat enough broccoli, kale and butternut squash to sink a ship, I don't eat that much fruit generally. Therefore, when I came across homemade fruit gin recipes, I was delighted.

I've only made redcurrant gin so far, but am excited to try it with raspberries in the next few days. Once the blackberries are ripe in a couple more months, any that don't get frozen or made into bramble jelly will also be getting the gin treatment. There are lots of fruits you can use to create fruit gin, and the method is usually pretty similar: simply seal your gin, fruit, sugar (if needed) and any other flavourings - such as herbs - in a jar and leave it from one week up to a couple of months. I used this Kilner Round Clip Top Jar 0.5Ml from Amazon. I've got non-branded jars too but always come back to the Kilners as they just seem better quality and more reliable!

For now, though, here's how I made redcurrant gin.

Redcurrant Gin Recipe

Ingredients

150 g redcurrants
75 g caster sugar
37.5 cl gin

Method

1. Separate the redcurrants from the strig by grasping the top of the strig and lightly running a fork  down its length. The redcurrants should come off easily. Wash them thoroughly.

2. In a bowl, lightly crush the redcurrants with the caster sugar.

3. Place the mixture in a Kilner or other sealable jar, and add the gin.

4. Leave the sealed jar in a cool, dark place, shaking it once every day for a month, then a couple of times a week for another month.

5. After two months, strain the gin using a muslin cloth and decant it into a bottle.

Oh, and if anyone has any suggestions on mixers for redcurrant gin, I'd love to hear them! So far, I'm thinking ginger beer, but I'm open to suggestions...

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