Ingredients:
4 cups of dry cider or apple juice
2 sprigs rosemary
2 sprigs thyme
12 juniper berries
2 tablespoons honey
Method:
Put all the ingredients into a pan and bring to a simmer. Heat for around 15 minutes, allowing the herbs to infuse into the cider..
Strain the liquid through a muslin or cheesecloth and serve immediately.
In a none authentic setting I recommend adding a shot of brandy before serving.
This was inspired by Robin Hobb's books. The story follows that of a bastard of a prince, Fitz, as he becomes an assassin. It's a beautiful story filled with magic, dragons and apricot brandy shared with his friend, the fool.
Ingredients:
700g Apricots
350g honey
700ml brandy
Method:
Wash your fruit and cut into quarters, Removing the stones. Put the fruit into a Kilner jar and cover with the honey. Pour over the brandy and put the lid on.
Shake the jar to mix in the honey. Shake once a day, for a few days, until the honey remains dissolved.
After 2 weeks decant into bottles through a funnel lined with a muslin cloth.
This can be drunk straight away.
Ingredients:
350g Sloes
125g granulated sugar
700ml gin
Method:
Wash your fruit and pick out any leaves, twigs, or insects. Put the fruit into a Kilner jar and cover with the sugar. Pour over the gin and put the lid on. Shake the jar to mix in the sugar. Shake once a day, for a few days, until the sugar remains dissolved.
After 3 months decant into bottles through a funnel lined with a muslin cloth. Whilst you can drink this straight away, it does benefit from ageing for a year or more, if you can wait that long.
Considered by some to be superior to sloe gin, this is a must make for me every summer. Keep the blackberries to use in a pudding, or eat with Ice cream or use to make Jam.
Ingredients:
350g blackberries
175g granulated Sugar
700ml whiskey (Scotch or Bourbon - depending on your preference. I think Scotch is better)
Method:
Wash your fruit and pick out any leaves or twigs.
Put them into a kilner jar and cover with the sugar. Pour over the whiskey and put the lid on. Shake the jar to mix in the sugar. Shake once a day, for a few days, until the sugar remains dissolved.
After 3 months decant into bottles through a funnel lined with a muslin cloth.
Whilst you can drink this straight away, it does benefit from ageing for a year or more - if you can wait that long!
To the Saxons and the Danes the elder tree was sacred, thought to contain a spirit or Goddess. To take a part of a tree would require gaining permission from the spirit or Goddess, lest she take revenge on the offending person.
It was thought that if you burned elder wood you would see the Devil, but if you planted elder by your house it would keep the Devil away. Elder trees were the sources of many coloured dyes; Blue and purple from the berries; yellow and green from the leaves; grey and black from the bark.
Most of the Elder tree is poisonous, containing high levels of cyanide.
Ingredients:
1500g elderberries
4.5l/19 cups boiling water
1.5 kg/4.5 cups honey
5g/1 tsp pectic enzyme
5g/1 tsp of red wine yeast
5g/1 tsp yeast nutrient
Method:
Put all the berries into a large bucket and crush with a rolling pin. Add the honey, and pectic enzyme and cover with the boiling water. Stir well.
Once cool, make a note of your gravity.
Add your yeast and nutrient and cover loosely for 1 week before straining into a demijohn with an airlock.
When fermentation ends (bubbles passing through the airlock at less than one a minute) check your final gravity.
Finally, syphon the wine into bottles and cork.
Age for a minimum of 6 months before drinking, but a year is better.
Check my other blog post here for the basics of homebrewing before attempting this one.
Ingredients:
1.8Kg honey
30g meadowsweet
4.5 l water
1 teaspoon of wine yeast
Method:
Put half the honey into a clean, sterile bucket with the meadowsweet.
Pour in 4.5 litres of boiled water and stir until the honey is dissolved.
When the liquid has cooled to room temperature, add the yeast. Leave to ferment for 2 days.
Strain the liquid through a clean muslin into a demijohn, fit with an airlock and leave to ferment for a further 5 days.
Syphon the mead into a clean demijohn, leaving behind any sediment.
Add the rest of the honey and mix well.
When fermentation ends (bubbles passing through the airlock at less than one a minute) siphon the mead into bottles and cork.
Age for a minimum of 3 months before drinking.
Taken from my book ‘Eat like a Viking!’ Available now on Amazon
This recipe is great if you heat, but not boil, a bottle, with a jar of honey, a few cloves, some grated nutmeg, ¼ pint of water and the juice and rind of a lemon. Add half a small bottle of brandy before serving. Drink whilst still warm.
We drink this every Christmas when family visit and we always run out!
You can also make this one with just elderberries or just blackberries.
Ingredients:
800g elderberries
800g Blackberries
4.5l water (boiled)
1.5 kg granulated sugar
1 tsp pectic enzyme
1 tsp of red wine yeast
1 tsp yeast nutrient
1 campden tablet (optional)
1 teaspoon fermentation stopper (optional)
1 teaspoon Bentonite (optional)
Method:
Put all the berries into a large bucket and crush with a rolling pin. Add the sugar, and the pectic enzyme, and cover with 4.5l boiled water. Stir well.
Once cool, make a note of your gravity.
Add your yeast and nutrient and cover loosely for 1 week before straining into a demijohn with an airlock.
When fermentation ends (once bubbles pass through the airlock at less than one a minute) add a crushed campden tablet and fermentation stopper, if using, as per the instructions on the packet.
Nows the time to check your final gravity, if you haven’t already, and want to know the percentage of alcohol in your brew.
After 3 days clear the wine by adding bentonite, if using, as per the instructions on the packet. Alternatively you can wait until it clears naturally.
Finally, syphon the wine into bottles and cork.
Age for a minimum of 3 months before drinking, but a year is better
