Fruit Liqueurs

This liqueur is made from the very special fruit known as the Dittisham Plum. It is a species plum and is grown in the sheltered Dart valley village, which gives it its name. On one point the many legends surrounding the arrival of these plums agree. They arrived by sea. The ship's captain dumped his cargo as he had been unable to sell it and the thrifty villagers took the plums in and gave them a good home. The orchards became famous in their day and people made special expeditions from as far away as Plymouth and Exeter (a long way by horse and cart!), to get their annual supply. The season is very short, rarely lasting more than 10 days.

Made with full, ripe fruit from Gloucestershire, this golden liqueur with a rosy glow might remind you of the past, when wonderful greengages were more abundant. Like all our liqueurs the taste of the fruit is perfectly captured. Serve chilled as an aperitif, or at room temperature as an after dinner liqueur.

The fruit used in our Quince Liqueur is the Cydonia Oblonga or European Quince and not the chaenomeles or Japonica, which although making excellent jelly makes rather too acid a liqueur. The large, yellow and fragrant fruit is a relative of the pear. The variety we like to use is 'Vranga' but it is not always available and we have to pick our quinces where we can find them.

Quince Liqueur is one of only 17 drinks in the country to win a 2008 Quality Drinks Award. Now in their third year the awards recognise and reward excellence and innovation in the world of alcoholic drinks on sale in the UK. Judged by an independent panel of industry experts, the judging criteria are based on taste, aroma, appearance & presentation, packaging, value and innovation.

"It's a good after dinner liqueur. Its sweet and not very harsh and easy drinking," said one judge. "It has aromas of dates and figs, a home grown version of a desert wine," said another.

We were nominated in the Local Drinks category - restricted to UK produced products with labelling that makes reference to local content. The competition was stiff and we are delighted the judges views agreed with judges from the 2007 Taste of the West food and drink awards where, last November, Quince Liqueur was also voted 'Best Drink'.

Because we use only fresh blackcurrants, the liqueur has an earthy incense like perfume and taste, and brings to mind summer days picking them. The flavour is very powerful, and will add interest and zing to dishes both sweet and savoury. The Blackcurrant Liqueur contains about a third of the sugar of 'Crème de Cassis', and it is therefore much sharper and less sickly than the French equivalent. It makes an excellent 'Kir' and many people use it for this.

Using real hedgerow blackberries instead of concentrated juice gives this liqueur a flavour only obtainable by going out and picking them oneself. When on summer picnics take some Blackberry Liqueur with you (and a bottle of fizzy water or wine), to recapture the taste of the countryside - without the prickles.

Simply, this is our most popular fruit liqueur. We use about half a kilogram of real fruit to every 35 cl. Bottle, and the fresh, piquant flavour speaks for itself. Added sugar is kept to a minimum capturing the sharp clean raspberry taste.

The Strawberry Liqueur is rather sweeter than the other fruit liqueurs, because strawberries are naturally a sweeter fruit. It is splendid poured over pancakes, or over the sponge in a trifle, and if you take a galia melon, cut it in half, and fill the middles with strawberry liqueur and perhaps a little sugar, with a garnish of rose petals or mint leaves, you have a very impressive pud for very little effort!