I make a lot of booze infusions, they are stupidly easy to make but very hard to leave long enough to infuse! I make new stuff each year and see how they develop over time. Some only take a few days, some will mature for a couple of years happily. This beautiful Raspberry Gin is at its best right now as the flavour has remained the same for the last 2 months (I have a teaspoon of each booze each month to see how they are getting on).
Recipe
Take 1 sterilised Kilner type jar and put as much white sugar in as you fancy or none at all. I didn’t want it to be too sweet so as a general rule I put enough sugar in the bottom of the Kilner so it comes up about 1 1/2 inches from the bottom. Then add as many raspberries as you fancy inside, I half filled my jar but you could fill it up if you fancy. Add a few peelings of orange zest (avoiding the pith) and add to jar. Then all you need to do is fill it up with Gin. For the first week or so gently turn the jar to help the sugar dissolve, once it has you can stop doing this. Make sure you keep the jar in a cool dark place, light will remove the beautiful pink hue in the alcohol and always a good idea to put its Made On date on it so you know how long it takes until its at its best. This recipe works for pretty much whatever you fancy. I have: Blueberry Gin, Summer Fruit Vodka, Pear and Vanilla Vodka, Cherry & Mandarin Gin but to name a few. Have a go, mix & match, play about with whatever fruits/booze you like in whatever quantities you like until you find what works for you. You don’t have to use Kilner style jars, I have old Hendricks Gin bottles, Whisky bottles etc filled with booze concoctions steeping away. If you use bottles though you will have to sacrifice the fruit as once it swells you won’t be able to get it out again.
A Cottage Kitchen 
hope you have tried saffron gin.
Simply infuse saffron in a bottle of gin, lovely colour and fascinating flavour
I haven’t made my own but have tried a taste, I love saffron but I’m not sure what I would mix it with, any suggestions?
Ice, lemon and fever tree tonic
I LOVE fever Tree, think I will have to get my thinking cap on for a Saffron cocktail!
Lawdy, this sounds positively mouth watering! Stumbled on your fantastic blog while searching for raspberry gin recipes as I’m thinking of doing buckets of different homemade mini bottles of booze instead of favours at my wedding (a while away yet but being a foodie fanatic I’m relishing gathering ideas for everything edible and drinkable early on!) as a sort of booze lucky dip so people can flavour their own fizz for the toast! Any suggestions for other tipples that might be good for this (other than the delicious sounding ones mentioned in the article)? So far I’m thinking limoncello and possibly pink grapefruit and limoncello vodka, although not sure how well the latter will go with sparkling wine. Have now subscribed so I can see more of your lovely recipes! 🙂
how much saffron to 70 cl gin?
Wow homemade booze favours at your wedding, that sounds amazing! I have a really easy Limoncello recipe that I did for DomesticSluttery.com here:http://www.domesticsluttery.com/2012/10/sluttishly-boozy-easy-limoncello.html I’ve done quite a few boozey ones for that site including my Blackberry and vanilla Rum:http://www.domesticsluttery.com/2012/10/sluttishly-boozy-blackberry-rum.html and damson and Sloe Gin: http://www.domesticsluttery.com/2012/09/sluttishly-boozy-damson-and-sloe-gin.html My favourite “instant-ish” booze though is my Toffee Rum:http://itsnotfingrocketscience.com/2012/03/31/toffee-rum/ All really easy and taste fabulous! 🙂
It all depends on your personal taste, I would start with a few strands and leave a week before tasting and seeing if it needs more. Too much will make it taste really soapy
my view is start with a fullish teaspoon. In my experience the gin leaches out the colour pretty quickly. Leave it a few weeks and have a taste and check the colour. If you want more add half a teaspoon, as you want to avoid overdoing it
All of those sound absolutely delicious, particularly damson and sloe gin (possibly the perfect ingredient for sloejitos). I’ll certainly enjoy experimenting!
I currently have a jar of this infusing away – what do you make with it other than a g&t?
Fab! I use it to make raspberry martinis, or loads of ice and topped with lemonade/orange/lychee juice drizzle it over lemon cakes whilst still hot or my favourite: just neat, chilled from the fridge 🙂
I bottled my first batch yesterday – delicious! Will definitely be sipping some chilled (already in the freezer), but yesterday, we had some in sparkling wine. Wow! Following your site’s going to make me more of an alcoholic than I already am!
Ha! Glad you like it, it’s rather special 🙂
can you use frozen raspberries?
Yes absolutely 🙂 Sorry for the delay in reply I’ve just come back from my hols.
I have never attempted this before, but it looks like it will be a beautiful drink. What kind of Gin do you use? Will the quality of gin have a substantial effect on the end product or could cheap gin be used?
Go for a gin you would happily drink normally, avoid the really cheap nasty stuff as it will taste harsh, I often use Gordons as it’s usually on offer somewhere and works really well as quite a plain gin to add flavour to. 🙂
Thanks for the advice! Yeah, Gordon’s never seems to be off offer! My sister is a big gin drinker so this will be perfect for a present! I’ll make sure to tell you how we find it!
I have also done a recipe of how to make your own gin that your sister may like then: http://metro.co.uk/2013/10/25/recipe-how-to-make-your-own-gin-4156419/
Has anyone any idea how to make rhubarb and ginger gin?
Hi Steve, If you can get hold of dried sliced rhubarb (or dehydrate it yourself) then add this to your gin along with freshly sliced ginger and sugar. (I find a piece of vanilla pod brings out the sweetness of the rhubarb too and works nicely.