There is something wonderfully magical about this most quintessential of English drinks. I’m sure other countries have their own specialities but for me nothing is better than a “snifter” of sloe gin on a cold winter’s night sitting next to an open fire. I’d like to think it’s packed with goodness (probably not but it’s nice to think it is) from the vitamin rich sloes.

 

Sloes are the small bluish black fruit of Prunus spinosa. Also known as Black Thorn the bushes can be found just about anywhere in Britain and can form a dense, impenetrable thorn thicket when growing together. Gathering sloes can be a tricky and painful experience as the bushes are armed with wicked thorns. (Probably why the Latin name is spinosa.) Wearing gloves just makes handling the tiny berries impossible so care and dexterity is the key to harvesting the fruit. I’ve always believed that picking after a good frost produces a better drink but I’m sure if you were to use unfrosted fruit the result would be much the same.

 

Before you go picking your fruit you really need to have a think of what you intend to put the ingredients in so that you don’t go picking too many fruits. The ideal is stone jars which you can see below, left, which is last years harvest.

Here is the ingredients. This is the one we use and suits us fine. Some people prefer their Sloe Gin to be a little drier and not quite so sweet so all you need to do is to reduce the sugar to gin ratio.

 

For one pound of sloes:

 

1 pound of sugar

1 pint of gin.

 

Easy.

 

Others will say you should prick every sloe berry with a cocktail stick but as long as all the stalks are removed I don’t think you need to bother with this. I don’t and I’ve never had any problems. Can you imagine pricking every individual sloe in the tray below? I think not! Just make sure all the stalks are removed and the sloes are clean and dry.

Weigh out your berries and to every pound of fruit you need to put one pint of gin into the container you intend to store your berries in for a year. Yes, it will take a year to get the right result. It’s a bit frustrating the first year knowing it will take that long but next year you will be enjoying your labours at the same time as you’re making next year’s batch.

 

To every pint add a pound of sugar and stir. (In the shot above I have seven pints of gin with the sugar in a fermenting bin.) At the ratio of one to one it will take quite some time to dissolve the sugar but you do need to make sure it is all dissolved before adding the fruit.

Once all the fruit is in the storage container all you need to do is create an air tight seal on the top and store away in a cool dark place till next year. One year later you just need to ladle/pour into bottle, cork and label.

 

Sloe Gin is used in a variety of ways from being drunk neat (my favourite) to a warm toddy and cocktails. Search The Net for Sloe Gin cocktails and you’ll find plenty!

 

Friday, 22 October 2010