A matter of taste and tractors

Our damson gin has a gold star from the British Great Taste awards, with lots of good comments from the judges on the depth of flavour and good balance between fruit, gin and sugar. It was up against 10,000 other food and drink products for some coveted stars and was the only damson gin to take any award. It was good to get feedback and helps me make some plans to aim for a rare as hen's teeth 3 star award.

And up in the orchard in the Lyth Valley home of the world's finest damsons, the fruit is beginning to ripen and slowly a blue blush steals across the trees. On a recent visit I took a day off from liqueur production to hitch a ride on the Two Bryan's (infamous) Tractor Run. Hurtling over the Howgills , along Tebay Valley up and over the Shap fells was exhilarating. I had the honour of being in the company of Viking tractor god Bryan from Park End Farm.

Meanwhile in East London the gooseberry and blackcurrant crops are finished and the freezer is stuffed to the gills, with the aim of extending the summer fruit liqueur season well into the autumn.  I'm running out of space in the house and beginning to think about how to grow the business. I have spotted a small mechanical filter pump used by small scale wine producers to clear sediment that might be just the thing to speed up the process of decanting the alcohol off the fruit. The Industrial Revolution is on its' way to Walthamstow.

In honour of the combustion engine I bring you the,

Dirt n' Diesel 

(by Cale Green from Seattle)

2 oz Cruzan Blackstrap Rum
1/2 oz Fernet Branca
1/2 oz Demerara Simple Syrup
1/4 oz Cynar
1/4 oz Lime Juice

Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a lime wedge.

A Murder of Mulberries

A 200 year old Mulberry tree in a nearby garden has generously donated it's juicy scarlet bounty to Mother's Ruin. With the help Nick and Siobhan and baby Ethan we discovered the only way to pick mulberries is the the old fashioned way. Shaking and tapping the high heavily hung branches, and pouncing on the ripe berries when they tumbled down. Staining hands and sheets, a few hours work gave up enough berries for a small batch of gin which after only a few days has turned a deep glowing ruby red. I think the tart and slightly aromatic fruit is going to be a perfect match for the gin.

 

It's possible that this old tree is related to the first mulberry trees that were imported to Britain in the 1600's by King James who was keen to rival the Chinese silk trade by starting one of his own. Unfortunately for the silk worms he imported the wrong kind of mulberry, as they only eat the leaves of  white mulberries. Fortunately for us he imported the black mulberry which has the juiciest and most flavoursome fruit. 

The mulberry tree is a place for myths and story tellers. The fictional story teller Kai Lung unrolls his mat under a mulberry tree. Star crossed lovers Pyramus and Thisbe love and die under the mulberry tree, with the colour of mulberry juice stained forever blood red in honour of their grief. Modern story tellers words without borders share a piece of writing about an Iranian mulberry tree.

 A Mulberry and lavender cocktail

• 20 medium sized Mulberries (or 10 large ones)*
  
• 1 tablespoon Lavender Simple Syrup
• 2 ounces vodka
• 5 mint leaves
• Drizzle of honey
• Fresh lemon juice, 1/2 lemon
• Soda water, fill

 Combine mulberries, mint, small drizzle of honey and simple syrup in cocktail shaker. Muddle until mulberries are juiced. Add ice, vodka and lemon juice. Shake and strain pulp using a sieve. Pour over ice in glass and garnish with extra mulberries and lavender sprig. Said to cleanse the blood, act against aging and packed full of vitamin C and Iron, surely the perfect summer tonic.

Intoxication and a joyful noise in the Fens

Mother took a day off to go to the Cambridge Folk festival where barefoot dancing to The Levellers made her feel the giddy psychedelic youth of 25 years past. And in her honour the magnificent Bellowhead played their Sloe Gin Set Well, perhaps it wasn't in her honour, but still it was a joyful noise.

 

The last of the blackcurrants have now been picked alongside with all the cherries that I could reach, the topmost branches were beyond my fingertips, so they are for the birds. The adjoining garden was playing a Doris Day album all afternoon so the strains of The Deadwood Stage and singing Whip Crack Away  we got the job done.

Something cool and zesty to help refresh the mind and body in these hot and sultry days

Kir Martini:

1 part of blackcurrant liqueur
2 parts extra dry vermouth
7 parts gin
twist lemon peel

- mix all in a mixing glass with ice and strain into a cocktail glass, garnish with a twist of lemon peel.

