Am an idiot, have just made plum jam but they weren't plums they were sloes

[mamabear2b]

How stupid do I feel?!

Does anyone have any ideas how I can get rid of the bitter taste, it's so dry that if I left a pot outside overnight the whole country could end up with an indian summer!

Would adding apples help or should I just resign myself to throwing it out?

oh no ! i suspect i have sloes in my garden as well as plums so mental note not to make the same mistake. poor you. no tips just sympathies. i have been busy making things with plums (though not brave enogh to make jam this year).

are you sure they were sloes and not wild plums?
Sloes grow on shrubs in hedgerows and are the size of grapes, or smaller. Wild plums are black and the size of plums. They grow on trees, not shrubs. Have got a wild plum, and see sloes on my daily walk smile] Sloes are JUSt coming out now.

Any way you can turn it into gin?

Don't throw the jam away! Add lots more water, squish it all up and make wine.
Do you have any demijohns? If not you can pick them up very easily on Gumtree etc.

How could you confuse sloes and plums? Sloes are more like blueberries than plums!

extra suger?

You could turn it into a hedgerow jelly - stew some crab-or cooking-apples in a little water, drip through a jelly bag overnight (I guess you'd have to re-heat the jam and drip that through as well).
Then add a pound of sugar to each pint of liquid and simmer to setting point as per jam.
It might come out a bit cloudy as the sloes are already jam, but should still taste nice.
You could add blackberries for a true hedgerow jelly and to further mask the sloe taste.

Having looked at all the posts I'm not sure they are sloes now!

When I initially picked them I questioned whether they were sloes but decided they were too big so must be plums. They are abut the size of kumquats and definitely bigger than grapes.

The problem is since tasting the jam (which is so dry I need to scrape my tongue afterwards!) I went googling and that's how sloes are described.

Have picked about 1/2 kilo of blackberries today so will bung them in and see how that goes, thanks for the tip OLOPS

They could be damsons?

Was just thinking that after googling pictures of damsons but still can't work out why it tastes soooo bad!
It's only my DH's laughter at my toddler tantrums that's stopped me from lobbing the lot in the bin I'm determined to make it taste edible!

I even strained the stones and skin out but maybe once they've started cooking the taste just stays in the liquid?

Am going out tomorrow to buy more sugar and pick a load more blackberries, we will have jam!

If they taste dry and bitter they're unlikely to be damsons - your jam would be delicious if they were.
Sloes are about the size of Maltesers but there is something between a sloe and a damson whose name escapes me, so it might be that.
Doesn't matter anyway, you'll get something lovely by adding blackberries/apples, especially if you strain it as a jelly (do I sound obsessed?) Thing is, you don't have to worry about skin/pips/stones, you just need the patience to let it strain without disturbing it and Bob's your proverbial.

I love damson jam. I'd call it tart, not bitter. What ratio of sugar to fruit did you use? I make mine with 6lb of sugar to 5lb of damson.

Can you convert the whatever-it-is into a plum sauce / hoi sin effort (trying to find a recipe on the net but failing miserably)

I use mostly wild damsons and they are small and bitter, MIL has culivated damsons and they are much bigger - more like a plum.

Are you thinging of Bullace Ourlady? I know we have yellow ones nr us, was guessing they come in other colours?

Do sloes have stones in? I didn't hink so but have only ever pricked them before putting them in gin so not sure.

Another alternative is Cherry plums??

I have 3 of these trees. 2 yellow one's and 1 purple. The purple ones taste good, the yellow ones are dry and pretty tasteless. They are about the size of a very large grape, but not as big as a damson.

Damson sauce

2lb damsons
6oz onion, chopped
1 chili, chopped
1tsp salt
1pt vinegar
1 tsp allspice
small piece root ginger
4oz sugar
1 tsp cinnamon

Put damsons, onion, chili, salt, allspice, ginger and half the vinegar in a pan, simmer 30 min.
Sieve and return to pan. Add rest of vinegar, sugar, cinnamon.
Simmer until thickened (1 hour).
Pot up or freeze.

Yes, Bullace, although I've never knowingly eaten them.
And sloes don't have stones, so if the OP took the stones out they were probably damsons or bullaces.

were they on trees or shrubs? Sloes grow on hedgerows whereas plums and damsons grow on trees.

Don't think sloes are ripe yet either, I normally go on my sloe picking forays in late September/October. What colour are the fruits?
Mmm, sloe gin.