Category: Drinks

Blackberry Whisky


blackberry.jpg

Apparently, this is a little like slow gin. 
I borrowed this recipe from the The River Cottage web site. 
 
Ingredients:
2kg / 4lbs blackberries 
225g / 8oz sugar (or less according to taste) 
1 bottle whisky
Place the fruit, sugar and whisky in a large screw top or kilner style jar. Shake every few days until the sugar has dissolved.
Place in a dark cupboards for three months, turning slowly to mix once every two weeks or so.
Strain and bottle. The whisky will have turned a deep, dark purple. It can be drunk straight away, but the flavour will continue to improve for up to 2 years.

Coffee liquor

750 ml white rum
1  1/4 cups dark rum
1  1/2 cups sugar
3/4 pound whole coffee beans
a vanilla pod
cinnamon stick, slice of orange peel (optional)

Combine all of the ingredients in a sealable container. Shake hard to combine. Label with the date and let sit in a cool, dark place for three weeks. Shake or stir the mixture several times of week. Strain through cheesecloth or a fine mesh strainer into a clean vessel. Use like you would Kahlua or any other coffee liquor.

    Elderflower Cordial

    25 heads of elderflowers
    1.5kg sugar
    1.5l water
    50g citric acid
    2 lemons, thinly sliced

    pick the flower heads that have 2/3 of the flowers open.

    Boil sugar and water. take off heat, and add citric acid.
    once cooled, add flowers and lemons and leave for 48 hrs (stirring a couple of times each day)
    Strain and bottle.
    (will freeze if needed)

    Ginger Beer

    450g (1lb) Sugar
    4.5lt (8 pints) Water
    1 Lemon
    40g (1½oz) Root Ginger
    25g (1 oz) Cream of Tartar
    25g (1 oz) Brewers or Wine Yeast

    Bruise the ginger (wrap in a clean cloth – hit with hammer) to release flavour.
    Finely peel the lemon, removing only the outer waxy layer and squeeze the juice.
    Place the ginger, lemon rind and cream of tartar into a bucket or large bowl.
    Pour over the boiling water, add the lemon juice and stir well.
    Allow to cool to about 21°C (70°F), remove a little of the liquid and mix with the yeast, stir the yeast mixture into the liquid.
    Cover the container with a clean cloth (ensuring that the cloth cannot come into contact with the liquid) and secure with string or elastic.
    Leave in a warm place 21°C (70°F) for 24 hours.
    Strain the liquid through a fine cloth or skim off the froth and use a jug to bale out the liquid (being careful not to disturb the sediment).
    Pour the ginger beer into strong bottles and cork.
    Secure the corks with wire, leaving a little play (for possible expansion)
    Store the bottle in a cool dark place.
    If the corks begin to rise, release the wire slightly and re-secure.
    The beer should be ready to drink after 2 – 3 days.

    Grapefruit Squash (low-cal)

    100g canderel sweetener (aspartame)
    28g citric acid
    5 grapefruit
    1l water

    In a pan, grate the zest off the grapefruits and add the sweetener, citric acid and water. Heat in the pan to just under boiling then let it cool.

    Juice the grapefruits and add the juice the the cooled pan.

    Leave overnight (or an hour, depending on our patience) in the fridge, and then sieve.

    Add 1 part squash to 3 parts water or soda.

    Keeps in the fridge for 2 weeks.

    Lemon squash

    As made by my auntie Gwen. Ingredients are rough measures, so taste it and tweak to get it right.

    4 lemons
    1 tbl spoon citric acid (from the chemist)
    7 heaped tbl spoon white sugar
    1 cup water

    Grate the zest off the lemons, and juice them.
    Put the zest, juice, sugar, water and acid into a small pan and mis till the sugar dissolves. Taste it with a little water, and add more sugar or acid if required.

    Let the mix cool in the pan- giving the zest time to infuse, then sieve into a bottle. Keep in the fridge until you want a glass. Dilute to roughly 1 to 6 parts syrup and water.

    Yum.

    If you prefer a bitter lemon taste, add 2 of the the whole juiced lemons to the pan.

    Lemonade

    INGREDIENTS

    • 1 cup sugar (can reduce to 3/4 cup)
    • 1 cup water (for the simple syrup)
    • 1 cup lemon juice (4-6 lemons)
    • Grated rind of a lemon
    • 3 to 4 cups cold water (to dilute)

    METHOD

    1  Mix & heat the sugar, lemon rind and water in a small pan until the sugar has dissolved.

    2 Extract the juice from 4 to 6 lemons- enough for a cup of juice.

    3 Add the juice and the syrup to a jug. then dilute with 3 to 4 cups of cold water, add ice.

     

    Mum’s Apple fizzy drink (not quite cider)

    3lbs cooking apples – minced, incl peel & cores
    12 pints water
    2lbs sugar
    3 lemons

    mince the apples and add to a bucket – add cold water and leave for a week.

    strain the liquor, and add sugar, grated lemon rind and juice of 3 lemons, leave for 24 hrs, then strain and bottle (loose tops). Drinkable within a couple of days.

    Nettle Beer

     

    6 ltr water
    A small carrier bag of nettle tops, washed

    Juice of 1 lemon, strained

    Juice of 1 orange, strained 

    750g caster sugar

    30g cream of tartar

    5g yeast

    1. Bring the water to the boil in a large pan.

    2. Add nettles, stir, then remove the pan from the heat and leave to infuse for at least an hour until it is at blood temperature. 

    3. Carefully – you might want to enlist a helper at this point – strain the nettle liquid through a colander lined with a large piece of unbleached muslin into a large brewing bucket or pan. Once the liquid has filtered through, squeeze the muslin to get the maximum amount of liquid into the bucket.

    4. Gradually add the sugar, stirring constantly to ensure it is thoroughly dissolved, then add the cream of tartar, and lemon and orange juice.

    5. Finally, once the mixture is tepid, stir in the yeast. Cover and leave for 2-3 days in a warm place, until it’s obviously fermenting.

    6. Remove any scum which has risen to the top in fermentation and siphon the beer into sterilised bottles and seal with corks.

    7. Leave for at least a couple more days or up to a month before drinking.