Tuesday 16 July 2013

Sacred jam

Jam making season has arrived in Polwarth.  Despite not enjoying our trip to Craigie's as much as we had expected to, we plunged into preserving.   First up the blackcurrants.  A couple of year's ago we'd bought some very nice blackcurrant and sloe gin jam at the village shop in Kirkmichael.  It was - until yesterday - the best blackcurrant jam we'd tried. 

We've not got any sloes, but last week I succumbed to temptation and bought a bottle of Sacred Gin from the wonderful Provenance Wines  (@Provenance_Edin).  And the more I thought about it, the more I was convinced this was the way to go.  This is not a hit-you-over-the-head with juniper gin (although I quite like that too), but an aromatic gin.  I googled for recipes, and while I found several adverts for artisanal jams with sloe gin, no recipes popped up.  So, I decided to follow my usual blackcurrant recipe, and then chucked in 50ml of gin after I took it off the heat. It bubbled up delectably. 

The jam smelled good while cooking - always a good sign - and even better while I ladled it into bottles. We still need to label it, but I'm already wondering where I can get some more currants.