I have purchased gin, sugar, and a glass jar thing with a lid that seals. However, having phoned my dad to ask about this, he says I can't use a sealed jar, or it will explode. Is this correct? He has never made this sort of thing, but he is imagining the sugar will ferment the blackberries and so release gas. Also, if I can use this jar, does rinsing with boiled water do for sterilising? This seems more complicated than I initially envisaged!
Sorry, but I don't like Gin! But then I was never CofE for a long time, and Baptist and Pentecostal churches certainly didn't do Gin!
Blackberries I think are best in a pie, so all the pastry goes dark blue and gooey! But I haven't had wild blackberries for a long time now, my blackberry outings with a plastic box are long over! Cultivated blackberries haven't quite got the same flavour!
And somehow it seems wicked to drink on one's own, so there is a nearly full bottle of sherry, one of Vermouth and three bottles of an exceedingly good red wine. My donation to the family Christmas dinner!
Some years ago now my husband and I did try making wine. We kept it in the airing cupboard, and I kid you not, it was the blackberry that decided to explode! We had psychedelic pillow cases for some time.........
No, the gins don't explode because you're not fermenting them. That would require yeast and an airlock - as you do with homemade wines - to produce alcohol from sugar. This one you're making a gin liqueur to taste by steeping it with fruit and adding sugar so you can drink it neat, rather than watered down with tonic or orange or whatever you drink in your gin. Sloes and cranberries are sharp so need sugar adding, not so sure about blackberries.
Thanks, CK. I added sugar because recipes online said so, though I kind of wish I hadn’t, as I don’t really have a sweet tooth. I think I will pick more blackberries and try one without sugar, to use up the rest of the gin. I now need to buy another jar, because the seal on the one I got from Asda doesn’t work. I turned it upside down to shake the blackberry gin, and it leaked.
I have purchased gin, sugar, and a glass jar thing with a lid that seals. However, having phoned my dad to ask about this, he says I can't use a sealed jar, or it will explode. Is this correct? He has never made this sort of thing, but he is imagining the sugar will ferment the blackberries and so release gas. Also, if I can use this jar, does rinsing with boiled water do for sterilising? This seems more complicated than I initially envisaged!
Yes, I also use sealed kilner jars for gin liqueurs.
Had a lovely meeting today with a new team on my death and dying module. Lots of friendly people and good communication which has made me feel really good about teaching it. I’m teaching 3 new modules this year so I have my workload cut out (I am increasing my hours as my children are older) but this is the course I am going to love the most.
But I’m really tired now.
Yes, I also use sealed kilner jars for gin liqueurs.
Had a lovely meeting today with a new team on my death and dying module. Lots of friendly people and good communication which has made me feel really good about teaching it. I’m teaching 3 new modules this year so I have my workload cut out (I am increasing my hours as my children are older) but this is the course I am going to love the most.
But I’m really tired now.
Well, I won't say that the module itself sounds like a good laugh, but Yay for the positivity of people and communication!
Re kilner jars, My Old Mum used to have loads of them, previously used for preserving cherries (mostly) when they were in season. Young People Of Today have no idea how good bottled cherries can taste, in the Depths of Winter, when no such exotic fruit was in the shops (I'm going back here to the 1950s!).
I was horrified to learn that, some time after ceasing to preserve fruit (as it was by then available pretty well all year round in the supermarkets), she threw all the jars into the rubbish bin. However, I gather that new kilner jars, of the correct type, are still readily available.
I got a kilner jar type thing (but not the Kilner brand) from Asda, and it leaked. So then I went to Wilko and got a Kilner brand bottle. I am about to transfer the blackberry, sugar, gin mix to this bottle.
Yes - Lakeland do a good range, and even Wilkinson's do one or two. Of course the place to go is an independent kitchen shop - they are wondrous places!
Yes - Lakeland do a good range, and even Wilkinson's do one or two. Of course the place to go is an independent kitchen shop - they are wondrous places!
Indeed they are, as also are those traditional ironmongery/housewares places one comes across occasionally, though not perhaps this one:
Those traditional ironmongery/housewares places one comes across occasionally.
With the faint mingled smells of paraffin and leather, and mops and buckets etc. piled outside ...
My wife calls them "Useful Shops".
This shop, well=known to me, is incredible - and it's not far off its bicentenary! https://www.partridgeshadleigh.co.uk/ There's another similar shop in Chagford, Devon.
