Homemade pineapple and cucumber flavoured gin

Homemade pineapple and cucumber flavoured gin, or infused booze if you prefer. It’s so simple to make that it left me scratching my head and wondering “why have I never made this before?”. You can do it with most spirits and loads of different flavourings – think tequila with watermelon, vodka with blackberry, rum with raisins….. But I do rather like gin, have I mentioned this already? so that was my tipple of choice.

I was initially going to combine the two and make a pineapple cucumber flavoured gin, but then decided it might be nice to have them as separate flavours that I could mix together or have on their own depending on what mood I was in.

In this scene: Handmade and green stripe washi tapes and a milk bottle.

To make flavoured gin you will need:

3 Lebanese cucumbers, washed and chopped OR 500g pineapple, peeled and chopped

a 750ml jar/bottle

500ml gin

Place the cucumber or pineapple in the jar/bottle and pour over the gin. Seal and shake to combine. Place in the fridge for at least 2 weeks (or up to 1 month), shaking occasionally. Once it has reached a flavour you are happy with, strain out the cucumber or pineapple and pour the infused gin into a clean bottle. Store in the fridge.

Makes around 400ml

oOo If you are experimenting with other fruits and vegetables, keep in mind that you should only use parts of the fruit/vegetable that you would be happy to eat. For example, peel and de-seed citrus fruit as the peel and seeds can impart a bitter flavour to the spirit. Also, make sure your fruit is lovely and ripe to get the most flavour out of it.