A dark and inky joy

Along with most of the soft fruit the blackcurrants are ready to be picked. I've been up early to be in the orchard by 7.30 while the weather is still cool, and part of the orchard is still in the shade. A small robin darted onto one of the low branches of the currant bush and fixed me with a bright gaze while I picked. The blackcurrant foundation gives handy tips on how to grow blackcurrants and get fat juicy berries of your own, and explains why British blackcurrants are the best in the world.

Grown in Russian monastery gardens in the 11th Century and cultivated in Britain since the 16th Century. A delicious wonder fruit jam packed with vitamins C and E, and with claims that it prevents heart disease, cancer and Alzheimer's, it would be madness not to drink it. To this end I bring you a twist on the classic Black n' Black

Mother's Black n' Black:
Pour 2-3 of shots of blackcurrant vodka into the pint glass, top up with Guinness - behold the delicate pink head. Take a deep pull and enjoy the dark malt and bitter chocolate of the Guinness infused with tart and tasty blackcurrant. 

As the good folks at Guinness have always said - it's good for you.

Flaming July

Mother's Ruin HQ is basking in a week of heat and longed for sunshine. Deep from within the raspberry canes her warm timbers creak and settle as the soft fruit bushes ripen around her. 

Intensive picking activity is interspersed with eating cherries and strawberries sun-warmed and sweet, and straight from the plant.

Is there anything more dreamily seductive than an English summer day? - perhaps because there are so few of them

This week both the gooseberries and the blackcurrants are ready for picking. The fridge and freezer are now filling up and the berries await their glorious death in vodka.



The gooseberry show season is about to start, with the first on 27th July at the Crown Inn at Goostrey, Cheshire, followed shortly by the Queen of all gooseberry shows at Egton Bridge on 6th of August. One of the last remaining strongholds of gooseberry stardom where the noble and ancient art of growing gooseberries the size of eggs is celebrated. To toast those heroes of the fruit world a gooseberry cocktail...

La Grosella (Spanish for gooseberry) Per person,
muddle/crush six gooseberries, then added a 1/2 oz. of lime juice, 1/2 oz. of simple syrup, 1/2 oz. of St Germain (elderflower liqueur) and a 2 oz. of mezcal or tequila. Shake, strain and serve in a coupe, garnished with a lime wheel and a spare gooseberry. Yum!

Summertime's in bloom

 The soft fruit harvest is just gathering pace with the blackcurrants darkening and the gooseberries fattening and just beginning to yield to a gentle testing squeeze. These three hot bright days will bring them on and I'm planning a Sunday in the orchard picking. Every once in a while there is a year when the birds leave my sweet cherry tree alone. And this year is that year. Too rare and delicious for liqueur production (although now I think about it maybe a few bottles of cherry gin) I plan to stand amongst the low branches and eat them dark and sweet straight from the tree. Mother loves you, but not enough to give you her cherries.

The best I can offer is a divine and classic cherry cocktail from 1915

The Singapore Sling Ingredients: 1 1/2 oz gin 1/2 oz cherry liqueur eg Heering 1/4 oz triple sec or Cointreau 1/4 oz Benedictine 2oz pineapple juice 3/4 oz lime juice dash of bitters marascino cherry/pineapple to garnish    Instructions: Shake hard or blend for a foamy texture, strain into a collins glass. Garnish. Find a shady spot and enjoy.

Heralding the official arrival of the British summer

It's been a busy few weeks with elder blossom coming into it's full glory. Luminous in the dark corner of St Mary's Churchyard, along Vinegar Alley and in all the forgotten corners the  urban forager finds scented treasure.

A dry early morning is the best time to gather it, when the scent is strongest. These flowers are destined for the gooseberry and elderflower vodka which I will make in the next few weeks when the gooseberries ripen.


Meanwhile they are filling the house with their fragrance, a bright heap awaiting being steeped in vodka.

 A recipe for making elderflower cordial;

Best consumed within two weeks, although it'll keep for a month if bottled and can be frozen in plastic bottles (leave some space, as the liquid expands)

Ingredients:
20 elderflower heads
2½ pints boiling water
3½lbs sugar
1 sliced lemon 2tsp
citric acid (available from the chemist)

Method

Put all the dry ingredients into a clean pan and pour boiling water over them. Stir until sugar is dissolved. Skim off the surface scum. Cover with a cloth or lid. Stir twice daily for five days. Strain through a muslin and bottle.
A little cordial in some prosecco makes a gorgeous summery cocktail.

Meanwhile frantic bottling and labeling is going on each evening in preparation for the divine Auntie Maureen's gourmet food fare at The Bell on Sat 29th. A wondrous cornucopia of local edible delights, featuring cake makers, chutney and jam producers as part of the Appetite E17 festival.