It is late June, and I really thought I would be harvesting more from my vegetable garden by now. So far, I’ve only gotten the occasional Early Girl tomato and a few peppers.

I’ve had dry weather and slug and snail issues; they ate most of my bean plants and cucurbits (cucumber and zucchini). I’ve started a some more from seed, but they won’t be ready to eat for awhile. And most of my tomato plants just haven’t really started producing fruit yet.

However, I have been able to forage some blackberries around the edges of my yard. Most of the fruits were eaten by animals (deer?) before I got to them. Then I discovered several taller blackberry bushes, probably 10 feet tall with clusters of berries hanging over my head.

I could have eaten them with something healthy, instead I decided to use them for a summery cocktail. I knew the slightly tart fruits would be a perfect combination with the botanical flavors of gin.

Blackberry Gin Collins Recipe 

Make a blackberry syrup by blending:

2 cups of freshly picked blackberries
4 mint leaves
1/2 cup lime juice
1 Tbl brown sugar or honey

Chill the syrup for at least four hours.

In a 12 oz glass mix:

2 oz gin or vodka
2 oz blackberry syrup
2 oz tonic water

Stir, fill with ice, and garnish with a sprig of mint leaves.