Will my sloes still work ?

[bumpsoon]

Been given 2llbs of sloes ,to make sloe gin ,but im not sure they are ripe enough . Can i still make sloe gin with them do you think ? should i add a touch more sugar for good measure ?

bumping in desperation

you can always add more sugar later if it is too sour, so don't add any extra to start with

Sorry to hijack but I have just picked tons and thought i would like to make sloe gin , do you have the recipe, please?

You can prick them all with a needle, just once right through, and put them in the freezer until you want to use them, which is supposed to work if they aren't as ripe as if you'd picked in October. We picked earlier this year as we missed them last year at the end of September! We made some yesterday from sloes we picked last Monday.

The recipe we used was 1lb sloes to 4oz of sugar and 75cl of gin, with a half tsp of almond essence. Haven't used the almond essence before, but the recipe says it takes sloe gin from good to great, so thought we'd give it a try. There's quite a lot of recipes on different websites and one even says you can use the gin soaked sloes to make flap jacks with....!

flossie I am beginning to believe you are my DSIL She has just FB'd me the same question and I know you live near her and have other similatiresw

are they more black than green or a few greens in the pot?

floss, I use the proportion

450g/1lb sloes
3503/12 oz granulated sugar
750ml/1.25 pints gin

Wash sloes, prick each one with a steel pin or a thorn from a sloe bush - or do what we do and freeze them (weighed) so that on thawing they burst and thus don't need pricking hahahahaha - and toss all ingredients (frozen sloes don't need to be thawed out, just toss 'em in the jar frozen) into a large widenecked jar (Kilner-style) shake and stuff in your garage or cool dark cupboard. Shake the jar for a minute or so when you remember, strain and bottle at the beginning of December

Apparently a split vanilla pod is a nice addition but haven't tried that yet. We don't have lots of sloes this year so will make damson gin which is also great (a bit less sugar)

They are mainly black ,and i have bunged them in the freezer for now. Will try the almond essence though ,anything that makes it better !

Might be worth looking up some recipes bumpsoon, I am now a bit worried that mine hasn't got enough sugar looking at boysarelike dogs recipe!perhaps we should all do a different one and compare after Christmas!

Thanks for the recipe - eeky you need to come to where I live ,theres tons.
Shoshe- its a bit freaky , we do seem to have numerous connections - but I can confirm I'm not your DSIL-you'll be glad about that