Artisan Rums (these are fit for a sailor!)
Two Drifters Rum is a unique brand of your favourite Caribbean tipple, made in Devon with green energy, and sold in bottles with compostable seals, and sugarcane fibre labels.
Created by a couple who spent their honeymoon on St Lucia (home to rum!), they decided (with a joint background in marketing and chemistry) to get together to found a sustainable rum company in England.
One of the first rums with a carbon-negative footprint, it has high hopes to capture 1% of the UK rum market by 2028, and 1% of the global market by 2035. All without harming the earth.
Sold in a light, British-made glass bottle with FSC-certified corks, any carbon from importing rum ingredients is offset via Climeworks.
Corks are too dense to compost (and are choking hazards if left lying around). So recycle them at off licenses, or send off in bulk to Recorked.
Rum is a pretty strong boozy tipple (easy to get smashed on, so don’t drink too much!) These rums ferment 100% molasses, and blend with purified Devon water (for white rum) or spices and waste cacao husks (for spiced rum). Waste molasses are given to local farms.
The Two Drifters rum range
You can also buy taster sets, to try before you buy full bottles!
- Signature Rum is for the purists, with flavours of orange peel and muscovado sugar, matured in ex-Madeira casks for a year, which gives an orange aroma.
- Pure White Rum has fresh notes of vanilla, apple, white pepper and lime zest. Crisp and fresh.
- Lightly Spiced Rum is made with cacao husks (a waste product of making chocolate), and has notes of vanilla, chai, toffee apple and cacao.
- Overproof Spiced Pineapple Rum has notes of ripe fruits, salted caramel and crème brûlée, again enhanced with waste cacao husks for a chocolate flavour.
Serve the old-fashioned way by stirring with cubed ice, sugar syrup and orange bitters, and garnish with orange zest. Or just serve ‘on the rocks’ and garnish with orange slice.
Homemade Raspberry Mojito Recipe
This Raspberry Mojito (Katie Daisy) is a lovely way to celebrate a special occasion, especially if you are enjoying Latin American food. It blends fresh raspberries with lime juice and mint leaves, along with a simple sugar syrup and white rum. Then just top with soda water, ice, mint, more raspberries and fresh lime.
What are raspberries?
Everyone loves raspberries, and they are ideal in cake, desserts or even swirled through vegan ice-cream to make raspberry ripple flavour.
Related to roses, raspberries are not true berries, but very nutritious. They don’t ripen after being harvested, so buy ripe! Humans have been eating raspberries for a very long time, as they are so delicious! In history, they have been as medicinal herbs through to paint!
You may think our climate suits raspberries best, but in fact the world’s leading producer of them is ice-cold Russia. The flowers are also a wonderful source of nectar for honeybees and other pollinators.
How to buy, store and freeze raspberries
As raspberries don’t ripen after picking, they are very perishable, so only buy what you need and try to eat them straight away. As a local crop, farmers’ markets and PYO farms often have heaps of them on offer.
Buy bright firm and plump raspberries that are of good colour, and avoid ones that are wet, stained or leaking juice (this means they are over-ripe and could go mouldy). This often happens when sold in plastic punnets in supermarkets. Check the bottom of the container for mould or smashed fruits.
Once home, keep raspberries in the fridge (avoid the crisper drawer as it’s too damp), and only wash just before you eat them (again to avoid mould).
Fruit & Veg Wash helps reduce exposure to listeria, E.coli and salmonella. Code GSENGLANDNATURALLY (15% off order, minimum purchase £20)
To freeze leftover raspberries, rinse gently in cool water and air-dry on kitchen towels (ensuring they are dry helps to prevent ice crystals). Arrange them in a single layer on a parchment-lined baking sheet, ensuring they don’t touch, then freeze for 1 to 2 hours until firm. Then transfer to a silicone freezer bag (remove as much air as possible, to stop freezer burn). Label with the date and store in the freezer for up to a few months.
Ideas to use up leftover raspberries
- Blend into homemade smoothies
- Simmer into a quick sauce with a little sugar, to make a coulis. Drizzle this on pancakes, or swirl into plant-based yoghurt or ice cream.
- Blend with plant-based yoghurt, then freeze in ice-lolly moulds.
- Dip in melted vegan chocolate, and freeze on a baking sheet for 10 minutes.
- Gently fold fresh berries into muffin or scone batter.
