Tipple | Hedgerow Fruits Gin

You might find windfall fruit on your adventures, or snaffle some sloes to make a gin – a bottle has great gift potential.

Makes 34 servings

You will need

600ml good quality gin

150g light brown muscovado sugar

Plums or damsons (about 450g, halved, stoned and sliced; you could also use bullaces which are in season from October to November), or sloes (approx 500g, each pricked with a fork; like rosehips, sloes should be picked after the first frosts)

How to make

1 Pour the gin into a large sterilised jar and add the sugar. Stir well until the sugar has dissolved.

2 Wash the fruit and add to the jar then cover with a tight-fitting lid. Store in a cool, dark place for about 3 months, stirring weekly.

3 When the gin has developed a good, fruity flavour, strain it through muslin, discard the fruit and pour into sterilised bottles. Store for at least 1 month before drinking.

4 Serve the gin chilled, over ice. For a long drink, top up a shot of the fruity gin with apple juice or elderflower tonic, or add a dash of cherry brandy and pour in champagne for a cocktail.

Cook’s note: Sloes are tarter than plums/damsons, so you may want to increase the sugar to 225g. If you don’t want to prick the sloes, you can freeze them overnight to split the skins.

Tipple taken from the Four Seasons cookbook, a collection of recipes that champion British ingredients. Available from dairydiary.co.uk. Our Gathering pages feature recipes by Matt Long and photography by Jonathan Cherry.

The Hedgerow Fruits Gin is just one of the recipes from our October Gathering pages, which we’ve called ‘To The Woods!’ The ideas are inspired by Scouting adventures and include Pickled Elderberry Capers, Hot Rosehip Drink, Potato Salad, White Cabbage Sauerkraut, and Walnut & Tahini Brownies, as well as plenty of things to make, do and play out in the woods this autumn.

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More things to find in the hedgerows…

More from our blog…

Tipple | Peach Gin and Tonics

A refreshing drink for a grown-up picnic, and probably one of our five a day (ahem)

Serves 4

2 fresh, ripe peaches
1 lime
1 bottle of pink gin
A bag of ice 8 small tins of tonic water (we like Fever-Tree tonics) 4 rosemary sprigs
Reusable straws

1 Take the stones out of the peaches and cut into thin slices, then quarter the lime.
2 Add a shot of gin to each glass and place in a lime quarter and several peach slices. Top with ice and pour over the tonic water until the glass is nearly full. Add a sprig of rosemary to use as a stirrer and a paper or reusable straw.

This simple recipe is just one of the ideas from our feature, Catch of the Day, which has lots of recipes for a picnic on the quayside, including crab sarnies, barbecued prawns, smoked mackerel palmiers, courgette and spinach salad and Eton Mess jam jars. You can find the rest of the recipes from page 8.

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More from our September issue…

More tipples to tickle your fancy…

Recipe: Rosehip syrup and Sloe gin

Transform your autumn walks into an altogether more productive and entertaining outing by foraging for ingredients to use in your own beers, wines and spirits.

This month, says wild food expert and brewer Andy Hamilton, is the ideal time to find fruits and plants among the hedgerows and use them to create home brews.

“In October, rosehips* are plentiful and they’re great in cocktails,” says Andy. “Simply boil a handful in 550ml water, strain, and then stir in 500g sugar until fully dissolved. Allow to cool, add a splash of vodka (which acts as a preservative) and refrigerate.” (Straining twice will ensure that none of the fine hairs inside the hips remain.)

Perhaps one of the easiest fruits to identify is sloes. “If you stumble upon some sloes, fill a jar with them, cover with the strongest vodka you can get hold of and seal. To make a sloe gin like no other, leave for six months, strain, then leave for another two years. Just try it without sugar, you’ll be pleasantly surprised,” Andy promises.  

* Rosehips look like small red berries. They have a distinctive shape and are only found growing on rose bushes. They are not to be confused with other small red berries, which may be poisonous. Try to pick wild hips away from roads as they will be less likely to have been exposed to exhaust or other pollutants. If you pick from your own garden, make sure they are from plants that haven't been sprayed with pesticides.

Read more:

From the October issue

More foraged fruit recipes

Recipe: Saffron G&Ts

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Recipe: Saffron G&Ts

Saffron G&Ts

Add a golden hue to your gin and tonic with a pinch of saffron and slices of fresh mango

Serves 4–6

pinch of saffron
pinch of sugar
crushed ice
slices of fresh mango
handful of fresh mint
250ml gin
500ml tonic or sparkling water to top up

1 Crush saffron with a pinch of sugar in a pestle and mortar – or you can use the back of a spoon and a small bowl.

2 Shake the saffron with the gin and leave to infuse for as long as you can.

3 Pour the gin into an ice-filled jug or tumblers packed with slices of fresh mango and mint. Top up with tonic or sparkling water.

Read more:

From the October issue

Cocktail recipes

More saffron recipes

How to mix the perfect gin and tonic

Gin-lovers of the world rejoice as World Gin Day returns for its seventh year on Saturday 13 June 2015! Learn how to mix the perfect gin and tonic with our expert guide.

A warm summer's evening calls for this most British of aperitifs. We asked the experts at The Gin Garden how to mix one like a pro.

The gin

Some gins are dry, some floral, some citrussy. To establish your favourite, sample a nip, neat. A good traditional gin is No 3 London Dry Gin: its juniper, balanced with sweet orange, grapefruit and cardamom, marries well with a range of tonics.

The tonic

Buy it in the smallest bottles/cans you can find, to maintain fizz. Fever-Tree is an excellent low-sugar option; Fentimans has a distinctively citrus flavour. Waitrose's own-brand tonic has won several 'blind' taste tests.

How much?

Ratio is a personal thing, some prefer 1:2, others, 1:3. We prefer 1:3 - say 50ml of gin to 150ml of tonic water.

Ice matters

Keep ice trays in zip lock bags so that your cubes don't pick up any freezer odours. Look out for an ice tray that will give you bigger cubes - they melt more slowly.

A chilled glass

Keeps your drink as cool as possible for as long as possible. Serve the Spanish way, in big balloon glasses (or red wine glasses), to let the aroma of your gin blossom.

And to finish

Add a citrus twist: using a peeler or sharp knife, shave a thumb-sized strip of rind off a lemon or lime (avoiding the pith), then squeeze, shiny side down, onto the drink to release the oils before plopping it in.

More cocktail recipes to wet your whistle.

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