Topic: Frozen fruit at Tesco's

[Ishard]

I have bought 320 grams ( in 1 carton) blackberries, raspberries and cherries for 99p and blueberries for 1.99.

3 cartons of fruit to 1 70cl bottle of booze plus 8 oz sugar in a steralized milk carton and I now have;

Blackberry brandy
Raspberry vodka
Cherry vodka
Blueberry gin

Cant wait for Christmas!

[Chrissie]

LET US KNOW WHEN IT'S PARTY TIME!!

 8) ;D

[lolabelle]

hick........yum yum  I'll bring the cranberry and lime juce for cosmopolitans  just say when :D :D :D ;)

[Dougie1]

ooh a merry christmas indeed, can i ask how you made this please, ive heard a couple of ways but would appreciate your version

Thanks Dougie

[Ishard]

Its really easy the way I make them. I am a firm believer in 'if its easy to do, you will do it again.'  ;)

1 Sterilize 4 pint milk bottle. (Milton is easy to get hold of for sterilizing)

2 Add defrosted fruit and juice

3 Add 8oz( more if you prefer it sweeter) granulated sugar ( with some recipes I use half light brown sugar for a more caramel taste) and shake well to dissolve the sugar

4 Store in a dark cool place and shake everday for 1 month, then periodically afterwards

Another couple of recipes that I do which are nice is:

Orange Vodka to which you add double cream in the glass. Wonderful!
Orange brandy is nice too!

5 or 6 large oranges peeled and frozen, (clementines are nice too and have a slightly different taste) also use the skin for the oil but not the white pith.
When the oranges are defrosted use as above. You can use half brown sugar for this if you wish.

Vanilla vodka
same as above just add 2 slit vanilla pods instead of the fruit. No cream or brown sugar in this though.

Cranberry and orange (White spirit of choice)
use similar quantities as above basic recipe

Cinnamon (sticks) or cinnamon and apple (white spirit of choice)
As above basic recipe

Apple brandy too. Yum!

Lemon Vodka/Bacardi/gin (as above recipe)
Lime Vodka/Bacardi/gin (as above recipe)
These 2 are great over crushed ice and granny gets drunk!

Obviously plums and damsons are about now so they make a great liqueur but don't add the stones as these can make the liquid cloudy. Use vodka, gin or brandy for these fruits. Soon it will be sloe time too! ;D

Always, always freeze the fruit as it kills bacteria and breaks down the cell walls on the fruit so you get more juice and flavour.

I'm going to try a coffee liqueur with beans and good coffee, and a hazel nut liqueur. Ill let you know how I get on and if they work.
 I may have to change how I make the usual liqueur for the nuts, as in warming or cooking up the nuts with the sugar before adding to the booze? Ill see.

Enjoy but please don't blame me for your future alcoholism.  ;D

I once made a fortune supplying where my husband worked at Christmas time with loads of stuff. My kitchen looked and smelt like a distillery!

[Dougie1]

Oh wow thats fantastic advice, thankyou very much.

I will not blame you as long as you tell me how the coffee liquere turns out ;D

thank you ;)

[Ishard]

Dougie you are very, very welcome.  ;D

 Of course I will let you know as I love to spread happiness.  ;)

[debster]

ishard i love the look of the top recipe but you dont mention adding the alcohol im assuming you add it with the fruit and sugar and that is what you shake daily am i correct, and is it just a plastic milk container? did you add one container of fruit to each 70cl of alcohol, sorry if im being thick but im a little jet lagged!

[Ishard]

lol Deb I looked through my 'how to step by step' and yeah I did forget to say ADD THE BOOZE!!    ;D My bad! My only excuse is it was before 7 am.

My very first post is probably more 'complete' lol

Yes its 70cl and yes it really is milk cartons (our 4/2 pint plastic things). As we are not looking to ferment this we don't need a demijohn or air bubblers.
Milk cartons have wider necks so its easier to get the fruit into it and as with demijohns of red wine they need to be kept out of the light or they will turn a weird tea colour. I keep mine in the garage covered over with black bin sacks so they are cool and dark.

