Preserving exploits: The October edition

Today, a bright, crisp and chilly Sunday saw me thus attired - naturally for sloe picking. M and I marched off in the sunshine, to our local spot for foraging, only to find a complete absence of sloes. When we had last been there for the blackberries there were definitely some sloes there, not a great deal, but a few. Today however, none. At all. Clearly lacking in tenacity I suggested giving up, but remembered where our Brown Owl gets her damsons from and wondered if there might be sloes there. So we hopped in the car and pottered over, fortunately finding plenty of fruit to forage. 

The Blackthorn bushes had already been well stripped with many of the sloes being out of our reach, so we developed new rules - if you couldn't reach the berries with your feet flat on the floor and your arm outstretched, they belonged to the blackbirds. Seeing as the 'harvest' was fairly sparse in our area I felt that was fairer, so no walking sticks, branches or any adaptations to make our work easier were used. We're both slightly scratched, but nothing a hot bath couldn't cure, and the sloes are ready to go into the freezer overnight. 

I was absolutely stunned to discover we had picked 1.5kg of sloes, as I thought we had far less. By my reckoning, that's plenty for 3 litres of gin. If I normally get you a Christmas present and it's you don't drink - tell me now! I'll pick up sugar and gin tomorrow and will strain the last lot of blackberry vodka tonight so that I can put my large kilners back in rotation. 

I should probably update you - as this weekend has been a bit of a bottling spree as it were - all the Blackberry vodka has been bottled, the Blackberry and blackcurrant rum has been sweetened and strained, and the Blackberry gin is just waiting for the new bottles to be sterilised so that that can go in. I'm like a one woman distillery! 

So, sloes are ready to go - and this round up of my preserving exploits for the last couple of months is also my entry to A Little bit of heaven on a plate's Home Made and Well Preserved linky

Blackberry vodka and also here 

Also... Rhubarb and ginger jam (which I'm saving for Christmas presents but desperately want to eat myself!)

I feel pretty, oh so pretty... Preserving

Over the last couple of weeks when we've been going along in the car, I've not paid M a great deal of attention (sorry). My eyes have been trained on trees and hedgerows looking for a glimpse of the bounty late summer and early autumn brings the keen and nifty cook.

The blackberries are nearly there, those that have benefitted from the (occasional) sunshine already turning glossy and purple, those in more shady spots just hitting a glorious rose. I dragged M out this afternoon and between us we managed to pick 2lb or so of beautifully ripe blackberries - I have earmarked half of this for apple and blackberry jelly (one of M's mum's recipes) but the other half is destined for more alcohol. 

I haven't seen either elderberries or sloes yet but they are normally Autumn's later gifts.

As you know whilst my patience with dough and children is legendary, my patience for my need to preserve less so. It was with (a swiftly stifled) squeal of delight on Friday evening that I noticed that Sainsburys had marked down three punnets of blackcurrants and two of blackberries. I gazed around me, sizing up the other shoppers, trying to decide if there might be any competition, and then swooped in, scooping up the punnets into my trolley and heading off in search of the Basics rum. Apparently Sainsburys don't do Basics rum, so I got the next one up the ladder.

I followed the recipe I used a couple of years back where you start by making and straining a berry juice, and then add spices and alcohol, leaving it to mature briefly before boiling up with sugar and bottling. Previously I did this with redcurrants and you can see in the photos in the original post the pretty pink colour of the end result. Unsurprisingly doing this with blackberries and blackcurrants produces a stunningly dark and glossy liquer. The vodka and this rum are all destined to be gifts 

I wanted to write this post despite the recipes not being new ones, and the photos all being on Instagram already to remind you just how easy preserving is and how fabulous the results can be. You don't need a sugar thermometer, jam sugar, a maslin pan, or even a jam spoon - I start with my Ikea 365 pan, a long handled wooden spoon and a saucer in the freezer. That's it. I don't even buy jam jars, I save all ours, and ask Guide parents to donate any they have. Sterilised with boiling water and in a low oven, you're good to go. Also, my jellies (and alcohol is all strained through an old pillowcase in a seive. Yes, the picture below is an old pillowcase. 

If you're west of me, you may still be able to get some strawberries at your local PYO so why not have a go at strawberry jam (see the idiots guide on that post)

Otherwise, go, forage (or buy heavily reduced) blackberries and have a go at vodka, rum or jam. I'll put my recipe for blackberry and apple jelly up as soon as I've done it. 

For all my preserving exploits - click here and you'll be able to scroll through and pick the ones that appeal to you. 

Moonlight and Vodka. Blackberry vodka to be precise

It feels like ages since I've done any preserving - I think marmalade was my last foray into one of my favourite pastimes. Seriously preserving is up there with Musicals, good books and baking. What can I say? It's just who I am.

So, we're wandering around Sainsburys and there are three, lonely punnets of blackberries. Wildly off season, imported from Turkey, but less than a pound for all three. Faced with such a bargain, I broke my "not if it's not in season" rule and decided to indulge. And that's when blackberry vodka was born, between picking up the blackberries in aisle one, and finding the value vodka in aisle 27 my decision was made.

And then I got home and realised I had no idea how to make Blackberry vodka, I had an idea that it would need sugar, but as for quantities, I just wasn't sure. A bit of Googling threw up eleventy million recipes, so I just decided to go back to my sloe gin recipe and use that as a starting point. Blackberries, being by their very nature (I tested just make sure) sweeter than sloes meant I cut down the sugar.

70cl vodka
300g blackberries (washed)
100g sugar

Then, quite literally, just simply...

Add the sugar to a large kilner jar

Add the blackberries
Pour on the vodka
Seal the jar
Put in a cupboard, and turn upside down daily for a week or two to help dissolve the sugar
Leave in the cupboard for another 4-6 weeks

Strain through a muslin/ very fine seive
Bottle the remaining liquor
Enjoy! It's fabulous added to a glass of prosecco/ champage, just a splash makes it pink and gives a lovely fruity/ slightly sweet note.