Beech Leaf Gin

At the end of our garden is a looooong beech hedge.  The other side of the hedge, in our neighbours' garden, the hedge is beautifully clipped and neat - a professional job.  On our side, it's neat up to as far as my arms can reach with extending loppers and/or shears.  We tend to let the clippings go dry for a week or so (weather permitting), then burn them off, toasting marshmallows over the incinerator by way of a delicious by-product.  This is inordinately helpful in persuading the children to help us gather the clippings, by the way.

However, it all did seem rather wasteful to me this year, with the result that I did a little research into what, if anything, could be done with young beech leaves.  Imagine my joy to find, in Richard Mabey's classic "Food For Free", a recipe for what he calls "Beech Leaf Noyau".  Well, Noyau is traditionally made with nuts, plus which it's the kind of word which makes people go "whaaaaa?", and hence makes you look insufferably smug, so let's just call a spade a spade, eh?  Agreed?  Okay - Beech Leaf Gin it is!

Further investigation revealed that Pam Corbin had also found Richard Mabey's recipe.  Richard's recipe was very loose, and Pam's was more precise.  However, I found a combination of the two produced this.

Find a large jug or vase, and pack as full as you can with new beech leaves.  These should still be that gorgeous, fresh, acid green of the very early leaves.

Pack the leaves down nice and tightly:

Cover with gin and weigh down to ensure that none of the leaves stay above the surface, or they will oxidise.  I put a layer of clingfilm over the surface and weighed down with a plate:

I found I needed a lot more gin than expected.  Oh, and as always when making things into gin - use cheap gin!  You do feel a total dipso leaving Asda with a trolley full of Smart Price gin, but it is the best stuff to work with.  Bombay Sapphire is delicious, but it has too much flavour of its own and doesn't do anything for your own creations.

Leave the gin to steep for 7 to 10 days, then strain through a jelly bag or muslin:

 - you may have to do this in stages as the unpacked leaves take up more space than you could possibly anticipate.

For each 500ml of gin, place 250ml water and 300g granulated sugar into a saucepan, and heat until the sugar is dissolved.  Allow to cool completely then add the gin.  DEFINITELY allow it to cool completely, or the alcohol will evaporate, and we don't want that, do we?!

Add a dash or so of brandy and pour into sterilised bottles, together with a leaf or two, just for decoration.

Use within two years.