Survive Black Friday spending sprees with these plummy pink cocktails

It’s all about one of South Africa’s favourite tipples this week, gin.

The Gin & Tonic Festival is happening at Victoria Yards in Lorentzville, Johannesburg this weekend, and gin classes are on offer at the Indaba Hotel in Fourways, Sandton if you wart to learn more about the clear alcohol.

If you are not up to either, sit back and craft your own gin cocktail at home using the freshest new season plums.

Simple to make, easy on the pocket and nothing nicer than sipping a pink cocktail on the patio. This is what I have been practising this week.

For two cocktails you need fresh basil. Mine is thriving in the garden after the good rains.

I pick a few emerald green leaves which  I muddle (such a lovely descriptive word, a muddler is a wooden baton with a coarse bottom used to crush ingredients in a cocktail shaker) together with three or four sliced and pitted plums — basil and plums are a good combo in cooking and cocktails  — plus a generous grinding of black pepper to give it a hint of heat without overpowering the flavour, a tablespoon of sugar syrup or the same amount of honey and a squeeze of fresh lemon juice. I sometimes add the finely grated rind.

Muddle the ingredients by pressing the baton down on them to give you a  beautifully pink-hued blend.

Add a generous tot of gin, remembering this drink is for two. Add lots of ice and give it a very good shake like mixologists do — two hands around the shaker, shaking it to the left, then the right and above your head — and divide between two cocktail glasses.

Taste and adjust the flavour if needed. You can add a splash of soda if desired.

The experts would strain it into glasses. I don’t, as part of the joy of the cocktail is seeing the elements in the glass. Cheers.

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