Fruit liqueurs

The mirabelles were just starting to ripen as we were due to leave on Sunday; and I mean just - I'd checked first thing and found no ripe ones, but by 1 pm there were a couple that were soft and turning yellowy.

Same for the pig damsons. The seedling next to the tree even had a couple of ripe fruit that tasted like damsons-you-would-eat, rather than damsons-you-would-feed-to-pigs, so I think next year I'll keep an eye on the fruit [when we can be around for them ripening properly], and then maybe we'll chop down the ruined old tree as planned.

Sadly, we're not going to be around to pick ripe fruit, so we took the decision to pick & freeze unripe ones, and then make damson/mirabelle/Reine Claude gin when we go back on holiday.

It'll either work, or it won't!

But it's certainly worth a try; I'm reasonably sure that commercial growers don't wait till fruit is perfectly ripe.

Either way, I'll be posting about it [if I live!] later on this year...