Sloes
sueh21
Posts: 2,565 Forum Member
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Does anyone know if the supermarkets sell Sloes? Want to make some gin for Christmas and I don't think there are any sloe trees near us.
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sueh21
Posts: 2,565 sueh21
Posts: 2,565 sueh21
Posts: 2,565
Comments
Head out to the country any hedgerow with have blackthornes.
BUT!!! And this is important.
They are not ripe yet, you have to wait until after the first frost, the problem with this is in the last few years by the time the first frost is here they have all been scoffed by birds
I make slow vodka.. sluuuurp!
I make sloe gin. I collect the sloes well before the first frosts.
The idea was that the frost softens the skin so that the juice of the sloe comes out easily BUT....
nowadays, you collect when you want and just bung into the freezer! I do keep an eye on them and when they appear ripe (black), then I pick, weigh and put into bags into the freezer to use when needed. This came in really useful last year because there were just no sloes to be had around us - for some reason none of them developed.
Look for them in hedgerows and woodland edges - that's where it's easiest to see them with their distinctive purple berries. As far as I know, they are almost invariably used for making sloe gin and not much else.
Raw, they taste bitter [don't go there]. However, they are effectively a seeded wild plum [Prunus spinosa] so I guess they could be used in cookery. It would probably mean boiling up the sloes with an equal amount of sugar and then forcing the mixture though a sieve to get rid of the seeds.
The now seedless sloe/sugar concentrate could be used to make jams or put in cakes but I don't know anyone who's ever tried.
He never tried it - but after a few months in with gin & sugar it sounds reasonable...
...and the consumption of such pies was no doubt said to induce much merriment!
Sloes are not that bitter. I used to eat them as a child. I still would if I saw some about.
hopefully they will turn out well enough for some easy Christmas pressies! (Sorry to mention the C word)
45 minutes later he came back with a shot of Gordons!
Are you sure you weren't eating Damsons, Stud?
Proper sloes are even more bitter (or is it sour?) than lemons. Damsons are much like a small plum.
De-stone them if preferred then lay them in melted chocolate (we prefer plain bitter) and leave it to set. Mmmmm almost as good as the sloe gin!!!!
This years sloes in our garden are very dry and wrinkled but full of tannin (the bitterness) so should have plenty of length but the subtlety will be probably be reduced.