We're still preserving our way through a lot of damsons, most have had their stones removed and have been frozen for later use, some have been made into chutney. A quick (apart from the maturing) and easy way of creating a warming winter drink is to use some for damson gin.

The method is very similar to sloe gin, and the result has the same deep purple colour. One benefit of using damsons is you can use the fruit afterward for a boozy fruit crumble.

  See here for the damson gin recipe in more detail.

Recipe Costs

£0 500g damsons
£ 7.99 70cl gin (from aldi)
£0.14 150g granulated sugar
£8.13 Total £11.61 per litre of damson gin - about a third the cost of buying it )

The damsons are washed and allowed to dry, then put in a large 2 litre kilner jar, the wide neck makes it easy to add the fruit and sugar and having lots of shaking room is good for mixing up the ingredients.

I use cheap supermarket gin, I've not done a comparison but can't imagine that splashing out on brand names would make much difference in this case.

The sugar is added, it's easier to add sugar than it is to remove it, so if you're worried about the end result being too sweet now is the time to be cautious.
Try tasting the gin after a few months and top it up with some more sugar if you feel the need.

Seal up the jar and give it a good shake, then store it in a cool dark place and repeat this every day until the sugar is dissolved. Then just give it another shake every week or so.

The gin will be ready to drink after 3 months, strain off the fruit first and decant into the original gin bottle, or a screw top wine bottle.

It's best not to leave the fruit in for more than six months, but once strained and bottled the gin will keep for years, and get smoother the longer you leave it.

Recipe Timings

20 mins preparation
5 mins mixing
3 months waiting