Monday 2 June 2008

Ready to Drink


Some of you may remember that I had a glut of mirabelle plums last summer. One of the things that I did was put some of the plums in alcohol and sugar. The jars were left untouched over the winter, probably because I was in the UK and unable to sample, (nothing like a thousand miles between you and temptation). Now I can say that it is well and truly ready to drink and even though I say so myself it's delicious.
The photograph was taken from the balcony of the house at the end of May.

The recipe :

All that I did was take a large jar. About 2 liters is good. I filled it with as many mirabelles as I could... push them in... then I added white sugar up to about the half way mark. Don't put too much sugar or your liqueur will be too sweet. Shake it down as it will tend to stay on the top. Now comes the exciting part. I filled the jar with 95% pure alcohol. Don't think for a moment that your finished product will be that strong. The plums will leech out their juices and mix with the alcohol making it much weaker. Leave to dissolve in a dark place. Shake the jar every day to help the sugar dissolve and when it is dissolved and the mirabelles are starting to shrink. However, taste a bit first. leave it longer if it still tasted of raw alcohol. Do not store in the light as the produce will turn brown rather than the amber colour that you see in the photo.

Do not throw away the plums as they are fantastic served in small glasses or over vanilla ice cream.


4 comments:

Makateria said...

I admire you for arranging your free time:) really great idea with the blogs.

Nic said...

Sadly, we've only got 1 (that I can see) mirabelle hanging from our tree this year. The liqueur looks wonderful!

P said...

I´d love to see the mirabelle plum liquour recipe on your page, but unfourtanately cannot find it.

Yvonne Randall said...

Hi P,

What an oversight.

All that I did was take a large jar. About 2 liters is good. I filled it with as many mirabelles as I could... push them in... then I added white sugarup to about the half way mark. Don't put too much sugar or your liqueur will be too sweet. Shake it down as it will tend to stay on the top. Now comes the exciting part. I filled the jar with 95% pure alcohol. Don't think for a moment that your finished product will be that strong. The plums will leech out their juices and mix with the alcohol making it much weaker. Leave to dissolve in a dark place. Shake the jar every day to help the sugar dissolve and when it is dissolved and the mirabelles are starting to shrink. However, taste a bit first. leave it longer if it still taasted of raw alcohol. Do not store in the light as the produce will turn brown rather than the amber colour that you see in the photo.

Do not throw away the plums as they are fantastic served in small glasses or over vanilla ice cream.

Hope that this helps.

YVonne