Locations of fruit trees/bushes to pick from in Stafford?

[littleme]

For those that don't have the patience, Lidl currently has sloe gin at £7.99 for 500ml - on the "odd" shelves, by the new freezer.

*sigh* I've been trying all week to convince MrLittleme that we need to buy all the remaining bottles of Sloe Gin (purely for medicinal reasons of course) - he's not giving in.

 

[Withnail]

Need a recipe to turn blackberries in to something alcohol based.

Apologies for lateness of reply...

Last year i took @flossietoo 's advice and made blackberry brandy - like every year, i thought i should make some sort of note of the 'recipe' i'd followed for future reference, and like every year i failed to do so - and i was rather hoping she might butt in on the recipe front.

Pretty sure it was 4oz. of sugar to 1lb. of blackberries to a bottle (70cl.) of brandy - i steep mine in a 1l. kilner jar, which fits it all cosily.

I'm a big believer in letting the fruit bleed into the sugar for a day or two before adding the liquid, and with the blackberries i think this is even more important as you can 'crush' the fruit a bit by shaking them up in the jar with the sugar acting as the abrasive.

Once the liquid is added, you'll need to agitate the contents over the course of a day or three to dissolve the sugar completely, once dissolved you can pretty much just leave it in a cool dark place until Xmas.

Decant - via muslin to remove 'bits' - into suitable containers and enjoy immediately. Some insane people talk about then leaving it thus contained to 'mature' for a further year, but, really, as if...

 

[flossietoo]

Apologies for lateness of reply...

Last year i took @flossietoo 's advice and made blackberry brandy - like every year, i thought i should make some sort of note of the 'recipe' i'd followed for future reference, and like every year i failed to do so - and i was rather hoping she might butt in on the recipe front.

Pretty sure it was 4oz. of sugar to 1lb. of blackberries to a bottle (70cl.) of brandy - i steep mine in a 1l. kilner jar, which fits it all cosily.

I'm a big believer in letting the fruit bleed into the sugar for a day or two before adding the liquid, and with the blackberries i think this is even more important as you can 'crush' the fruit a bit by shaking them up in the jar with the sugar acting as the abrasive.

Once the liquid is added, you'll need to agitate the contents over the course of a day or three to dissolve the sugar completely, once dissolved you can pretty much just leave it in a cool dark place until Xmas.

Decant - via muslin to remove 'bits' - into suitable containers and enjoy immediately. Some insane people talk about then leaving it thus contained to 'mature' for a further year, but, really, as if...

http://i.imgur.com/Qlcn4QI.jpg

 

[Withnail]

Just made some today - NB it's a 1.5l. jar i use, not a 1l. one, which i'm not completely sure would be big enough.

Am in the middle of making this year's damson gin as well - damsons cosying up to the sugar (6 oz.) for the night as we speak.

 

[Withnail]

Can anyone confirm uncorroborated reports - well, report - that the bilberries are ripe for picking up Chase-wards?

In the interests of

 

[Withnail]

Can confirm bilberries are plentiful, round and ripe.

imminent.

 

[John Marwood]

Can confirm bilberries are plentiful, round and ripe.

imminent.

Thief!

 

[Glam]

My sister has 4 massive damson trees along her driveway. I'll be picking them as soon as possible.

 

[Withnail]

Thief!

I had to lie low for a day, but i've finally destroyed the evidence.

Ha!

 

[John Marwood]

I had to lie low for a day, but i've finally destroyed the evidence.

Ha!

The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 prevents foraging on a SSI

Special Forces will be deployed