Fruit and alcohol. Mainly alcohol…

There was a thick fog hanging over the river at 6.30 this morning and this afternoon the sun shines so warmly that there’s no need for a jumper. I love this time of year.

Another reason why I love autumn is because of the harvests it brings. I have never been religious but I used to look forward to the Harvest Festival in the Methodist church opposite my school. Not for theDSCF5381 service itself, but because of the wonderful display of produce. And then we sang songs at the fruit and vegetables. Excellent.

 

This year the hedgerows have been abundant in their offerings. For us it is the God of Booze that is worshipped and to whom we make our sacrifices (does that make us sound like alcoholics? In case it does I’d like to mention that I love tea too: I love tea too...). But how can you pass up the opportunity for liqueur, whisky and gin when all this is on your boaty doorstep? DSCF5387

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We usually make bDSCF5394lackberry whisky and sloe gin every year but this time round I wanted to utilise the hips. There are so many and it seemed a waste not to add them to our alcohol collection. The lovely @nbluckyduck of the fabulous nbluckyduck blog suggested I try a liqueur recipe from the Foraging London blog. I must say, it smells divine and very Christmassy already. I think it will be a huge success so I’m not sure whether it will last until Yule time as, well, you know, it has to be tested… a lot. Quality Control and all that…

4 comments:

Avus said...

Nice to see you back blogging, Valonia. I can talk, having not blogged since May, however I still look in on favourites from time to time.
I am with you on Autumn fruits and booze. Our blackberries around here this year are very poor (not enough sun)but we managed to cull enough sloes for the sloe gin.

valonia said...

Hello Gandalf!!! It is very good to see you again. It's nice to be back blogging too. I had 3 years of very bad health and the last thing I felt like doing was writing about it (as it would've been endless moaning!) but now I'm emerging from the fog it feels very freeing to be back here.

The sloes do seem to have benefited from the poor summer - they're so fat an juicy. It did take us three separate harvests to find enough blackberries though. I'm sure the end product will be worth it. :)

Avus said...

So sorry to hear about the poor health. I do hope the recovery is progressing and permanent?

valonia said...

Thank you, I hope so too! I feel much on the road to recovery and look forward to what the future holds. :)