This drink came to me after canning with my sister. My sister loves canning, she has been doing this for a few years. She came over to my house when tomatoes were in season this fall to share her love of canning with me. I went to the vegetable store to get some tomatoes and could not resist the display of Italian Plums. I just had to buy them. We decided to can the plums first.

We canned the plums in simple syrup (one cup of sugar and one cup of water heated until the sugar is completely dissolved). We put the plums in the syrup as it was being heated so the simple syrup was infused with plum flavor. When we were done canning the plums we had more syrup than was needed to cover the plums and I just could not throw it out.  I strained  the plum infused simple syrup  into a carafe and put it in the fridge.

The next evening when making dinner I wanted to have a cocktail, I enjoy cocktails. I usually just make a quick Gin and Tonic, I like Gin. When I went to get the Tonic the plum syrup was staring at me so I decided to try it with gin. This is what I came up with, The Gin Plummet.

Fill a highball glass with ice and add:

• 2 oz gin
• 2 oz plum infused simple syrup
• 1 oz lemon juice

You do not have to can plums to make this plum infused simple syrup, just pitt and slice  a few plums  and add to one cup of sugar and one cup of water. Heat until it boils then simmer for about five minutes.  Cool and strain into a glass carafe.  Save the plums  to use  as a garnish in the The Gin Plummet or garnish with lemon slice. Cooked plums also taste great over vanilla ice cream.

Drink up!