While researching rheumatoid arthritis, I came across some information on gin soaked golden raisins to relieve arthritis pain. It was interesting enough to me to try my own experiment.
Golden raisins are used specifically because the sulfur dioxide used to keep golden raisins . . . well golden also possesses anti-inflammatory properties. Gin started out as an herbal medicine before becoming an alcoholic drink. Gin contains juniper berries, which are used in alternative medicine in the treatment of arthritis and rheumatism.
The reason I bought this brand of gin (since I knew absolutely nothing about gin before now) was yes, because of it’s name and the really cool bottle. What can I say? The Botanist caught my eye. I was looking for gin that I thought would most likely contain juniper berries. I read that some of the cheaper brands don’t actually contain any real botanicals. I can’t say whether this is true or not, because my focus is not on analyzing brands of gin. I just want to give this experiment it’s greatest chance of success.
I copied the following list of botanicals from the Master of Malt website.
“A huge 31 botanicals go into The Botanist, including some native to Islay. The full list of botanicals is as follows: angelica root, apple mint, birch leaves, bog myrtle leaves, cassia bark, chamomile, cinnamon bark, coriander seed, creeping thistle flowers, elder flowers, gorse flowers, heather flowers, hawthorn flowers, juniper berries, lady’s bedstraw flowers, lemon balm, lemon peel, liquorice root, meadow sweet, orange peel, oris root, peppermint leaves, mugwort leaves, red clover flowers, tansy, thyme leaves, water mint leaves, white clover, wood sage leaves. Phew!”
I really hope they don’t mind too much, but it’s fascinating to me how long this list is. I had no idea before I read about gin soaked golden raisins, that gin was made with all of these herbs, or really any herbs at all. You do learn something new every day.
The instructions for making gin soaked golden raisins say to put the raisins in a shallow bowl and cover with gin, and leave them sit uncovered until the gin evaporates. I have a dog…my precious Bubba, and since raisins are extremely harmful to dogs, I didn’t want to take a chance of him being able to sneak them off the counter. I put them in a pint size mason jar and covered them with gin. I put the jar as far back on the counter as possible and left it uncovered. I waited two weeks for the gin to evaporate, but instead I got a jar full of raisins in a really yummy liqueur like syrup. Nice! Now I’ll fill it back up with gin and put the lid on and see what happens. Hoping to get more syrup!
The raisins really do taste good and don’t taste like alcohol at all. It is recommended to eat 9 raisins per day to reap the pain killing benefits of the gin soaked raisins. Keep in mind that this remedy has not been scientifically proven, but that has never stopped me before. I really don’t have any significant pain at the moment, but I will try them anyway to see if I notice any other changes in my joints.