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Sloe Gin - By Simon Smith
Simon has been a friend of mine and Dave since we were teenagers living in Norhampton. He now lives in Wookey Hole with a bunch of animals that he has inherited. He has Sloes and various other fruits and berries growing in his back garden.
Sloes are the fruit of the blackthorn bush, a mini relative of the plum
growing throughout the british countryside and urban areas (avoid
fruits
growing near busy roads, nasty fumes). use a good illustrated guide to
help
identify.
The best season for picking is late september/early october. some
people say
to pick after the first frost as this softens the fruit and skins
making it
easier for the flavors to mix with the gin. the problem with this is
that
the fruit will spoil within a week or so and you need to be able to go
pick
with short notice. picking the soft fruits is fine, just prick them
with
fork after washing in clean water and removing twigs and leaves. if a
few
maggots have been found whilst washing, leave the sloes in a bowl of
water
and the maggots should float to the top.
Blackthorn bushes have large, sharp thorns so you may want to wear gloves. I used a crooked stick to gently pull out of reach branches down as this is where you'll find a lot of fruit, just out of reach!
Sloe gin does require gin. It isn't a cheap moonshine gin alternative. the ratio is 1 pound of sloes to 1 litre of gin to half a pound of sugar with a few drops of almond essence.
It isn't worth buying good quality brand name gin as sloe gin doesn't retain any gin flavours, super cheap bargain bin stuff will do fine. You could try using honey instead of sugar though I have never tried it.
After washing, put the sloes into a suitable bottle (sterilized), demi jons are fine with the gin and sugar and almond essence. place in stopper and shake to mix contents.
Swill the contents around every day to help the sugar to dissolve. After 6 weeks, taste to check sweetness. add more sugar if needed. It should be ready in 8-12 weeks, just it time for crimbo.
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