I have been looking for sloes for the past two years. Last year the crop was bad, certainly around here. This year I found a few sad specimens in a hedgerow. Luckily, I was given a gift of these all the way from Wexford. They are not fully ripe as in there is a bit of resistance when I try to squish them so I'm going to leave them in a warm, sunny space with a few bananas knocking about to soften them up. Then pop them into the freezer over night to simulate the first frost. This will help split the skins and allow them to infuse the gin better.
If you are not sure what sloes look like, they remind me of blueberries and are a similar size and a bluey black colour. I have photographed a few here with a one euro coin.
They are the fruit of the Blackthorn bush/small tree (Prunus spinosa). They are usually visible late summer early autumn.The tree is black with spiny thorns.
I made sloe gin a good number of year ago and followed a recipe that said to add an insane amount of sugar to it. Really awful. The best thing is to half fill a bottle with your frozen sloes or if you have picked them after a frost and the skins haven't split prick them in a few places with a sharp knife.
Top up with a good quality gin and add a couple of dessertspoons of caster sugar. Put away somewhere cool until early December and every so often give the bottle a shake. Decant the gin pouring it through a layer of muslin. Pour back into a clean, sterilised bottle. If you think it's too sharp and want a bit more sweetness, make a sugar syrup with equal quantities of sugar and water heated until the sugar is well dissolved and brought to the boil. Cool and add to taste.
It's traditional to have sloe gin at Christmas or in a hip flask out hunting.
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| Blackthorn in hedgerow |
