Gilbert’s blackberry whisky recipe
If it wasn’t for the fact that he was wearing his battered panama, Jalopy and I would have not noticed Gilbert. He was wearing some sort of camouflage fatigues and carrying a bucket. Curious, we drew to a halt beside him and he swept off his hat with a magnificent bow. “I suppose you want to know what I am foraging for.” He tipped the bucket towards Jalopy’s open window. It was full of large, succulent blackberries. Actually, I was far more curious about the fatigues. “Ah!” He lowered his voice to a whisper,...
read moreRaspberry vodka recipe
Note: Raspberry Vodka is probably the best and easiest of all homemade fruit liqueurs. It and raspberry gin are our all time favourite. “One for me,” Gilbert popped a raspberry into his mouth, “and one for the bottle.” He pressed a juicy raspberry through the top of an empty vodka bottle. “What on earth are you doing?” Marjorie had sent me into the garden to join Gilbert. He was sitting on the terrace beside a large bowl of raspberries. Several bottles of vodka and a funnel beside him. “Marjorie...
read moreGilbert’s Seville orange gin recipe
In January, Gilbert makes Seville orange gin whilst Marjorie is making marmalade. He says there’s nothing like a glass with a stale husk of bread when their marmalade runs out. I’m sure that this never happens as I’ve seen Marjorie stirring dustbin sized vats on their Aga. Their house was filled with the heavy scent of marmalade last weekend. Like us, they simmer their marmalade for hours to get the depth of flavour and dark colour that livens up even the soggiest piece of toast. We’ve known Gilbert for years but were...
read moreKumquat Liqueur (Gin or Vodka) recipe
Our old friend Gilbert introduced us to kumquat liqueur. He serves tiny glasses of this elegant tipple with an exotic fruit salad on Marjorie’s birthday. We were intrigued and clamoured for the recipe. Gilbert refused to share his secret. The resulting impasse was a challenge. If he hadn’t topped up our glasses it could have been war. We couldn’t take up this challenge for months as we had to wait until kumquats appeared in the local supermarkets. Finally the day came and I rushed home with two small packs of kumquats and a...
read moreQuick Bubblegum Gin
We’ve just got back from having supper with our friends Kim and JP. They live in a fabulous converted barn deep in the wilds of Suffolk, with three horses, three hens and a very perky nine year old Jack Russell called Pickle. Before supper Kim announced that she was going to show us the contents of her favourite kitchen cupboard. She knelt down and threw open the doors. Not knowing quite what to expect, we stepped forward and peered into the gloom. There were rows and rows of 3 litre Le Parfait jars of sloe gin standing stoically side...
read moreItalian sweet chestnut liqueur recipe
We make a wide range of fruit liqueurs every year but have never made a nut one. I was delighted to find this recipe for Italian sweet chestnut liqueur when I was nosing about on the Internet last week. The promise of this had Danny sitting, knife and chestnut in hand, for a good hour and a half last night. Shelling chestnuts is a bore. It’s fiddly. It’s very frustrating if you have bought a batch with a few bad ones as you can’t tell the state of the kernel within from the external appearance of the nut. But if you can tempt...
read moreLemon Gin Recipe.
I went to New Zealand for the first time over 30 years ago and Lemon Gin was the pre dinner tipple in one of the houses that we visited. It came in gallon jars and was served neat in small tumblers. This was the first time I’d seen anyone pouring out drinks from such a large container. In this particular house the lemon gin jar doubled as a doorstop in the kitchen during the day. I forgot all about lemon gin until my sister and I got into making sloe gin. We had made a heady investment of a case of gin and, after picking a vast sack full...
read moreSloe Sherry recipe
This sherry recipe works equally well for the sloes, bullaces and damsons that are left over from your sloe gin. Our old pal Gilbert always makes this on Boxing Day, having polished of a few bottles at their renowned Christmas Eve Drinks Party and toasted the Queen with sloe gin on Christmas day. He claims that it is to salve the disappointment of his Christmas stocking. Everyone knows that anything as small as a stocking would never grace the foot of Gilbert and Marjorie’s bed. Having finished the final batch of our 2005 sloe and damson...
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