Redcurrant gin recipe

Redcurrant gin is a lovely sweet and fruity drink to have with ice on a sunny afternoon.

You make it yourself by leaving freshly picked redcurrants to steep and mature in gin, with sugar to sweeten the final drink as well. Seal it away in a cool dark place for three months and the results are fantastic. You're left with a gorgeously red coloured sticky liqueur, with a lovely berry flavour. Serve neat as an after dinner drink, or over ice with a dash of tonic for a clinky autumn fizz. You only need three ingredients for this recipe - plus a little bit of patience to wait until it's ready to drink.

Ingredients

• 300g (10oz) redcurrants
• 150g (5oz) caster sugar
• 75cl bottle of gin

Method

1. Crush the redcurrants with the sugar, put in a jar, pour in the gin and seal.
2. Leave 2-3 months in a cool, dark place, shaking the jar daily for a month, then just when you remember.
3. Strain through a sieve, then through muslin and pour into a bottle.
4. Drink neat, or made into a gin and tonic, with lots of ice.

Top tip for making redcurrant gin

Make sure your jars are well sealed. The gin and sugar act as preservatives but the jars need to be airtight as well.

Can I use any gin to make this redcurrant gin?

Go for a mid-range gin when choosing what alcohol to infuse with the currants. If it's so cheap that you couldn't bear to drink it neat, then it won't be miraculously transformed by the redcurrants. Equally, there isn't much point in changing the make-up of a very expensive gin, which will already have well-balanced flavours.

What other fruits can I use to flavour my own gin?

Sloes are the most common and are freely available on blackthorn bushes from late summer into early winter. See our guide on how to make sloe gin for more info. Damsons, which are like sloes but larger, are also quite easy to find yourself.

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