French gin, Ealing mulberries (Classic Gardening) - Garden Plants and Gardening Forum

Classic Gardening · 11-11-2007, 10:54 PM

The mulberry gin is made. During the week we took a cheapo day trip to France for gin at Euros7 for 1.5 litres. As ever, finding a recipe was the difficult bit. The mulberries have been sitting patiently in the freezer since I picked them from our tree in August; so full of rich juice that they don’t seem to freeze exactly, more turn to frosted rubies in their bags.
Last time I made it I found a recipe for sloe gin on the net. This time I found a recipe someone had posted for raspberry gin. That recommended using equal weights of fruit and sugar – a pound of each to every bottle of gin. That seemed to me to be two sweet by far, so I’ve halved the sugar. I mixed four bottles of gin with four pounds of fruit and two pounds of sugar, which filled a gallon demijohn perfectly.
So now the demijohn of soon-to-be mulberry gin sits on the piano. (The picture is of some of last year's, by the way, it looks so much prettier than the half-brewed stuff.) Last night, freshly made, there was a layer of undisolved sugar like a sandy sea-bed, but this morning its down from an inch thick to a centimetre, so things seem to be working.
The trip to France was so painless we kept asking ourselves why we don’t do this more often. First thing in the morning the Eurotunnel terminal was deserted. We stuck a credit card in the slot of an unmanned kiosk and we were through – no passport checks, no customs, just straight on to a train and away in about three minutes.
What a good job we weren’t terrorists. There were checks on the way back, so maybe the passage of undesirables is one-way only.
The thing about France is that even the bog-standard supermarket we ambled down to on the outskirts of Boulogne was head and shoulders above anything in Britain. And just about everything is at least a third cheaper than here – wine half the price or less. So why is Tesco so smug? A Le Clercq or an Auchan would clean up in London.
Everything looks so much nicer too – fantastic displays of fish and great bags of mussels and king prawns. The miles of cheese you expect, but even the ordinary veg looks lovely. Leeks are cleaned and tied in red ribbon then wrapped in cellophane. The nets of garlic give you 10 bulbs for little more than £1, and they can be £1 each in London.

The other great thing about France is you can turn up, as we did, in the old city of Boulogne – or indeed anywhere else – wander around and find a simple, cheap restaurant full of locals and get a four course lunch for Euros15.
It was Toussaint, All Saints Day, and as the city’s cathedral was across the road we went in after lunch and lit a candle.
And we are still feasting on the food we brought back. Last night we had Toulouse sausage with the ratatouille, the night before moule frit, today it’ll be pasta carbonnara with some of the ham and cheese. And then, maybe a prawn frittata tomorrow, or a casserole with some of the other sausage and a salami.

More...

11-11-2007, 10:54 PM	#1
Classic Gardening Green Thumb Join Date: Dec 2007 Posts: 92	French gin, Ealing mulberries (Classic Gardening) The mulberry gin is made. During the week we took a cheapo day trip to France for gin at Euros7 for 1.5 litres. As ever, finding a recipe was the difficult bit. The mulberries have been sitting patiently in the freezer since I picked them from our tree in August; so full of rich juice that they don’t seem to freeze exactly, more turn to frosted rubies in their bags. Last time I made it I found a recipe for sloe gin on the net. This time I found a recipe someone had posted for raspberry gin. That recommended using equal weights of fruit and sugar – a pound of each to every bottle of gin. That seemed to me to be two sweet by far, so I’ve halved the sugar. I mixed four bottles of gin with four pounds of fruit and two pounds of sugar, which filled a gallon demijohn perfectly. So now the demijohn of soon-to-be mulberry gin sits on the piano. (The picture is of some of last year's, by the way, it looks so much prettier than the half-brewed stuff.) Last night, freshly made, there was a layer of undisolved sugar like a sandy sea-bed, but this morning its down from an inch thick to a centimetre, so things seem to be working. The trip to France was so painless we kept asking ourselves why we don’t do this more often. First thing in the morning the Eurotunnel terminal was deserted. We stuck a credit card in the slot of an unmanned kiosk and we were through – no passport checks, no customs, just straight on to a train and away in about three minutes. What a good job we weren’t terrorists. There were checks on the way back, so maybe the passage of undesirables is one-way only. The thing about France is that even the bog-standard supermarket we ambled down to on the outskirts of Boulogne was head and shoulders above anything in Britain. And just about everything is at least a third cheaper than here – wine half the price or less. So why is Tesco so smug? A Le Clercq or an Auchan would clean up in London. Everything looks so much nicer too – fantastic displays of fish and great bags of mussels and king prawns. The miles of cheese you expect, but even the ordinary veg looks lovely. Leeks are cleaned and tied in red ribbon then wrapped in cellophane. The nets of garlic give you 10 bulbs for little more than £1, and they can be £1 each in London. The other great thing about France is you can turn up, as we did, in the old city of Boulogne – or indeed anywhere else – wander around and find a simple, cheap restaurant full of locals and get a four course lunch for Euros15. It was Toussaint, All Saints Day, and as the city’s cathedral was across the road we went in after lunch and lit a candle. And we are still feasting on the food we brought back. Last night we had Toulouse sausage with the ratatouille, the night before moule frit, today it’ll be pasta carbonnara with some of the ham and cheese. And then, maybe a prawn frittata tomorrow, or a casserole with some of the other sausage and a salami. More...

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