Berry Rum

Our first summer in our new house and we were very pleasantly surprised to find the garden filling up with a variety of fruits including plums, blackberries, wild strawberries and raspberries. Even though I had absolutely nothing to do with the planting/growing of said fruit, there was something very satisfying about going out there and gathering it all up even though the yield may look somewhat meagre...

I decided I wanted to have a bash at making some booze with the fruits - something that we could enjoy later on in the year when we didn't have the sunshine to cheer us up. So, I took a bottle of my favourite pleasant yet affordable Aldi rum and filled it with all of the berries and a bit of sugar and left it to steep. Super simple!

Now winter is here, the making of the rum is complete and I have been very much enjoying drinking my berry rum as a dark and warming aperitif or mixed with a dash of lemonade for a sweet, cough syrupy treat!

Recipe:

110g strawberries and raspberries
55g caster sugar
750ml dark rum

Aldi classic

Take an old empty drinks bottle and put a funnel in the top. Pop the berries and sugar in.

Pour the rum into the bottle too.

Put the lid on the bottle and give it a good shake.

Put the bottle in a nice cool, dark place. Every week or whenever you remember, take the bottle out and give it another good shake. You will notice the berries going all smushy.

After leaving to steep for a good while (I waited two months but I guess you could leave it a year or more!), line a bowl with a tea towel or a muslin cloth.

Pour the rum into the tea towel and allow the liquid to drain through.

Discard the smushed up berries - I had planned to make these into some kind of boozy jam but they looked and smelled like cat sick - not recommended!

Pour the rum into a nice decanter and serve at your leisure! A perfect winter warmer.