About sloes

Sloes are the small fruits of the blackthorn tree which is often used in hedging. It's sharp, spiky branches forming a dense thicket. Many British hedgerows have thorney plants such as hawthorn, blackberry or roses. The small white flowers bloom in March and the sloes ripen in October. Sloes have a bluish-black colour and a soft bloom on their skins. They are far too astringent to eat, but they make the most delicious fruit liqueur.

Sloe Gin - Day 3

As directed this bottle has been 'agitated' daily to mix the sugar and liquid. I am surprised that the colour has come out so quickly, I look forward to drinking a small glass after my Christmas Dinner!

Sloe Gin!

I did something today that I had always wanted to do, but never got around to doing it - making sloe gin. After a bit of research on the net I came up with a useful website sloe.biz with a few recepies for sloes. These are a plum related fruit you will find in English hedgerows this time of year. The recepies state that they are better after the first frost has been on them... but I couldn't wait! As we speak I have a vat of sloe jelly cooking on the stove.

The instructions begin with "buy a bottle of gin and drink half of it"... so far so good. Fill up the half bottle with sloes until you have about a wine glass of space at the top. Pour in sugar. You have to agitate it every day for a week, then every week for a month to mix the sugar. It may be about ready for Christmas, but is better if left for next Christmas (oh yeah??) Supposed to taste like port wine. Lets wait and see.