Cranberry Christmas Gin

Cranberries are a recently adopted addition to our New Zealand Christmas menu. Their cheerful, rosy colour and sharp sweetness marries beautifully with gin and takes the Christmas G&T to a new festive high.

200g cranberries (can be defrosted frozen

berries)

1 orange

1 cup caster sugar

600ml gin

Thoroughly wash a 1-litre bottle or two 500ml bottles.

Place cranberries into the bottle (or divide between the two), pricking each berry as you go with a clean skewer or darning needle to allow the juices to flow.

Peel the orange rind into long thin strips, making sure it doesn’t have any white pith attached as this is very bitter. Place into the bottle along with the sugar.

Add the gin, leaving a 2-3cm gap at the neck to allow you to shake the bottle to mix together and dissolve the sugar.

Seal and store for at least 2 weeks, regularly turning upside down to mix thoroughly. The longer you leave it the better the flavour, so at least 2 weeks but up to 6 months.

Serve as a liqueur over ice or in a cocktail, or with soda or lemonade as a long cool drink. It can be poured over ice cream or used in a trifle. Makes 1 litre