Bottled cherries sound wonderful.
It’s my other half’s turn to cook and he is busy designing something on the pc (he owns his own technology business so it’s hard to get him away from work). I’m wondering whether to suggest popping to the pub to eat.
@Bishops Finger - I knew what that link was going to be before I opened it.
I'm waiting for D. to come back from playing for a wedding; I've made a lamb curry, but I think I've goofed. After I'd added the spices (the recipe called for curry powder, ginger and turmeric), I couldn't remember putting in the curry powder*, and when I tasted it, it didn't seem very curryish, so I added it again ...
I think it's going to be rather hotter than it was meant to be.
* I think something distracted me, probably the microwave bleeping after heating up the stock. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.
I wonder if dark brown sugar is okay (as I think that's all I have in my cupboards) or if I need white sugar.
Either is fine, but each will give a different flavour - the brown will give more of a richer flavour.
Any fruit can be frozen first, which I find removes the need for pricking or mashing the fruit. It also gives a bit of time at what can be a frantic time of year.
I have just returned from the local show where t’allotment stand got a “Large Gold” medal. Sadly we weren’t able to send all the produce away, even for free - why do people seem scared of fresh produce? Admittedly the marrows were pretty scary, but I came home with a lot of plums and masses of gherkins some of which I’ll pickle and the rest I’ll take to the Country Market.
As a treat after a long day at the show I’ve cracked open the Courgette and Ginger wine and I think it’s got rather a high alcohol content, possibly to industrial levels.
We have just consumed some rather lovely roast wild venison, bought some time ago at a superb butcher in Abergavenny, seasoned by 'Er Indoors and cooked by my fair hand (and the cooker, obviously). Normally we only eat it for Christmas dinner. It has been accompanied by a fine (but cheap) Spanish wine called Bobal.
We have just consumed some rather lovely roast wild venison, bought some time ago at a superb butcher in Abergavenny, seasoned by 'Er Indoors and cooked by my fair hand (and the cooker, obviously). Normally we only eat it for Christmas dinner. It has been accompanied by a fine (but cheap) Spanish wine called Bobal.
Sounds lovely indeed, though personally I don't much care for venison. It always seems just a bit too rich for the delicate Episcopal innards.
I finally have blackberry gin, in a bottle. It's very dark - looks a bit like red wine. I might pick some more blackberries tomorrow and make another one, to use up the rest of the gin bottle
At Christmas it gets marinaded overnight in red wine - tonight it didn't! Just some crushed juniper berries rubbed in, salt and pepper, brushed with a bit of oil, then covered in bacon and roasted with onion. And this piece wasn't strongly flavoured (as it might have been), but was nice and tender.
Started off my sloe gin today, having frozen the sloes as daisydaisy suggests. The recipe I follow is to agitate the mixture , kept in a dark place for 3 months, then strained and bottled and kept for at least 6 months more before drinking. So it will be ready for my birthday next June. It’s a test of self control and all the better for that!
At Christmas it gets marinaded overnight in red wine - tonight it didn't! Just some crushed juniper berries rubbed in, salt and pepper, brushed with a bit of oil, then covered in bacon and roasted with onion. And this piece wasn't strongly flavoured (as it might have been), but was nice and tender.
That does indeed sound delicious. Maybe I should try venison again!
I'm waiting for D. to come back from playing for a wedding; I've made a lamb curry, but I think I've goofed. After I'd added the spices (the recipe called for curry powder, ginger and turmeric), I couldn't remember putting in the curry powder*, and when I tasted it, it didn't seem very curryish, so I added it again ...
I think it's going to be rather hotter than it was meant to be.
* I think something distracted me, probably the microwave bleeping after heating up the stock. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.
My paternal grandmother used to make rum balls for Christmas. One Christmas there was decidedly more rum in them than usual; an intense amount. Being a cook who went by smell, and not realising she had a blocked nose...
As it turned out, it wasn't half bad, and D. really liked it, so between us we finished it off, along with a can of beer that was being promoted in the offy last week when we were buying some wine. I wouldn't be dying about having it again - it was an IPA, and although it cooled the heat of the curry quite well, it was really too bitter for my taste. D. wasn't all that wild about it either - he likes a nice IPA once in a while, but his southern taste-buds prefer it to be a bit more fruity.
You are, of course, completely right, BF. When we got to the checkout in the offy, the cans were in a basket and D. thought at first they were being given away; if he'd realised he'd have to pay for it he wouldn't have bothered!
