Park Farm Cherry Gin

Happy Cherry Day!  I couldn’t let Lynsted’s very own Cherry Day celebrations pass without sharing a relevant recipe with you.  At last year’s Cherry Day I purchased some of the most wonderful freshly picked cherries from the Park Farm Cherry Orchard.  I  surprised myself by managing to have enough left by the time I got home to make some “Park Farm Cherry Gin”.  Usually, freshly picked cherries get eaten in very short order.  More difficult was the long wait from July to Christmas before the fruits of my labour could be tested.  Harder still was the packaging up of several bottles and giving it away as Christmas presents.  A couple of the Orchard Group Committee members have had a taster and given it the thumbs up.  So, come along on Cherry Day and purchase some really local cherries and have a go at this lovely recipe.

Ingredients:

Fresh, fully ripened, but not bruised, cherries Gin Granulated sugar ½ - 1 vanilla pod cut lengthways per container Kilner type jar or wide-necked air-tight jars/bottles

Method:

1. Remove the stalks from the cherries then wash and drain them.
2. Prick each one 5 - 10 times with a darning needle and place in your chosen container until the cherries almost reach the top.
3. Pour in some sugar and shake it down the jar until is comes approximately a quarter of the way up the container.
4. Pour in the gin until it completely covers the fruit.
   Seal the jar/bottle and shake well.
5. Shake the jar once a day for a week to help dissolve the sugar.
   .

This is ready to drink in 2 weeks but is better left until Christmas before you filter it off the fruit.  The remaining fruit can be added to desserts.  It is said to last after 20 years but as ours has never lasted that long I couldn’t tell you if this is true.