This is a delicious recipe to make a Damson Gin Liqueur, which is a favourite Christmas drink. All you need to make the gin is a large Kilner-style preserving jar with a sealed lid, a muslin or nylon bag, and a funnel.
How to make your Damson Gin
Wash the fruit before use and remove the stones. Tip; An olive/cherry pitter is a useful tool for quickly removing stones from Damsons or Sloes.
Heat the Gin in a pan until it is hot enough to dissolve the sugar into the liquid. Stir in the sugar and keep stirring until it is completely dissolved. Add a layer of fruit in the jar then cover with the gin/sugar syrup. Keep adding more layers and more gin/sugar syrup until the jar is almost full (leave a 1 cm space on the top for the mixture to move around). Seal the jar tightly and give the jar a shake to mix the contents.
Store the jar in a cool dark place and leave for a minimum of 6 weeks for the magic to take place. Give the jar an occasional shake to re-mix the fruit. The longer you can wait the better the taste will be and the colour will be deeper. We once left a batch for three years by accident and the final flavour and ruby colour were amazing. Normally, however, we make a batch in September and strain it in December for a Christmas liqueur. When you are ready, strain the fruit from the liqueur using a muslin or nylon bag fitted into a funnel.
If you want a crystal-clear drink then pour the liqueur afterwards through a Harris 24cm Vinpaper, folded and fitted into the funnel. The filtering process will be very slow as the liqueur will be quite thick and gelatinous. However. the end result is worth the wait. You should then bottle the Damson Gin in an attractive display bottle and label it. The liqueur can be drunk immediately but it will have a very long shelf life if you have the willpower to leave it!
Keep the Damsons and make some delicious Liqueur chocolates
Tip: Instead of discarding the fruit once it has been filtered, you can make delicious home-craft liqueur chocolates from it. Simply melt some chocolate using a bain marie (break the chocolate into chunks and put in a bowl over a boiling pan of water. The steam will melt the chocolate). Pour a little of the chocolate into each of the bases of a chocolate mould. Then add one piece of liqueur-infused fruit. Finally cover with more chocolate then put the mould into a fridge to set. The result will be delicious chocolate liqueurs at a fraction of the price you would pay for commercial ones.
Equipment Needed
- A large Kilner Jar (or similar preserving jar with a rubber seal and clamp top).
- Medium-sized Saucepan.
- Nylon or Muslin Bag.
- Medium-sized Funnel(approx 19cm).
- 24cm Harris Vinpaper.
- Chocolate Silicon Mould (if making the liqueur chocolates afterwards).
- Liqueur Bottle & Label