* * * * *
We had our church service outdoors on the Cathedral green today, followed by a corn-boil, and the Almighty obliged with a beautifully sunny, if not-too-hot (15°) day. There was a decent turnout (it was a combination of the congregations of all three usual services), and really went off rather well.
Al fresco services are not that easy to arrange, meseems. Did you have a decent sound system etc., so that the Faithful On The Fringes could hear OK?
How did you manage with the music and singing?
Another A-C church in this Diocese had their Harvest service (last year's IIRC) al fresco, but held it under the Romanesque arches of their front porch!
It's a large 1950s replacement for a bombed Victorian building, with only a small (but perfectly-formed, and lively, congregation, rather like Our Place), so there was room for all.
... What is it with corn-cobs? The most tasteless and awkward-to-eat vegetable known to Humming Beans
They're not tasteless over here, BF - they're sweet and delicious. Awkward to eat, yes, but so worth it!
We did indeed have a sensible sound-system, and the music seemed to come over OK. At least I assume it did, as I was on the other side of it, as it were, although we had speakers in front of us so that we could hear the spoken bits, which worked fine.
Boogie - he's gorgeous! And a really good beach for puppies! And BF - I'm with you on corn cobs! Inelegant, messy and they are with you in the teeth for ever afterwards!
I like corn on the cob, there are some Mexican recipes with olive oil, tomato and chilli that taste good as a change from black pepper and melted butter.
I loved staying on Lindisfarne, I'm sending jealous vibes your way Boogie. It's really not an option at the moment though.
Corn on the cob was a vegetable I thought i would love as a child, but when I came to try it I was very disappointed. I can eat it but would not choose it.
On Sat I tried some lovely roasted corn - it uses a different type of kernel to the corn on the cob or popcorn, so I’m not sure if it can be found to make at home. I love corn on the cob and pop corn, although I find the
latter has scratchy bits that catch the back of my throat so roasted corn is a good alternative.
But who wants an alternative to delicious corn on the cob slathered with melted butter?
Another who is not a big fan of corn on the cob, I find it messy, disappointing and not to my taste. But I’m not keen on sweet savoury stuff.
Just got back from a routine trip to the dental hygienist and my teeth don’t feel my own! Definitely need a cup of tea before catching up on some work.
On a distinctly non-foody note, I returned to the Palace a short while ago, and saw (what was to me) a strange bird on the edge of the adjacent river as the tide was coming in.
Once upon a time, when I had time and no children, I had an allotment just metres from Daisydaisy's patch. One summer we had a great crop of corn on the cob. The trick is to eat it as fresh as possible. Sweet, juicy, not at all dry, and even the skins don't stick to you in the right way. Anything that's hung around in the supermarket for a couple of days will not come close...
Comments
I have purchased gin, sugar, and a glass jar thing with a lid that seals. However, having phoned my dad to ask about this, he says I can't use a sealed jar, or it will explode. Is this correct? He has never made this sort of thing, but he is imagining the sugar will ferment the blackberries and so release gas. Also, if I can use this jar, does rinsing with boiled water do for sterilising? This seems more complicated than I initially envisaged!
Blackberries I think are best in a pie, so all the pastry goes dark blue and gooey! But I haven't had wild blackberries for a long time now, my blackberry outings with a plastic box are long over! Cultivated blackberries haven't quite got the same flavour!
And somehow it seems wicked to drink on one's own, so there is a nearly full bottle of sherry, one of Vermouth and three bottles of an exceedingly good red wine. My donation to the family Christmas dinner!
Some years ago now my husband and I did try making wine. We kept it in the airing cupboard, and I kid you not, it was the blackberry that decided to explode! We had psychedelic pillow cases for some time.........
I grew up Baptist. Quite a few church people were teetotal. I discovered gin from my heathen friends!
No, it won’t explode. We use sealed jars 🙂 🍸
Had a lovely meeting today with a new team on my death and dying module. Lots of friendly people and good communication which has made me feel really good about teaching it. I’m teaching 3 new modules this year so I have my workload cut out (I am increasing my hours as my children are older) but this is the course I am going to love the most.
But I’m really tired now.
Well, I won't say that the module itself sounds like a good laugh, but Yay for the positivity of people and communication!
