Bothy Tales: Footsteps in the Scottish hills

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Bothy tales gets under way at 6.30pm on Monday, November 13 while Eleanor's event begins at the same time the following day. Both sessions will include an audience Q&A and a chance to buy signed copies of books. The Gin Bothy started out as the Jam Bothy, where we made fruit jams from local berries. Instead of wasting the leftover juices, we began infusing gin and our Raspberry Gin was born.

Meanwhile, at the Jampionship (then held at Dundee’s Food and Flower Festival), Kim won a category for her recipe. The success inspired her to convert a rented bothy into a production kitchen called the ‘Jam Bothy’. His second play, Mallory: Beyond Everest, is a re-telling of the life of the legendary Everest mountaineer. The play was first performed in the Edinburgh Fringe of 2014 and in John portrays a man torn between his love of his wife and his burning ambition to conquer the world’s highest mountain. Unless you want withered stalks, leave the knife in the kitchen drawer. When you pull and twist, the stalk will separate near the roots. The plant will then grow a new stalk in its place, leading to a more bountiful harvest next season. The loch Arkaig project aims to secure the future of the Scots pine forest by helping the local community manage the forest through restoration techniques which involve the sensitive movement of non-native species encouraging natural regeneration and protection from deer browsing.

An expert ice climber, he was also a member of the Cairngorm Mountain Rescue Team, and has taken part in numerous rescues in the Highlands. More recently he has rediscovered his love for remote bothies (isolated mountain shelters) and regularly visits the wilder places of his Scottish home. We had a talk recently in our Bothy Tales room about the traditions of butter-making in Angus and demonstrated how you churn butter. At this time of year we're busy bottling and batching our delicious infusion of rhubarb gin liqueur. Inspired by the traditions of the past, we only use what's in season. So it's important to not miss out. I’m really looking forward to reading from Connective Tissue. The story is set in Berlin, England and Scotland, and I’ll be talking about the process of researching and writing a novel based on a real family history. Further clues lie in the texture. Jam has lumpy, homely texture. Often it's more rustic, containing whole pieces of fruit and seeds. Jelly on the other hand, has a smooth but firm texture and looks glossy and clear.

The Mountain Bothies Association (MBA) charity has reopened its 105 mountain huts, shelters and howffs after more than a year of closure due to Covid. The overwhelming majority of these are in Scotland and they reopened in August for what the MBA described as “ responsible use”, pointing out that Covid has not gone away. The bothies are all sorts of shapes and sizes in varied locations – many are extremely remote and operated with the agreement of owners and estates and maintained by MBA volunteers since the late 60s and early 70s.Based in Angus, Gin Bothy was founded in 2015 by drinks entrepreneur Kim Cameron. Using traditional methods of production every bottle is numbered, batched and poured by hand. Gin Bothy is now one of Scotland’s premium gin brands, producing 60,000 units in 2020.

Our Bothy Original uses pine needles as one of the fresh botanicals we use to distill gin, fresh is best and we love the way you can almost imagine you're walking through a pine forest when you drink our gin! Gin Bothy founder, Kim Cameron said: “With a growing team and demand for our products, our office and storage space simply needed to grow to support demand. This is an incredibly exciting move for the team as the Forfar facility gives us room to expand, create several more jobs and means we don’t have to outsource warehousing.” The sloes skins will split as they thaw - this is a good sign as it means the flavour will be released throughout the fruit. Seal your sterilised container and shakeOld traditions flourish at our bothy in historic Kirriemuir. Following Scotland’s fruit calendar our Rhubarb Gin Liqueur is the second gin we batch in the year. Crafted with care, all our drinks are made with fresh local ingredients, gathered in season from the Angus and Perthshire countryside. Stone fruit: sweet and juicy, plums, cherries, and apricots make delicious jam. Stone fruits are also lower in pectin. For me there is a simplicity in these places and a quiet peace can be found within their walls which constantly draws me to them. In performing Bothy Tales, I'm trying to bring these remote places alive and to say something about the pleasure I have in exploring them."

If you didn't already know, pH balance is critical in food. In terms of jam, the pH level affects how jam sets. As you already know, pectin is released from fruit cells when the fruit is heated with sugar. However, when pesky pectin is loose, pectin strands repel one another. Lemon juice prevents this from happening by encouraging pectin to gel. In Bothy Tales, the follow-up to The Last Hillwalker from bestselling mountain writer John D. Burns, travel with the author to secret places hidden amongst the British hills and share his passion for the wonderful wilderness of our uplands. In days gone by you couldn't nip to the supermarket and grab ingredients off the shelf. Fresh produce like rhubarb had to be harvested by hand. Gin Bothy, one of Scotland’s most established drinks brands has today (Friday 3rd September) unveiled their most progressive product to date, Gin Bothy Smoked Gin, where tradition meets tradition as botanicals are smoked in a fisher smoke house in Arbroath.

Summary

Rhubarb has been grown in the fertile glens of Perthshire and Angus for generations. Humble and hardy, rhubarb is often overlooked compared to raspberries and strawberries. Yet it's a hidden gem in Scotland's naturally rich larder. Edinburgh-based Eleanor added: "I love doing local events, particularly in Elgin library, because the old library is where my parents first met. Serve with finely peeled rhubarb, place in ice cold water to make it curl, then swizzle around a herb sprig. In June we'll relaunch our range at the Royal Highland Show, a special event as it's the first we attended when we began 10 years ago. bottles of this 1st edition smoked gin have been produced, the only smoked gin made in a protected designation of origin area, using a Smokie ‘bothy’,