Gin. Do You Drink It, Or Can You Eat It? Both!

It looks pretty in all of my cups

There were many years when I didn’t drink at all. Many, many years when, unless it was Christmas and I was taking part in the harmless but fun “I bet you cant…” game we seem to have in our household for more years than I care to count, that I wasn’t too interested in alcohol. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I don’t allow alcohol in my house. In fact I almost positively encouraged it. Making sure that there was always enough bottles of wine when myself and the lovely Mr G had people around. Christmas time, you’d fine me searching for the largest bottle of Baileys’ I could get, and as the lovely Mr G is a little partial to an old bottle of single malt, I’m forever searching out a bottle or three, of 18 year old whiskey. (Remind me sometime nearer Christmas to tell you about feeding my Christmas cake!)

What’s this about the game called “I bet you can’t.. I hear you ask?

This is a game that started in our house almost by accident (as most great traditions do in the house we call home).

 If you didn’t already know this, Christmas used to be my favourite family holiday, mainly because it was a time that was guaranteed (when the children were younger- pre husband and fiancé) to have everyone gather at my house, because I love to cook and because my children loved to eat and spend this time with me.

My Christmas present to myself was to cook everything for the great get together (dishes to be washed by whoever helped in the eating of the food.)

 Standing around waiting for the turkey to finish cooking, is when the “I bet you cant…” game started.

My loving son, on opening a new bottle of beer set down the challenge to me. “I bet you can’t drink a bottle of beer quicker than I can?”

Challenge set.

 Having noticed that he’d taken his newly opened bottle out of the fridge, I wisely chose mine from the box stored in the pantry, hence not cold (you can already see where I’m going with this).

It’s the astonishment as he watched his non-drinking mum down the whole bottle in the time it took him to realise that he may have been duped, that made me smile.

 As a young woman making my way in the world, there was a time when I worked more than one job. Day time 9-5 and night at a local riverside pub in West Bridgford.

At the time of Cher and Meatloaf great single “Dead ringer for love” -still to this day a favourite of mine, I have memories of many drinks being bought for me.

I’d like to say that I was particular with my alcohol choice, but to be honest, I’m not too sure the names of most of the tipples bought for me.

I actually didn’t drink them all, there was a “not at work” drinking policy which meant that all drinks, or tips, were shared between all staff at the end of the night. This doesn’t mean that I didn’t have my fair share of a spirit or two.

I stopped drinking for many years, from my early 20s onwards, my alcohol intake was limited to a Christmas beer challenge, or a Baileys over ice in the summer.

No reason for this, it just seemed that the idea and the taste of alcohol became something that I could take or leave, and most times, I was quite happy to be designated driver. Something I’m sure all non- drinkers will recognise. That is until I discovered flavoured gins.

 So when given some Yorkshire Dales Distillery Bramble Berry Gin to make a recipe for, it wasn’t too difficult to come up with an idea, well two actually, to make from it

 Just in case you weren’t sure, there is a moral to this story.

Never assume that you know your parents fully and certainly never underestimate them.

 Bramble Berry Gin & Lemon Pots with Bramble Berry Jelly

What You Need

 For The gin jelly Cubes

•   28g powdered gelatine

•   4 tbsp Bramble Berry gin – 45ml

• 250 ml water

•   40g castor sugar

Bramble Berry Gin Jelly Cubes . Any leftovers? Just nibble away.

 For the Gin & Lemon Pots

• 150ml Bramble Berry gin

• 3 lemons – zest and juice

• 600ml double cream

•   180gm castor sugar

Strain the lemons to get rid of all the pulp

How It’s Done

 Gin Jelly cubes

·      Put the gelatine powder into a bowl, add the gin and let it sit for 10 minutes  - Don’t panic – See Tip Box

·       Put the water into a saucepan along with the sugar and heat gently until the sugar is all dissolved.

·       When the sugar is dissolved, remove from the heat and add the gelatine and gin mix to the pan of warm water until it’s all melted. Make sure you keep stirring so there are no lumps

·       Pour the gin jelly into a high-sided container – Not a round container– See Tip Box

·       Cover the top of the container and leave to set in the fridge – Approx. 6 hours, until fully set.

This is where you find out where that invisible cut is

Gin & Lemon Pots

• Place the double cream and the sugar into a heavy bottom saucepan and heat the mixture very gently and slowly until all the sugar has dissolved. Stir constantly so it doesn’t catch on the bottom.

• Turn the heat up and bring the mixture to a very low simmer, let it simmer for 1 minute – See Tip Box

• Take the pan off the heat and add the gin , lemon juice and lemon zest. Stir all the mixture until everything is combined

• Taste Test – See Tip Box

•   Pour the mixture into your chosen serving dishes and chill along with the jelly for approx. 6 hours or overnight until its set.

• To serve – Very briefly dip the container that holds your jelly into a bowl of hot water. This will loosen the jelly enough, without melting it, so that you can tip the jelly out onto a work surface 

• With a sharp knife, cut into cubes   - the size is up to you

• Decorate the top of the Gin & Lemon pots with the jelly cubes

Enjoy Your Sweet Life

Serve yours in bowls, cups glasses, anything you want to .

Tip Box

•   Gelatine – When you put the gelatine into the gin,, it will quickly absorb all the liquid, don’t panic. This is what you want it to do .

• Container - The container has to have sides so that when you cut your jelly you can get straight sides for the cubes. – Use a plastic container with a lid if you have one, if not a loaf tin is good too.

•   Simmer – To simmer, increase the heat slightly. You should be able to see small gentle bubbles. This is a very low simmer. Be careful that the mixture doesn’t over flow.

• Taste Test – Give it a taste here to see if you re happy with the levels of gin and lemons. It should have a tart lemon taste with a twist of gin flavour. If you’d like more gin flavour add another couple of tablespoons of gin – Be careful not to add too much, otherwise it won’t set properly.