Damson Gin by Emma

With an abundance of damsons in my mum's garden this year I thought it was the perfect opportunity to combine them with one of my favourite drinks - GIN.

Armed with 1kg of damsons and 1.5 litres of gin at home, I purchased 2 large air tight jars and 1kg of sugar. The general opinion online was to wash the damsons and prick them, which I did with a sharp knife, before adding them to the sugar in the airtight containers. For the next week I gave the jars containing the damsons and sugar a shake so the sugar would fully soak up the damson juice to create a purple syrup. Finally I added my gin into each jar and have now left them in a cool, dry place to allow the gin to fully absorb the damson syrup. A few weeks prior to Christmas it will be ready to decant into individual bottles for little Christmas treats for family and friends.

I have read that once I have strained the damsons from the gin and removed the stones the leftover damson mixture creates a delicious (and very alcoholic) accompainment to duck or pork dishes or can be dried out and used in fruitcakes. So i'm really looking forward to giving this a try over the festive season.