Redcurrant Gin Recipe

I love gin. It's the only spirit I actually drink, and I love how versatile it is. My favourite way to drink it at the moment is with elderflower tonic (which I've only just discovered!), a few slices of cucumber and a couple of fresh mint leaves. Hopefully I'll be growing cucumber and mint on the allotment by next year, and I'd quite like an elderberry bush eventually too, but for the moment, all we've got is lots of berries in various stages of ripeness and attractiveness.

I'm holding out a lot of hope that our bumper blackberry crop will be a success—given how much of our plot is taken over by brambles, we're going to be swamped for the next 6 months—but until then, it's all about the redcurrants, blackcurrants and gooseberries. 

I was browsing Pinterest the other day, trying to find recipes that use redcurrants. I had no idea what to use them in. I soon came across this recipe for redcurrant gin, however. I say recipe, but it's barely even that—it's basically just gin, redcurrants and sugar, and the method couldn't be simpler. I've seen other recipes that add lemon zest, so I decided to split my mixture in half and try half with zest, half without.

I'm not sure what to expect from this, and I've got no idea what mixer to serve it with. I saw someone on a forum suggesting ginger beer and I quite like the sound of this, so might try it out when the gin is ready in a couple of months! I used this Kilner Square Clip Top Jar 0.5 Litre from Amazon. I know there are lots of preserving jars out there, but I always use Kilner as I love the look and feel of them, and they always seem so solidly made! I've got these jars in a variety of sizes, and I used two 0.5 litre ones for this gin. I added lemon zest to one and not the other so I can compare the two once they're ready and see which I prefer.

Redcurrant Gin Recipe

Ingredients

300g redcurrants
150g caster sugar
750ml gin
zest of one lemon (optional)

Method

1. Remove the redcurrants from their stalks by holding the top of the bunch firmly in one hand and running a fork lightly down the strig. Wash thoroughly.

2. Crush the redcurrants with the caster sugar, and lemon zest if using (I used a fork to lightly crush the berries), in a bowl. 

3. Transfer to a Kilner or similar airtight jar, add the gin, and seal the jar. 

4. Place the jar in a cool, dark place, and shake it once a day for one month, then just occasionally for another month.

5. After the two months are up, strain the gin through a sieve of muslin cloth and decant into a bottle. 

I'll let you know the results in approximately two months!

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