redcurrant gin

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mrsbean

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redcurrant gin
« on: June 30, 2020, 19:37 »
Sorry if this has been asked before, do you need to crush currants or just pop them in with the sugar, and prick like you do for sloes. Also does anyone know the price of gin these days Aldi used to be the cheapest but does price go on units or volume or what ever the government did a few months back. Excuse my ignorance, thanks

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New shoot

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Re: redcurrant gin
« Reply #1 on: June 30, 2020, 21:17 »
Tesco and Aldi are about the cheapest at £15 per litre (ish).  If you have the fruit, it is worth making extra as these type of drinks go down a storm as pressies later in the year.

I used Aldi white rum for pink currant rum and that was a hit.  If you freeze currants, it weakens the skins and the juice flows out much more freely for an infusion.  If you crush them it is hard to get the drink clear at a later date.  This trick works for sloes for sloe gin as well and means you don'y have to faff around pricking them with a needle  :)

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mrsbean

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Re: redcurrant gin
« Reply #2 on: June 30, 2020, 21:39 »
Thank you New Shoot. Will freeze them now, rather than crush them tomorrow. Yes i have loads more to pick will try the white rum as well. Can i be a pest and ask you the ratio of sugar to currants. I was going on 300gr fruit 150gr caster sugar 75cl gin. Thanks

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New shoot

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Re: redcurrant gin
« Reply #3 on: July 01, 2020, 11:49 »
That sounds very similar to the recipe I used - most specify about half the weight of sugar to fruit  :)

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mrsbean

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Re: redcurrant gin
« Reply #4 on: July 02, 2020, 23:44 »
Got all my home brew kit out of storage from years back, so glad i dont have to buy from scratch at todays prices. Only need yeasts and so on. Will do the Redcurrant Gin also wine to use them. Price of spirits are £4-£5 dearer in Wales than England

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WeavingGryphon

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Re: redcurrant gin
« Reply #5 on: July 06, 2020, 09:25 »
We used frozen redcurrants and dark rum to use both up and it went from something Husband wouldn't drink-the rum was a gift 10 years ago, to delicious and he's having to stay away from it.

We used froze fruit and one jar we crushed some of the berries after a week, the other we left alone. He prefers the uncrushed fruit jar.

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WeavingGryphon

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Re: redcurrant gin
« Reply #6 on: July 11, 2020, 21:16 »
Found the recipe, took a while to find the notes. It's Mary Berry's one, we left out the vanilla extract.
https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/uk/food/recipes/a535279/merry-berry-liqueur/


Gin should be the same process and you can easily taste and add more sugar if you want sweeter or a splash more gin if it's too sweet. We read up a lot and everything says use cheap alcohol because your changing it's flavour and unless your sense of taste is amazing you won't be able to tell if you used premium or cheap.

We've made a few as gifts since lockdown because we were bored and had extra frozen fruit that didn't need to become jam and the amount of excitement from the people who will be recipients is unerring.

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AussieInFrance

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Re: redcurrant gin
« Reply #7 on: July 12, 2020, 20:12 »
Could you substitute vodka for gin?
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WeavingGryphon

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Re: redcurrant gin
« Reply #8 on: July 15, 2020, 11:54 »
Could you substitute vodka for gin?

Looks at The Two thirsty Gardeners book. Yes.

Quote
The spirit you choose as a base for liqueurs and infusions will provide three main functions in the finished drink: 1. It will impart its own flavour. 2. It will extract flavour from the other ingredients. 3. It will make you drunk. The most commonly used base alcohol is vodka, on account of its having a more neutral taste than the other readily available spirits, but for all our recipes you can interchange the suggested spirit with another of your choice – gin, whisky, rum, brandy or even that dodgy-looking bottle of distilled spirit your neighbours brought you back from a skiing trip. The stronger the alcohol content, the better the job it will do at extracting the natural flavours from the other ingredients. Most spirits available to buy fall around the 40% volume mark – if you can get your hands on something stronger, you’ll probably want to dilute the finished liqueur to make it more drinkable.

link to their website.
https://twothirstygardeners.co.uk/

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mrsbean

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Re: redcurrant gin
« Reply #9 on: July 15, 2020, 23:21 »
Thanks for Mary Berry and other link will check them out. As i mentioned earlier there is no such thing as cheap in Wales or Scotland. Alcohol is priced on units all the same price. It was supposed to curb the drinking of strong cider by certain people. So everyone had to suffer the price rise x

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New shoot

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Re: redcurrant gin
« Reply #10 on: July 16, 2020, 08:28 »
I made gooseberry gin last year and very nice it is too, but have used vodka this year.  My gooseberries are a sweet variety called Xenia and I want more of the pure fruit flavour to come through.  It is infusing at present, so I can't do a comparison just yet.

We sell something called Soiree Brand X at work, which is a brandy flavoured mix of spirits and wine.  It is about half the strength of a full blown spirit, but is £6 for 70cl in England.  I've used it for quince and plums with excellent results.  It tastes the part, but is less potent of course.  I wouldn't put any fruit in that was too juicy, without adding some more spirits to the mix.  I was thinking of trying peach or apricot if I spot some well priced fruit  :)
« Last Edit: July 16, 2020, 08:41 by New shoot »

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WeavingGryphon

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Re: redcurrant gin
« Reply #11 on: July 16, 2020, 08:42 »
Thanks for Mary Berry and other link will check them out. As i mentioned earlier there is no such thing as cheap in Wales or Scotland. Alcohol is priced on units all the same price. It was supposed to curb the drinking of strong cider by certain people. So everyone had to suffer the price rise x

About cider, the two thirsty Gardeners book-which has a whole selection on making liqueurs including wine spirts mixes like new Shoot mentions. They say you can add the sloes you used to make a sloe gin and adding it to cider. Or chocolate. but I read elsewhere you may as well add leather to chocolate, it's the same texture.

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WeavingGryphon

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Re: redcurrant gin
« Reply #12 on: July 18, 2020, 21:59 »
I made gooseberry gin last year and very nice it is too, but have used vodka this year.  My gooseberries are a sweet variety called Xenia and I want more of the pure fruit flavour to come through.

We are absolutely making this later this year once I have enough berries in the freezer. And some rum or brandy.



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