Scavenger's Booze

It is pretty seriously Autumn now. Don't even try to deny it, can't be done. But there are a few things that make Autumn fairly worthwhile. Apple and Blackberry pie is one of them, partly because it is an awesome pie, and partly for the ritual of collecting the blackberries.

Obviously you should never buy blackberries, and there should never be a need for you to buy blackberries. The month of September provides so many blackberries in so many places that there really isn't any excuse. You pick your spot; the roadside, the hedge by the train station, or the shrubs behind your work where your boss comes out to have a crafty cigarette and doesn't realise your there until you're right behind him - all are good places. You get out your little tupperware pot or old ice cream tub, and you pick and you pick until your hands are itchy and purple. Despite the thorns, there is something very satisfying about this experience. You are hoarding fruits for the cold nights ahead, you are collecting the harvest, you are using the hedgerow bounties that would otherwise have been wasted. You also sound phenomenally pretentious, but it doesn't matter as you've got a full tub of blackberries to look forward to when you get home.

Well, blackberries have been picked and the weather has turned. Unless you have been clever and frozen some, pie season is over. But there are still a few things you can forage and put to good use. Last year when walking back from CJ's car boot sale along the Kenilworth Road, I spotted some sloes.
I hadn't seen sloes since I was a child, but I remembered that the adult population at the time had used them for sloe gin. Naturally that did not appeal to me so much back then, but thankfully I have now matured, and my understanding of gin and gin affiliates has broadened remarkably.

It seemed a shame to waste them, so I went back with friends and carrier bags and we picked as many as we could get our hands on. I didn't have a recipe, but I did have half a bottle of gin at home, so I added sloes until the bottle was full and sprinkled in a little sugar to boot. I tasted it regularly until I figured it was about ready after 3 months, then strained it into another bottle. It quickly became one of my favourite tipples, but I don't think I made quite enough of it. That was not a mistake I intended to make again. That same sloe spot is now on my cycle route home from work, so once they started appearing again this year I began to stop off fairly regularly and managed to collect a sizeable amount. They are now all bottled up and all I need to do is wait. I'll let you know how it turns out in a few months time.

And yet I was not satisfied. Cycling home with a pot full of sloes I also saw trees laden down with elderberries, and my foraging instincts kicked in again.

I can't say I've ever been a big fan of elderberries as a fruit. Elderberry jam is undeniably rich and aromatic, but not particularly flavoursome. So what to do with them? Well, I mulled this over as I was peddling back, and decided that if gin could do things to sloes (which themselves aren't particularly tasty on their own), then vodka might do something for elderberries. And so it came to pass that elderberries were scrumped and vodka was obtained and Elderberry Vodka was made. As elderberries are much juicier than sloes they only took about a week or two to macerate, and now I have a big ole bottle of elderberry vodka for what was really very little effort. If you plan on making any flavoured spirits I would aim to fill any given bottle about half full of fruit and top with the spirit you want to use. Add sugar to taste if necessary; I've found that it isn't needed so much with elderberries as it is with sloes.

Here's a few ideas for cocktails using elderberry vodka:

Hedgerow Royale
1 measure elderberry vodka
Sparkling white wine

Put the vodka in a champagne flute or wine glass and top with the wine. If you chill both the wine and vodka beforehand then th liquids won't mix so much and you'll get a lovely graduated effect in the glass.

Elderberry Martini
1 1/2 measure elderberry vodka
1 measure vermouth

Shake over ice and serve in a martini glass

Autumn Mule
2 measures elderberry vodka
1 Tbsp frozen red berrries / fruits of the forest
Ginger ale

Put the frozen fruits in a tumbler. Pour the vodka over the fruits and muddle slightly. Top with ginger ale.

I'm also planning on making some chilli vodka which should be a nice warming winter tipple. I have a plan to muddle it with mint and serve it over ice for a temperature scrambling shot of crazy.