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Hi,

I'm new to all this , can anyone give me the recipe for sloe gin.

Also when is the time that you pick the sloes

Thanks for any help thats given, Lindy

I would also like to know - where is the best place to find them and what exactly do they look like so I don't get them mixed with something poisonous

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I can give you a recipe,
You need equal amounts of sloes, sugar and gin (by volume). The traditional way is to prick each sloe with a needle but I slit them with a knife. Mix everything together and place in a large jar, stir every day or so for two months. (or longer it won't hurt) then strain and bottle. keep at least six months before using.
Enjoy

If you cant find Sloes try using damsons like I do but add a bit less sugar. My first batch is now 2 years old and is like nectar.

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Hello everyone - here's a recipe Ive found, although havent tried it personally:
(taken from Favourite country wines and cordials by Carol Wilson)
Sloe Gin

Sloes
Granulated sugar
Gin

Sloes are best picked after they have been frosted to get the juice flowing. Once picked, put in the freezer overnight for the same effect.
Prick each sloe with a darning needle. Half fill sterilsed bottles with the fruit. Add 30z suger to each 1lb sloes. Cover with gin, seal firmly and shake well to dissolve the sugar. Keep in a warm place and shake each day for several weeks. After 3months strain the liqueur through coffee filter papers into clean, sterilised bottles, seal well and leave to mature. More sugar can be added later if the liqueur is too sour. Improves with keeping.

Thanks for the recipies, can't wait to have a go at my sloe gin.
Still not sure when to pick the sloes, anyone got any idea please.

Can't wait for christmas this year, hoping to have all these home brews ready!!!!

The correct time to pick sloes is after, repeat that is AFTER the first frost.

Getting fed up with finding them all gone, or seeing folk picking them during the summe r. Would you pick your plums or apples now?

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I knew someone who couldn't be fagged doing the pricking every sloe so they just used to bung them in freezer and the skins split as they expanded on freezing and they didn't need to prick them.

hi! lindi, Slowes would seem to be best around nov/dec . It could be worth considering damsons as they ripen months earlier. Slows are small and green or purple where as damsons are purple earlier and more like a small plum. They have more juice and could work better as a flavour. They would certainly make a better wine.

Damsons make good gin, so do plums. I've made both as well as sloe. The damsons and plums are more like liquers than the sloe, but I do use a high proportion of sugar compared to most recipes.

Is it possible to make SLOE VODKA???

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There's a rhubarb snapps recipe often quoted on the vine that uses vodka as the base. I'm sure if you replaced the rhubarb with a lesser quantity of sloes you would get sloe vodka. There would be lots of willing volunteers to help you evaluate the result

Goodie - I have a bottle in the freezer that is just crying out to be drunk (?)! I will have a bash when I get my hands on the sloes..

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The slow gin recipy we use is as follows

1lb sloes(prick fruit with a cocktail stick)
12oz sugar
1 bottle of gin

Dont pick sloes until after the first frost.
put all ingredience in a jar or bottle ( we double up on recipy and put in a 3LT sqaush bottle, great handle for shaking).
Shake every day for fist month, then once a week for next 2 months, after which strain and bottle... you should get 1 1/2 bottles in return for every bottle.
Also recommend strawberries in gin or vodka following same basic recipy, dont shake strawberries too hard, dont let the strawberries break down. After the 3 months carfully remove strawberries so you have stunning tasting fruit to eat with cream or icecream

We opened our first rhubarb schnapps 2 wks ago and it was fantastic!!!! ( thanks Andrewo!)
If anyone has any rhubarb left then suggest you make a load for Xmas!
Have made damson gin and vodka in the past and the vodka won for me..not quite so dry.
Would love to make damson gin as my sister-in -law makes it in Taunton and it's lovely, but wouldn't recognise a sloe or it's leaves if it bit me on the bum!!( )...what do I look for???...help please!!

Hi Nicos
Sloes are also blackthorn....
a stiff, dense shrrub, up to 12 feet high, with long thorns and oval leaves. The fruit are small round,quite hard, very dark-blue berry covered when young in a paler bloom abit like damsons and plums get on them.
They are green inside and very bitter if eaten as they come off the tree.
If you look up sloe gin on the net you should come across some pics.

I've used 1lb of fresh raspberries, 1/2lb sugar, and a bottle of Vodka. Tastes gorgeous. Wash the fruit, gently pat dry, sprinkle the sugar on top and leave for an hour. Put into a large glass container and pour the vodka over the top. Put in a dark, cool cupboard, turn the jar upside down daily until the sugar is completely dissolved, then just turn every couple of days. Leave for about 6 weeks - I'm leaving mine until Christmas.

I make passion fruit gin. You'll need about 12 whole passion fruits and a litre of Gin, first scoop the seeds out and match the volume of seeds with sugar - put it all in the gin bottle and keep shaking for about 6 months.

Drain off the Gin into a clean bottle and serve - lovely.

Pick your sloes preferably from a sunny site late October,so they are nice and ripe. Buy a bottle of cheap gin, and empty half of the gin into a clean bottle. I add only a little sugar but also add a few drops of Almond essence. you now have two bottles half full! Top up each with pricked sloes (this is the tedious bit-suggest some appropriate music-you can't watch TV without pricking your fingers) seal up and turn each day for a month. They should be ready by Christmas. Last year mine had a lot of fruit pulp, so the previous suggestion about filtering is probably sensible so as to prevent corruption.
Good luck.

I've frozen my sloes as this makes them split! Much easier than pricking each one!

I read somewhere that you are supposed to prick each sloe 12 times with a thorn from the bush it came from. (Now we know what the ancients did before the internet & seed catalogues were invented)!!!!
I'm still holding my nerve but the local sloes are getting more & more pickable, just worried that someone else (or some feathered critter) will get there first.
I made sloe vodka last year, don't remember too much from Boxing Day onwards . I've got some Ginger wine on the go that I hope will complement this years batch.

Nighty night, off to dream about a world where slugs will only eat lawn grass.
Compo

Hi Dexterdog

Just wondered if you knew whether the sloes and sugar actually ferment in the gin as usually when something ferments it gives off a gas! No chance of the bottle popping with the pressure is their? Just wondered

Hi Snadger,
Most gin/vodka is round about 40% alcohol, I don't think that there are any commonly occuring microorganisms that can live in that so fermentation is not going to happen. So don't worry about bottles going bang. Many years ago a boffin type mate of mine did start to explain what happened chemically but after about the third glass I completely lost interest in anything except whether he was going to shut up and pour!!!!

Compo

I joined a group of people from Jersey Heritage yesterday for a sloe gin workshop. We took a walk onto the north coast where the sloes were in abundance. However the trees had been stripped already were they were accessible, so many have already been gathering there fruit, and it meant climbing was necessary.
We had a demo on making the drink , it appears that anything goes really.
One lady said she used fructose instead of sugar , anyone know why you would do that?
Had a tasting and yes I now can't wait for mine to be mature for drinking.
It was a lovely day out.

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A Bientot
Jerseybean