Hubby is rather partial to the odd drop of sloe gin, and I had hoped to locate some local blackthorn trees in readiness to collect the sloes in Autumn to make my own. Unfortunately I have not been able to find any on my travels so far, so I have looked around for alternatives. My aim was to use some of the soft fruits from the garden but the birds got there before me!
PINK GRAPEFRUIT GIN
In the absence of garden produce I have gone for a recipe that uses as few ingredients as possible = Gin plus Grapefruit. I picked out the recipe from the blog of one tomato two tomato pop in and have a look around she has some really interesting ideas.
I began by rolling the grapefruit across the counter a couple of times as this is supposed to increase the amount of juice you can squeeze. Then I gave it a wash, the recipe uses both the skin and the juice.
Remove the zest from the grapefruit, avoiding the white pith, I have used the strip shown in the picture that has a small amount of pith, I will report back if this impacts the taste.
Put the zest in a jar or other suitable vessel
Squeeze the juice from the grapefruit
I popped the sieve over the top of the jar to ensure that I didn't get any pips in when I poured in the juice.
As a guideline this was the amount of juice I got out of my grapefruit
I just popped on a label showing what it was in the jar, on the reverse side I gave myself an instruction that it needs to infuse for a month and that I should wait before testing. I have stashed it in the pantry where it will be cool and dark(ish).
In the interest of research I will do some testing once the month is up and if it has been successful I will bottle and put away, if not I will be researching cocktail recipes that I can hide it in!
These are the other recipes that I liked the look of both gin based but I think that they would also work if you use vodka.
BLACKCURRANT GIN
I am torn between these two recipes this one which encourages the use of a potato masher which I quite like the sound of or This one that suggests covering the spent berries in chocolate which appeals as I hate food waste and I love chocolate
BLACKBERRY AND APPLE GIN
A Larderlove recipe that I have bookmarked to try is this one that has a nice Autumnal sound to it. It will be dependant on me foraging enough blackberries as I really can't bring myself to buy them in the supermarket unless they are drastically reduced at the end of the day as I regard them as "free" food.
Make number 11 completed, just 39 left in my 50 makes for Christmas
Do you have any tried and tested recipes for Sloe gin that are part of your Christmas preparations?
Hello Sandra,I made some sloe gin a couple of years ago and followed my Nan's recipe, which is wash and prick your sloes, put in a large jar or bottle, pour in a goodly amount of sugar, top up with gin and put in a cupboard. Give it a shake when you think of it. Leave a few months until a nice rich colour and then taste for sweetness, add more sugar if needed and decant into a bottle.
ReplyDeleteI also made some blackberry and apple gin and tried blackberry and apple tequila with a bottle that had been in the cupboard for years. The gin was nicer but the tequila was rough to start with lol. I made jam with the leftover fruit and it was very nice.
I like the sound of your grapefruit gin, hope it turns out nice.
Hi Michelle, thanks for sharing your Nan's Sloe gin recipe. I saw one Sloe gin recipe that suggested putting it in the boot of your car as it is dark and will get shaken as you drive around!
DeleteI am on the look out for blackberries as the ones I used to forage have been cut back.
I will report back on the grapefruit gin in about a month.