I have made some with 3 lots of the fruit and some with 1.5 so make your choice really. The less fruit you add the more you can taste the raw booze and you may need a mixer when you drink it if you dont like the taste of say, vodka. For me the reason to add less fruit was that I had more booze hanging around than fruit for my second lot of liqueur. OH is hard to buy for at Christmas so everyone gives him Vodka although he doesnt actually drink at home much, I didnt use his Smir silver though!

 I don't use a lot of sugar as I prefer the liqueur less sweet so sugar isn't the primary preservative.
What is important is that the liquid (booze and juice) covers the fruit as alcohol is a preservative and so no mould, hopefully!

Shake the milk carton everyday, this releases more juice and so more flavour and also disturbs any air pockets that may be in there.

PS Cream can be added to the the blackberry brandy when you serve it and if you are steady handed add a little icing sugar to the double cream and beat it a little then float it on top of the liqueur using a teaspoon. It looks really impressive and tastes non alcoholic (really smooth), which is great for a disruptive guest!
Get 'em drunk and shove them in the corner! ;D

[debster]

thank you i am gonna give this a go i guess its not too early to start yet, we have an aldi up the road so gonna use aldi vodka

[greyhound]

Plums also go well in white rum.

[SamLouise]

Ishard, I will be giving your recipes a go, they sound great!  Thanks :)

[THE MASTER]

try jelly babies in vodka take your socks of before tasting (there slippery boogers but when one kicks in itle blow ya socks off)

strawberies in V
rasberys in V

im growing a few marrows up the plot SO
 .apparently so ive heard if you take the core out of a marrow from the end that it grows from  keeping a full skin . fill the scooped out section of the marrow with vodka  keep it topped up for a month or so and the marrow turns into blahh de blahh de land wahhhooooooooo. hick

[Ishard]

Ive been known to add all sorts of sweeties to ice cubes that I then add  to the drinks.  ;)  ie dark chocolate with orange liqueur, white chocolate with strawberry, contrasting flavour jelly babies, not the same flavour or you cant really taste the jelly babies, smarties etc etc.   :)

Good luck if you are going to try that marrows recipe, you will need it as the resultant liquid is awful.

However, cut a hole in a water melon, scoop out some seeds to make room (place over the hole a plastic bag taped to the melon, rather like using a plaster after you add the booze)and add vodka, and sugar syrup if you want then leave to steep for 24 hours, turning the fruit every few hours, then have a 'grand opening' at a party. Its the only time I have seen adults actually suck the remaining seeds to get the last of the juice!

Crushed and frozen water melon (looks like a granita) topped with white booze (or liqueur) of choice looks very sophisticated.  ;)

[Ishard]

Chrissie and Lola you are both very welcome to come to my next tasting which usually turns into a party with people phoning friends "Come and taste Jackie's new stuff" hehehe but the hangover is all yours!  ;D

You are so right Greyhound, white rum does go nicely with plums.  :)
Half the fun for me is in the experimenting with flavours, the other half is watching people get very drunk very quickly when they believe that liqueurs are low alcohol. ;)

You are very welcome Savage. Enjoy!  ;D

[PurpleHeather]

Love the idea of adding cream, I did my strawberry-vodka thing and have eight bottles of it.

( Nine really but I taste it regularly, just to make sure that it has not gone off)

[Ishard]

oh very nice  :) Strawberry vodka, very girly if you add the cream as its a pretty pink colour. Just great for girly nights in with your mates.  ;D

I made 5 gallons of cider and decided to rack it off yesterday and hubby wasnt around to help so asked my son (22yr old) to help, after a lot of moaning and groaning he helped.

Then he discovered you have to suck the tube to rack it off, so it was suck, swallow, suck swallow and "Mum this cider isnt bad" suck swallow.
A good couple of pints short and one very tipsy son later the cider is maturing!!!

So, yes, you have to taste everything you make lol