After gathering a bumper harvest of strawberries in the spring I turned to a handful of tried and tested jam and drink recipes to process the bulk of them, but I also had a go at something new: strawberry infused bourbon.

Most of the fruit infused liqueurs I make include some sugar but this time I simply filled a couple of jars with strawberries, added bourbon until the jar was full and then forgot about them for a couple of months.

By the time I came to strain them the strawberries had imparted a beautiful rosy pink hue and although the aroma was still unmistakably that of bourbon, my nose couldn’t help but detect a subtle fragrance of fresh strawberries as well. On the palate it was smooth and delicious with the delicate hint of strawberries balancing well with the bourbon base. I wouldn’t recommend using an expensive small batch artisan bourbon for this but use something half decent and drinkable.

All in all, a fine drink for early summer sipping but it was crying out for a suitable accompaniment. Having just picked up some Georgia pecans at my local farmers market I quickly whipped up a batch of buttered pecans to nibble while enjoying my new fruity tipple.

Buttered Pecans

This recipe is based on a buttered brazil nut recipe from “Sweets Made Simple”, from the wonderful folks at Hope and Greenwood

Ingredients

7oz pecans

8oz soft brown sugar

3oz unsalted butter

1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

2 fl oz water

Heat the oven to 350F. Put the pecans in a single layer on a baking sheet and put them in the oven for 10 minutes until toasty and aromatic.

Put the sugar, butter, cream of tartar and water in a heavy bottomed pan and place over a low heat, stirring until the sugar has dissolved.

Put a candy thermometer in the pan and bring the mixture to a boil without stirring and leave it cooking until the temperature hits 266F. Remove the pan from the heat.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Dip each pecan in the hot sugar mix to coat and then put on the baking sheet to cool. Leave for at least an hour before enjoying. If you don’t devour them immediately they will last at least a week in a cool place.

I often dream about growing more of our own food. We have a few modest raised beds in our back yard and plant a selection of vegetables every year but usually with limited success. I’m not sure if this is down to my limited gardening expertise or the voracious squirrels we share our garden with.

Our house is on a corner lot, and as well as decent sized front and back yards features a steep L-shaped bank at the front and side that was already planted with a selection of plants, trees and shrubs when we moved in. As they have matured they have become a constant maintenance challenge, with much pruning, trimming and in some cases uprooting needed to stop them from taking the place over. What little time I have to spend in the garden is often dedicated to this rather than nurturing edible crops.

Luckily, mother nature has intervened this year to give me something to eat and drink that doesn’t rely on my limited horticultural skills.

At the back of our garden are a few nondescript young trees that for years we paid little attention to. They gradually got bigger and last year for the first time we noticed a handful of berries on the trees. A quick bit of online research revealed that we were in fact the proud owners of five mulberry trees. Last year’s crop was small and we were beaten to the fruit by birds and squirrels. This year is a different matter, and the trees are dripping with loads of berries.

It is still a challenge to get the fruit before the critters do, and as the berries seem to ripen unevenly I have been venturing out each evening to collect all the ripe berries I can and then freezing them on a baking sheet until I got a big enough batch to experiment with.

Luckily, to augment the mulberry harvest I also have a fine crop of wild blackberries. Most years I get a pitiful crop from the cultivated blackberries that I planted myself but the brambles on a neglected piece of land at the back of my yard positively flourish.

With my modest mulberry harvest and the first of the year’s blackberries I made a small batch of shrub, a sweetened vinegar / fruit mix that makes a good base for both soft drinks and cocktails.

I  used a 50/50 mix of mulberries and blackberries, mixed in a jar and then lightly crushed in distilled white vinegar.

This mixture is left to infuse for a few days and then strained. The resulting liquid then has sugar added and is gently heated to yield a thick, sweet, sour, fruity concentrate that makes a refreshing drink when diluted with water or can be used to add a burst of vibrant fruit flavor to a cocktail.

Mulberry and Blackberry Shrub

Ingredients

8oz fresh mulberries

8oz fresh blackberries

1 cup distilled white vinegar

Granulated sugar

Place the berries in a glass or ceramic jar, crush lightly and add the vinegar.

Leave to steep for 4 days, stirring or shaking daily.

After 4 days strain the fruit. Then add the sugar: I use a 2:1 liquid to sugar ratio but you can adjust to your personal taste. After straining I had around 2 cups of liquid so I added a cup of sugar to it and then gently heated it in a pan over medium heat, stirring regularly until the sugar is dissolved.

Once the shrub is cool, bottle it and store in the fridge.