Home Made Liqueurs

Generally, a liqueur is made by infusing a pleasant volatile substance in a neutral spirit such as vodka. Some more specialised liqueurs use a different spirit such as whisky to add a subtleness of flavour characterised by the raw liquor. In most cases, the resulting infusion should be sweetened up using a sugar syrup. Note: not the syrup that is sold commercially in tins: this is would give a quite unacceptable flavour.
For a single bottle of spirit it is preferable to moisten 250g of white sugar with water in a saucepan; heat it up until it dissolves (you might need to add more water - but keep this to a minimum). Under no circumstances allow the syrup to caramelise. If a slight colour develops - no problem, but no dark colour should be tolerated. A rather unusual flavour will be imparted to your liqueur if you used such material.
Note: allow the syrup to cool before adding it to your infusion.
Sometimes a sweet infusion is not the answer. My Basilime, for example, is unsweetened and drunk with tonic water rather like vodka and lime.

Collect fresh sloes (blackthorn trees have VERY sharp thorns!) - enough to half-fill a gin bottle. Old recipes tell you to prick each fruit with a darning needle. A fork works just as well! However, in the 21st century, an even better method exists: simply freeze the fruit in a bag, then allow it to thaw out. This process will break the fruit up and allow the spirit to extract the flavour and colour. You should fill your bottle with your chosen spirit. True - gin does have a distinctive flavour and many people prefer vodka. Allow the extraction process to go on for at least 3 months, strain the spirit off, then sweeten with a sugar syrup. This can be 8oz (225g) of sugar in a small amount of water which is heated until all the sugar dissolves. Do not allow it to caramelise, and DO cool it before adding to the sloe liquor. As you can see in the photograph - it's much more convenient to use a wide-necked storage jar!

Note: if you prefer your sloe gin sweeter - or less sweet - adjust the syrup additions accordingly.

This is a subtle combination of lemon and fresh ginger. It is absolutely delicious!

Pare the rind from two lemons. Peel and chop a 1.5 inch (about 3cm) piece of fresh ginger. Place both into a wide necked storage jar and add 1 bottle of vodka. Leave to infuse for about a month. Filter out the vegetable matter and sweeten the liquid with a sugar syrup made from 8 oz (220g) of sugar in the minimum amount of boiling water.

Bottle and enjoy. This tastes sublime! It is very reminiscent of a famous Italian liqueur - guess which one!

1 pomegranate (halved)

2 passion fruits (halved)

1 bottle vodka

8oz (220g) sugar made up as a syrup

3 oranges (just pare the rinds - this is all you need)

Infuse all fruits in 1 bottle of vodka for about 1 month. Strain off the liquor (best to filter it through kitchen tissue paper) and sweeten up with syrup to your taste. Note: on first making this, without the orange, it had a rather pleasant, but perhaps overwhelming, flavour of pomegranate. It has a beautifully attractive colour (which is most appealing) but the orange parings transformed it into a truly delicious liqueur!