Elderberry... er... Jeacle?

Gloopy, chewy, fruity
It's Elderberry Jeacle!

Is it a jam? Is it a... oh, no, I don't even know what it could be.
I have named this Concoction of Doom "Jeacle" because it's basically fruit treacle.  Not even my son says he actually likes it, although if I tell him it's fruity-honey he'll tolerate it on toast.

The idea was to make some Elderberry Jelly because I'd picked a whole load of elderberries and had already made the gin (more on that in another post). They're not exactly what I would call the most mainstream of tastes - surprisingly strong and really quite earthy.  They would easily overpower any other fruit if used in any great quantity, so it's hardly surprising that you see more elderflower concoctions than elderberry ones.

Oh, and they stain something chronic.

I won't even give you the recipe for this because it went so obviously wrong, but hey, I might experiment a bit more with elderberries this year. Fewer berries, less concentrated, maybe with an apple base.

Or maybe I won't...

Raspberry Aperitif

No brand endorsement here!

This is a great one that you'll want to make in vast quantities. Think raspberry-flavoured fortified wine and, er, that's what it is.

Raspberry Aperitif

- 750g fresh raspberries
- 500g sugar
- 750ml gin or vodka
- 4 bottles of red wine

Dissolve the sugar in some of the liquid, as it helps to do it first, rather than try to churn a full Demijohn.  I guess you could gently melt the sugar and the raspberries together to bring out the juice more (I'll try that this year!).
Add all the ingredients to the Demijohn, stopper, and store in a cool, dark place for 2-3 weeks.
After that, filter through tights and bottle.

NB: only use a bag-in-a-box if you've got a lot of handy empty bottles.  I thought I was being clever, but then had nothing to bottle into.

Rosehip Gin

Rosehips in gin - the start of the journey

I recently bottled the Rosehip Gin I made back in November. It was a bit experimental, so here's the verdict. DO IT!

In fairness, I'm not really sure if it tastes of rosehips any more. I'm not even sure if it's related to gin any more because *something* went on in between time that turned it into golden, syruppy rocket-fuel. But it's good, and that's what counts!

Given that it was very experimental, I just winged the recipe and can't quite remember what quantities I used (which is part of the purpose of this blog!).  Anyhow, it was something along the lines of this:

5 months on, and we're done

Rosehip Moonshine

- 1.5l gin (cheapie stuff)
- 750g rosehips (topped, tailed and quickly washed)
- 500g sugar... or maybe 750g.

All in a demijohn, stopper and keep in a cool, dark place until you like the look of it.  Yes, it's that scientific. Once you're happy, filter through the trusty tights and then again through a coffee filter. This last bit will take some time, but it's worth it.

Epine!

A small batch then...

This is a guarded secret... so guarded, in fact, that I hesitate to blog about it, but then you don't know about my Blackthorn thicket so I'm unlikely to have to defend it from hordes of like-minded foragers.

"Epine" is French for "thorn", but more importantly, it's the name given to the most divine aperitif on the planet. That's not an exaggeration. It's FACT.

It can also only be made in May with the fresh, tender new shoots of the Blackthorn tree, which will later give us all sloes, making the Blackthorn a doubly excellent tree.  You can pinch them off with your nails or take gardening gloves and a pair of secateurs if you want to be kinder to your hands and the tree.

The result is a sweet, slightly woody, slightly almondy, exceptionally moreish fortified wine.

Here goes for one demijohn:

Epine

- a good double-handful of fresh Blackthorn shoots
- 500g sugar
- 750ml vodka (yes, vodka - no taste to mask the gloriousness of the Epine)
- 5 bottles of red wine

Poke the shoots into the Demijohn.  Dissolve the sugar in the vodka (or some of the wine) because when the demijohn is full, you won't want to shake it about to dissolve it then.  Pour in 4 of the bottles of wine, then the vodka/sugar mixture and then top up with as much of the remaining bottle of wine as possible. Pop a stopper in, or cover with a bit of clingfilm.

Let it stand in a cool, dark place for 2 to 3 weeks (no longer, as it can turn bitter) and then filter out and bottle.  Hide in various hard-to-find locations to ensure moderation in drinking.

It also keeps really well if given the chance.

Lemonbalm Jam... allegedly.

This is going to be a very short post.  Lemonbalm Jam?  [silence]

After reading several accounts of how to get the best taste out of the lemonbalm leaves by letting them infuse overnight in sugar and/or infusing like tea in boiling water, I decided to go the whole hog and do both, along with finely slicing some of the tenderest leaves to sprinkle into the jam itself (bright green slivers would look great, no?).

No.  They don't.

What I got was a jam that looks like pondwater and tastes not-the-faintest of lemonbalm.  I tried so hard, looking very intently at my husband as he tasted it, asking "do you think there's a faint after-taste? You know, if you let the air in to your mouth right at the end?"

No, there wasn't.

Fortunately, though, my 4 year-old son isn't a fussy eater and seems to like Pond Jam on toast... complete with floating green bits.