pumpkinstrokemarrow

A few hours later, BH turns up a snippet from the weekend DT where the head gardener at River Cottage suggests doing it with whisky. Blackberries, sugar and whisky then leave for a year. Despite the fact that River Cottage is up there with Jamie Oliver on my hate list and my amusement that River Cottage has moved on from being an idyll by the river to having a head gardener, we decide that this might be the way forward.

First step, the demijohns bought many years ago to make beer having passed over, off to Wilkinsons to buy a demijohn and one of those bubble contraptions to seal it - just in the case the brew takes it into its head to bubble. Cost £8.22.

Second step, a rather desultory sterilisation. Seems a bit pointless given that the thing is going to be stuffed with stuff from the great outsides.

Third step, off to Horton Lane to fill the demijohn with blackberries. This takes about an hour and a half and includes a fair number of small spiders, various varieties. By the time the demijohn is full of blackberries, the water line is about a third of the way up. Messy things ripe blackberries. It also took a while to work out the best way of getting the blackberries out from the collecting tub and through the neck of the demijohn. I had thought that filling the demijohn in-situ, on the road side, was the way forward, so being sure that one had the right amount of blackberries; now not so sure. I should also report that while I was fiddling around at the road side,I was almost run down by a lycra looney who neither thought to ring his bell or pull out a bit. Not enough brain cycles left over from driving his legs to drive his cycle as well.

Fourth step, shake the blackberries down a bit and add a pound or so of preserving sugar, well past its sell by date but with added pectin. Will the brew set?

Fifth step, off to Sainsburys to buy some cooking whisky. Settle for their own brand, which actually costs pretty much the same as Bells or Teachers. Cost of a litre £16.23.

Sixth step, add the litre of whisky to the mix in the demijohn. Witness death throes of some of the spiders. Seal the demijohn.

Seventh step, wrap the demijohn in the brown paper thoughtfully provided by Wilkinsons on the grounds that BH believes that this sort of thing ought to be kept in the dark.

Eighth step, sit back and wait for a year.

So we have now spent of the order of £25 on what might turn out to be three of four pints of a sort of alcoholic version of Ribena. Will it turn out to be worth the candle?

PS: pleased to report that for the first time in a few years, frogs have returned to the centre pond (the one with the marigolds), with two of them there this afternoon. Frog homing had probably been disturbed by pond replacement (see February 16th 2009).