Fruit Liqeurs

Now, I am a woman who likes the occasional drinkie and I particularly like a drink which doesn’t cost too much and I can take some sort of credit for how tasty it is. For that reason I am a big fan of making fruit liqueurs and at this time of year the markets and countryside are abundant with lots of tempting fruits. I have made more fiddly drinks, such as Limoncello, in the past but while yummy I still prefer the very simple gin or vodka based drinks which only require fruit, sugar, booze and maybe some added spices.


Fruity boozy goodness



The benefit of these sort of drinks is once you know the very simple method you can experiment with all sorts of drinks.

You will need-
Large sterile jar/ bottle (ensuring a large enough opening for your fruit of choice)
Fruit (sloes, damsons, plums, peaches, blackberries, cherries etc)
Caster sugar
Lots of cheap gin/ vodka (I always use very cheap supermarket branded spirits, there is no need to use the good stuff)
Spices (optional)

Prepare your fruit, ensure they are of sound quality (you don’t want anything bruised) and clean either by wiping over with a damp cloth (good for plums etc) or washing briefing (better for fiddly things like blackberries). Soft fruits such as blackberries can go straight in the jar but for fruits with a stone I recommend pricking a few times with a large needle. You want to fill your jar about two thirds of the way up with fruit, ensuring it is compact but not squashed, then pour on the sugar until it reaches half way up the fruit. Now pour on your spirit until the top of the container and chuck in any spices, seal tightly and give it a good shake. Shake it every day for a month and then strain it through a jelly bag and seal in smaller bottles after 3 months.

I have been known to use damsons and plums that have been used as above in making scrummy jams, and once just served as they were with ice-cream, that was quite an intense dessert though!

A few recommendations-

• Sloes need more sugar than damsons, plums less than either
• Sloes, plums and damsons all work particularly well with gin.
• Good spices to experiment with are vanilla pods, cinnamon sticks and with gin juniper berries work very well indeed.

Also experiment with mixers for the drinks and the endless variety of cocktails you can make, I have found pomegranate juice goes very well with elderberry vodka, and damson gin makes for a great punch at parties.