Re kilner jars, My Old Mum used to have loads of them, previously used for preserving cherries (mostly) when they were in season. Young People Of Today have no idea how good bottled cherries can taste, in the Depths of Winter, when no such exotic fruit was in the shops (I'm going back here to the 1950s!).
I was horrified to learn that, some time after ceasing to preserve fruit (as it was by then available pretty well all year round in the supermarkets), she threw all the jars into the rubbish bin. However, I gather that new kilner jars, of the correct type, are still readily available.
IJ
Indeed they are, as also are those traditional ironmongery/housewares places one comes across occasionally, though not perhaps this one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gi_6SaqVQSw
There's a sort of odd, bitter-sweet, comfort in the knowledge that a familiar object from my long-ago childhood is still available, and in use.
IJ
My wife calls them "Useful Shops".
This shop, well=known to me, is incredible - and it's not far off its bicentenary! https://www.partridgeshadleigh.co.uk/ There's another similar shop in Chagford, Devon.
It’s my other half’s turn to cook and he is busy designing something on the pc (he owns his own technology business so it’s hard to get him away from work). I’m wondering whether to suggest popping to the pub to eat.
O, and at this time of day, going to the pub for grub sounds like a Good Idea...
IJ
I'm waiting for D. to come back from playing for a wedding; I've made a lamb curry, but I think I've goofed. After I'd added the spices (the recipe called for curry powder, ginger and turmeric), I couldn't remember putting in the curry powder*, and when I tasted it, it didn't seem very curryish, so I added it again ...
I think it's going to be rather hotter than it was meant to be.
* I think something distracted me, probably the microwave bleeping after heating up the stock. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.
Any fruit can be frozen first, which I find removes the need for pricking or mashing the fruit. It also gives a bit of time at what can be a frantic time of year.
I have just returned from the local show where t’allotment stand got a “Large Gold” medal. Sadly we weren’t able to send all the produce away, even for free - why do people seem scared of fresh produce? Admittedly the marrows were pretty scary, but I came home with a lot of plums and masses of gherkins some of which I’ll pickle and the rest I’ll take to the Country Market.
As a treat after a long day at the show I’ve cracked open the Courgette and Ginger wine and I think it’s got rather a high alcohol content, possibly to industrial levels.
Sorry - couldn't resist it! I daresay you weren't the only one to know what was coming...
IJ
Sounds lovely indeed, though personally I don't much care for venison. It always seems just a bit too rich for the delicate Episcopal innards.
What is involved in seasoning it, though?
IJ
That does indeed sound delicious. Maybe I should try venison again!
IJ
Drinking cans of beer?
Serves you right that you didn't like it all that much....
Beer (or, more properly, ALE) should be bottled or draught. This Truth has been revealed to me by The Lord in a Dream.
IJ
* * * * *
We had our church service outdoors on the Cathedral green today, followed by a corn-boil, and the Almighty obliged with a beautifully sunny, if not-too-hot (15°) day. There was a decent turnout (it was a combination of the congregations of all three usual services), and really went off rather well.
The corn-cobs were pretty damn good too.
How did you manage with the music and singing?
Another A-C church in this Diocese had their Harvest service (last year's IIRC) al fresco, but held it under the Romanesque arches of their front porch!
It's a large 1950s replacement for a bombed Victorian building, with only a small (but perfectly-formed, and lively, congregation, rather like Our Place), so there was room for all.
IJ
(What is it with corn-cobs? The most tasteless and awkward-to-eat vegetable known to Humming Beans).
IJ
He approves
IJ
He's beautiful! One of these days he'll grow into those legs.
We did indeed have a sensible sound-system, and the music seemed to come over OK. At least I assume it did, as I was on the other side of it, as it were, although we had speakers in front of us so that we could hear the spoken bits, which worked fine.
Trying to catch feline housemate for her 6 monthly visit to the V.E.T.
I loved staying on Lindisfarne, I'm sending jealous vibes your way Boogie. It's really not an option at the moment though.
You forgot the pepper. Freshly ground.
latter has scratchy bits that catch the back of my throat so roasted corn is a good alternative.
But who wants an alternative to delicious corn on the cob slathered with melted butter?
Just got back from a routine trip to the dental hygienist and my teeth don’t feel my own! Definitely need a cup of tea before catching up on some work.
A quick Google, and here it is:
https://rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/wildlife-guides/bird-a-z/little-egret/
First time I've seen one, but they've not been in the UK that long, says the article. A little beauty, if ever there was, IMHO.
IJ