This nettle beer is a refreshing drink for late spring and early summer. It is easy and simple to make. Drink it fresh, it won’t keep. Pick only young nettles for this nettle beer, either the first flush of the…
This nettle beer is a refreshing drink for late spring and early summer. It is easy and simple to make. Drink it fresh, it won’t keep. Pick only young nettles for this nettle beer, either the first flush of the…
For some reason growing marrows has declined in recent years. At one time no self-respecting gardener wouldn’t have a few marrow growing. There was great competition to grow the largest marrow and some did grow huge. On the other hand,…
These traditional sloe gin recipes come from my grandfather’s wine recipes book. His notes were often short as they were aids for him rather than meant for publication so I’ve expanded and clarified them to make things easier for beginners.…
Damson gin is very easy to make and provides a warming liqueur to drink on a cold winter’s night. The eventual flavour will vary according to the fruit, of course. Ideal damsons for damson gin will be the same that…
This modern beekeeper’s mead recipe is designed to use the water after washing the cappings. I assume they don’t use fairy liquid when washing the cappings! You don’t have to be a beekeeper to make it and alternatives are given…
Some years back I had a job as a rep and one of my customers had some large, catering tins of pulped orange. They’d been on the shelf for ages and he was ready to bin them so they ended…
This walnut mead recipe is a surprising combination of, not walnuts, but walnut leaves and mead. Before it made it into Grandfather’s note book it was apparently in a cookery book from the 1700’s. In essence it is the simple…
This ginger wine recipe produces a dark, strongly-flavoured, warm ginger wine – ideal for taking the chill off a cold winter night. Especially good when fortified with a splash of scotch in the glass. I’ve come across a number of…
This goldenrod wine recipe produces an interestingly flavoured medium wine. Goldenrod is best known as a medicinal herb said to be useful in the treatment of a wide number of complaints including urinary tract infections. It’s also known as Aaron’s…
Metheglin is a honey based liquor, in other words a mead, in which spices are used. It’s slightly more complicated to make than mead but not difficult as this recipe shows. As with all recipes, you can vary it to…
This rosehip mead recipe combines the flavour of the rosehips with that of honey and it’s a perfect match. A straightforward easy recipe. Those of us of a certain age will remember the rosehip syrup that used to be given…
This sweet mead recipe is, like it’s dry mead counterpart, one of the simplest, most pure mead recipes I have found, it’s ingredients being basically just honey and water. Because of this it is critical that the quality of both…
This dry mead recipe is one of the simplest, most pure mead recipes I have found, it’s ingredients being basically just honey and water. Because of this it is critical that the quality of both honey and water is top…
This ancient mead recipe, dating from who knows how far back, was found in an 18th Century book. Technically it could be argued that it is actually a metheglin but ‘A rose by any other name would smell as sweet’.…
Like elderflower champagne, this simple and easy elderflower wine recipe produces a light fruity wine but this is a still wine and somewhat stronger. A pleasant drink on a hot summer’s afternoon. Pick the flowers in the morning when the…
This is an easy hawthorn berry wine recipe, the most difficult thing is picking the hawthorn berries. Be prepared with anti-septic cream for your scratches! Hawthorn is found growing wild and as a hedging plant. If foraging for the berries…
This traditional elderberry plus wine recipe was dated 1951 in grandfather’s recipes and records book but I think it may well date from before WW2 as did others in the same section of the book. As the years went on…
This traditional elderberry port wine recipe produces a deep, aromatic and rich wine similar to a port wine. It’s very simple and, in common with many old recipes, it measures the berries by volume rather than weight. I’ve updated it…
This simple and easy pea-pod wine recipe produces a gallon of delicate, medium-sweet, light table wine. It’s such a good example of country wine thrift, being made from what is essentially a by-product that would otherwise be wasted. It’s best…
This parsnip wine recipe produces about a gallon of light medium-sweet, Sauternes style table wine. This is best made towards the end of the winter months after the parsnips have been frosted and their starches have turned to sugars. Parsnips…
This easy raspberry wine recipe produces a medium-sweet wine with that distinctive raspberry taste. The fruit is lightly stewed to extract every bit of flavour for the wine and the tartness is moderated with the bananas. Raspberries are a very…
This uncomplicated gooseberry wine recipe produces a light, medium dry wine with the sharpness of gooseberry. Try to use small, green gooseberries from early in the season. If you use later ones, then increase the sugar and turn into a…
A simple and easy blackcurrant wine recipe that produces a medium-sweet, rich, complexly flavoured red wine. It’s similar in some ways to a Beaujolais but with a little more depth. Blackcurrants are fairly easy to grow and a mature bush…
This elderberry wine recipe produces a true country wine. Rich and deep toned, reflecting the summer concentrated into the hedgerow fruit. It’s simple and easy to make, just follow the instructions and you can’t go wrong. The recipe is easily…
This simple and easy blackberry & elderberry recipe is another of those traditional hedgerow wines made in the countryside for many years. It’s similar to a Burgundy wine, well bodied with a strong multi-flavoured nose. The bananas are a more…
This simple and easy dry damson wine recipe produces a gallon of the rich wine that has always been one of the most popular of country wines. It should be ready to drink in just 6 months. It’s a great…
This cherry wine recipe uses a mixture of sweet and sour cherries to produce a delicious rich wine with a heady aroma. If your sweet cherries come before the sour, just freeze them until you’re ready to use them. All…
This rhubarb wine recipe will make a medium wine that’s more delicate than you might expect from a humble country wine based on a full-flavoured fruit. It’s great for using up tough large stalks that should have been picked some…
This blackberry wine recipe produces a dry wine, similar to a “Beaujolais” wine. It’s easy to make from free hedgerow ingredients or a glut of cultivated blackberries. A true country wine that goes particularly well with a mild soft cheese.…
This Loganberry Wine Recipe can be adapted to give the sweetness you want in the final wine. For a dry wine use the smaller amount of sugar and loganberries and for a medium-dry the higher. Loganberries are a cultivated berry…