UKH

Top tip:  if you’re making a sloe or damson gin  ( or whatever), keep your strained fruit and pour a cheapo wine to cover them.  Leave a week then strain. It’s like a weak sloe gin (or whatever).  You can  top up with spirit to allow it keep forever, or drink ‘young’.  It’s surprisingly rich and ‘liqueury’.  You can then cover the double  strained fruit with cheapo cider and steep for a ‘slider’.  Don’t waste the sloes!!!  Lob  in orange zest, almond essence, owt you want. 

I've done that before but added brandy too. Then for reasons unknown I put it in a supposedly clean bottle that had had chilli garlic sauce in it. Undrinkable after that!

Two batches of sloe gin on the go at the moment, will remember to try this in a few months time.

Or use cider

Think you’ve been on the slider . 

Not sure about sloes, but you can make "grown up" chocolates from the damsons once they have done their job(s) 

Yes and yes. It’s the lack of extra uses of sloes that puts me off collecting them. Damsons more versatile.  

Bullace are a good compromise not quite as tart as sloes but still up there and much easier to pick and process!

I tried it with sloes and it was vile.

I tried it with blackberries from blackberry whisky and the chocolate pulp truffles were great but the liquor was vile.

Perhaps damsons are the middle ground where both liquor and chocolate work?  Can never stand to waste the damsons when I could make a crumble though.

I'm waiting for a frost before picking sloes.

With our warmer winters I've read that it's better just to pick them and shove them in the freezer. God knows when we'll have the first frost this year, it's been ludicrously warm this month!

I need to get out and do some picking. I discovered the motherlode of bushes last year, sloes beyond my wildest imaginings, and I'm keen to get started on the gin for next xmas. 

Same here on the sloes. I picked a couple handfuls last month - already very ripe. 

Don't wait for the frost and don't put them in the freezer.  Ripe and fresh is best (in my opinion, like any produce).  I think the whole frost thing is just a guide, I squeeze and look at the fruit.  I found freezing reduced the flavour and colour of the sloe gin.

Enjoy

Toby

I'm just getting stuck into last years sloe gin that I found in the back of the cupboard... Makes me want to go pick some more!

I have some sloe gin on the go for a Xmas present for someone. Had too many sloes and threw the rest in the freezer, what should I do with them? 

Go and forage whatever else you can: some rose hips, haws, and make a hedgerow vodka using your remaining sloes (equal ratios of each). Add some lemon and or orange peel, minimal sugar so it has a bigger ‘kick’ than a sweet liqueur.  

Oohhh mmmmmmm😀😋😋

Last year I made a similar liqueur. Needed only a month or so to infuse.  Few late season blackberries and elder rows, rose hips and haws.. Got a one litre flip top, half filled with the different berries, strained early December. Then poured again of the sediment (keep the sludgey stuff in a special ‘slips’ type bottle). Was excellent. One of my favs. Lovely colour. May have posted a picture?  
Edit: found a piccie of my foraging on 17th Oct last year. I chucked in some slithers of quince (some low hanging fruit dangling over someone’s hedge). 

Mmm sounds wonderful. I live in Reading, so perhaps I'm being unrealistic waiting for frost. Will pick and freeze if temperatures don't drop shortly.