Ingredients
- 500g Damsons
- 125g Caster sugar
- 1 Orange
- 1 splash Grand Marnier
- 1 litre cheap gin
Accompaniment
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Method
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1
Make sure your Kilner Jar is sterile β best done in a dishwasher and then left to dry
Wash and dry the damsons, pricking each one several times with a sharp knife. Load the damsons in the jar and add the sugar. Wash and dry the orange, then using a sharp knife, cut long strips of peel, free from white pith. Add to the damsons and cover with gin. Add a splash of Grand Marnier if you want.
Make sure the jar is well sealed, agitate to mix the sugar and leave in a cool, dark place for around three months. For the first week shake each day, then once a week if you remember. After 3 months, decant into a bottle and donβt forget to use the damson residue in a pie or crumble.
Thanks for the comment - you are spot on, it doesn't ferment, it infuses. I will edit the words.
The smell from the kilner jar under my stairs is wonderful!
Firstly, this drink does not ferment! If it did you'd end up with a fizzy drink or, potentially, burst jars. It infuses, so the gin takes on the flavour of the damsons.
Secondly, if you hunt around on the web for sloe gin recipes, the making of which follows a very similar process, you will find that freezing the fruit can improve the flavour and also helps by bursting the skins of the fruit.
Might have to give this one a go!!