Blackberry Vinegar

One of our friends was telling tales of old and mentioned his mum making blackberry vinegar when he was a kid. Given that we collected around four kilos of the fruit in the garden this year (overgrown jungles with rampant brambles do have their benefits) and we make some of our own household cleaning products (lots of vinegar) this sounded right up our street!

Apparently this stuff is used as a sauce for desserts, people love it on yorkshire puddings and by making a drink (add about two teaspoons full to a mug of hot water) it helps you feel better when you're cold and sniffling.

So we took some notes and had a go.

Take 500g ish of Blackberries and lay them out in a large dish (lay the fruit 1-2 inches deep) then cover all of them with cider vinegar. Leave it for a few days with a cover (we did four days).

At the end of day four strain the mixture through muslin for several hours. We rigged up a stand from some scrap wood and left it all day.



Scrap wood sieve stand

Now comes the sweet bit - add 450g of sugar for every 1/2 pint of strained liquid then bring to the boil while stirring, once boiled simmer for five minutes. If a froth appears on the top of the liquid you can remove it with a tilted spoon (my friends mum used to just mix it in)

Store it in a sterilised bottle and seal it up. I can't tell you how long it lasts but we've had ours months and it's still great.

We love this stuff!