7/30/2019 Elderberrie GIN

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A hedge full of elderberries, busily being stripped by the birds, but this yearIm having my share too. Elderberries, like Rowan, come with their own element ofrisk. This time cyanide poisoning. Well, I like to live on the edge, but thistime Im taking some precautions. The risk of alkaloid poisoning can be significantly reduced by ensuring that all berries are de-stemmed by using the tines of afork, only fully ripe berries are used, and that the fruit is cooked through before use. The cooking is the bit that makes the real difference people make elderberry wine and jellies all the time without adverse affects, but the recipes that they follow will involve a degree of cooking. Now Im obviously not interestedin cooking the fruit down to a pulp or steeping it in boiling water, so I took the option of microwaving the berried for a couple of minutes. This leaves themmore or less intact but gets the juice running and heats it through well, hopefully minimizing the affect of any rogue nasties. I should add that the body can handle small doses of plant cyanides with no ill effects, and many plants containpotential lethal alkaloids so you could consider this overkill (no pun intended). As long as you are wary of the parts of the plant where the poisons are contained (leaves, stems, seeds, bark), you should be OK. Just remember that youre only interested in the juice so make sure you strain the fruit off when the maceration is complete.Ingredients

500g ripe Elderberries100g Sugar70cl Gin, 43 ABV

Method

Strip 500g of ripe elderberries from their stalks using a fork. Pick over and remove all unripe fruit and remove as many stalks as possible

Place the berries in a microwavable bowl or jug and heat on full power for acouple of minutes, stirring occassionally. The berries should have split, be losing juice and very hot, but not a pile of mush

In a sterilised Kilner Jar, add the berries and sugarPour over the gin. Seal the jar and shake wellOver the next 2-3 days, shake periodically until the sugar has dissolved, th

en store the jar in a dark cupboard for 1 month onlyStrain the mixture through a muslin and check the sweetness add extra sugar

if required. DISCARD THE BERRIES!Store for another month or more before bottling & drinking

Comments

Again, another experiment. The mixture is macerating with a default amount of sugar, which will need to be adjusted. Im only leaving the fruit in for a month the heating process will speed up the juice extraction into the liquor, and Id like to get rid of the seeds asap.