My feed
Premium

Please
or
to access all these features

For related content, visit our food content hub.

Food/Recipes

Sloes

13 replies

Tadpoletoatoad · 13/09/2014 17:20

I've found an amazing amount of sloes growing nearby. How do I know when they are ready to pick to make sloe gin?

Also, anybody know where the cheapest gin is to buy for said sloe gin? Thanks!

OP posts:
Report
Middleagedmotheroftwo · 13/09/2014 17:28

You are supposed to pick them after the first frost. But you could pick them now and freeze them before you use them.
We use ASDA gin.

Report
AmeliaPeabody · 13/09/2014 17:29

Supposedly at first frost. I'm picking approx mid October as we do every year (sloe gin will be ready in time for Christmas easily then)

Report
AmeliaPeabody · 13/09/2014 17:30

Have you seen the food thread in the Christmas topic. A few people making sloe gin, amongst other things, there.

Report
CarcerDun · 13/09/2014 17:43

I'll be picking the sloes in mid October for next years slow gin. It needs longer than a couple of months...

Report
MsAdorabelleDearheartVonLipwig · 13/09/2014 17:53

at first frost. All the bushes round here have been stripped bare already, greedy beggars.

Any old cheap gin will do. By the time you've soaked the fruit in it and filled it with sugar it won't matter.

Report
AmeliaPeabody · 13/09/2014 19:25

A couple of months does the job well enough. It is the minimum amount of time needed, however. I'm using the guidelines from one of my foraging books.
A few of us doing it over here

Christmas Luxury Larder thread challenge here

Report
Tadpoletoatoad · 13/09/2014 20:29

Thank you everyone. I thought the first frost was more to do with ensuring the skins were soft enough and you could skip that bit by sticking them in the freezer?? Or is it a good guide for readiness as well? Will deg look at the luxury larder thread.

Anyone with any ideas of what I can do with vodka? Not a huge fan on its own. But I've got a few bottles in the cupboard.

OP posts:
Report
Middleagedmotheroftwo · 13/09/2014 21:40

You can stick any fruit in vodka raspberries are nice. Also peaches.

Report
TimeForAnotherNameChange · 14/09/2014 15:23

They're already very rope and soft round here (Herts), will be another fortnight perhaps if in the far North. I just bashed mine about a bit with a hammer to split them. Don't use the cheapest nasty gin, no amount of sugar or flavour will make it pleasant, but a supermarket own will be fine.

Report
TimeForAnotherNameChange · 14/09/2014 15:26

For vodka try blackberry and vanilla, it's luscious! Pound of blackberries to 4-8oz sugar to a pint of vodka, and three vanilla pods, spilt and scraped. If you can't get good pods then use a good few tablespoons of a good extract. Steep for eight weeks only and then strain.

Report
SwanneeKazoo · 14/09/2014 15:33

if they feel soft when you squeeze them, they are ripe. The first frost frequently does not happen until December (south east), by which time there will be no sloes worth picking. Putting them in the freezer does not simulate a frost, by the way, it just bursts their skins so you don't have to prick them, see here www.sloe.biz/pip/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=193

Report
4merlyknownasSHD · 15/09/2014 14:39

For pricking sloes/damsons, I use one of those hairbrush type things made with nails that flower arrangers use. Just lay them all out flat on a table and roll the flower arranging thingy all over them. Very quick.

Report
mkmjimmy · 15/09/2014 16:48

Another vote for blackberry gin or vodka. Make exactly the same way - and it is really lovely. Much easier to find where I am than sloes.

Report
Please create an account

To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.