Crème de cassis: part 1

My blackcurrant bush on the allotment has been generous this year.

To honour its offering I have decided to turn these little fruity gems into one of my favourite liqueurs: crème de cassis. This stuff can turn even the most boring house wine into something a little special - a kir.

After a bit of hunting around I settled on this recipe in the Telegraph. Although this one over at Figs, Bay & Wine caught my eye as well. I love the idea of having a small bottle of cassis in your handbag for emergencies.

The process of making cassis is in two stages. First, the fruit is steeped in vodka*. Then after a few months, the vodka is poured off (and saved), the fruit whizzed to a pulp, strained, and returned to the vodka. You then make a thick sugar syrup. Add this to the fruity vodka until the sweetness is just right, and then voilà! you have crème de cassis.

I've still got to add leaves from the blackcurrant bush to the jar, but it's raining so they can wait until later in the week!

To be continued. I'll post part 2 in 4-5 months when it's time to finish the process...

* Ideally you would use eau de vie. But trying to buy eau de vie in a UK supermarket is like trying to buy rocking horse shit. Our Italian friends are always bemused by how hard it is to get hold of - they use it all the time to cook up home-made limoncello. I think Big Brother believes that us Brits can't be trusted not to over-indulge in the pure stuff.