Every year I look forward to the arrival of serviceberries from mid-May to early June. These sweet purple / red berries have different names across the States so are also known as juneberries, sarvis, Saskatoon berries, shadbush and sugarplums amongst other names.
Over the years I’ve found a number of trees to forage not far from where I live. Occasionally I’ll bump into other folks also taking advantage of this free harvest but more often curious bypassers will stop and ask what I’m doing, not realising that this abundant fruit source is growing on their doorstep.
Over the years I’ve found many ways to enjoy and preserve this fruit, ranging from syrup and jelly to shrubs and even in cocktails. My latest idea was to turn it into an alcoholic drink itself by making a liqueur from it.
Making fruit liqueurs by infusion is a relatively simple but very satisfying way to use up fruit and enable you to enjoy it months after you picked it.
The process is relatively straighforward. Take a large jar and fill it with clean, dry fruit. Add sugar to the jar to approximately a third of the level of the fruit. Then fill the jar to the top with alcohol. For this liqueur I used vodka. Given its neutral flavour it will give you a liqueur which tastes primarily of the fruit you are using, but you can experiment with other alcohol to give you a different flavour profile in your final liqueur. Sloes and gin are the classic example but you can try whisky or brandy. This process also works well with strawberries and blackberries if you don’t have access to foraged serviceberries.
Leave the fruit, sugar and alcohol to infuse for at least 3 months, shaking occasionally to help dissolve the sugar. Then you simply strain the liqueur through muslin or a jelly bag, and put into sterilised bottles. I usually leave this serviceberry liqueur to infuse for around 6 months, bottling it a week or two before Christmas, just in time for gift giving or winter sipping.
