Installing Indoor Cat Tree

[piggyonemoon]

This is sooooo easy

 

Take a Jar - any size, but the bigger the better!

 

Fill it with Sloes up to the half way mark.

 

Pour in sugar so that the fruit is covered (any white sugar or caster sugar will do)

 

Fill rest of jar to top with GIN!!! - use the cheapest Gin you can find, because it wont make any difference to the taste.

 

Place lid on and lid and leave for at least six months. the longer you leave it, the better it tastes and if its a bit dry, add more sugar and leave for a bit longer.

 

You can try this with any fruit - Damsons, plums - just try anything you fancy, but strawberriess aren't too good and apricots blow your head off!

 

like i said - the longer you leave it the better. we've got some from 10 years ago and it is nectar, but generally after about 1 - 2 years we drink it.

there is no need to decant it, unless you want it to look pretty on the table just before you s erve it, but if you do decant, you need to let it settle, so any sediment goes back to the bottom

 

Happy drinking, be sensible and don;t drink and drive.

the management accepts no responsibilty for any sillyness etc after consuming sloe gin etc.

[Eyren]

I love sloe gin, and luckily there are loads of blackthorn bushes very near our house The "harvest" can vary quite a lot from year to year, though, depending on whether the weather was right when the fruits started setting. One year I picked 6lbs of sloes (2lb for me and the same for two friends) and I could have had as many again if I'd wanted them!

 

BTW, I recommend pricking the fruits with a skewer to let the juices out - tedious, but I find I get a richer, darker gin than other methods (such as freezing so that the skin splits).

 

For those of you who are too impatient to wait until autumn, or don't have access to sloe bushes, how about making some redcurrant gin or, better still, raspberry vodka? Same basic method, though you'll need less sugar, especially with raspberries. and a little gentle mashing is enough to release the juice. Now's the perfect time, as the summer glut often means 2-for-1 offers in the supermarket

[Guest]

I've had sloe gin before - marvellous stuff on a winter's night - but I have to confess I don't know what a sloe is or what one looks like or where I might find one...

 

tips anyone - pictures even better!!

 

Phil

[Mrs Frugal]

I love it. I've been making it for years now and the longer you leave it before drinking, the better it is. I've got some that's nearly 3 years old now so by Christmas, it's going to be pretty magnificent! I've also made raspberry brandy, blackberry vodka, beech leaf liquour, rhubarb schnapps! I do love a nice tipple in the winter .

 

Make sure your sloes have had the frost on them before you pick though.

[kannie]

I visited a friend of mine yesterday and she had a tree in the road outside her house with berries in - I think they might have been sloes. When I mentioned the idea of sloe gin she was very keen on the idea - but they might not be sloes! Are other similar things OK too? These berries looked pretty ripe now...

[Mrs Frugal]

Definitely not sloes then. They're not ready until late autumn - October.

 

Here's a photo of some sloes. They're pretty easy to identify. They have a lovely blueish bloom and very long prickly thorns.

 

 

Could they have been Damsons, Christine?

 

 

If so, Damson Gin is equally divine!

[kannie]

Ah, no Kate - thanks for the photos. Unfortunately they were smaller, looked harder and less fleshy, and more red than purpley-black. Maybe I should have brought one home for identification - just didnt think!

[Cinnamon]

Thanks for the pictures kate - I now know what to look for

 

My Gran made a fab Sloe Gin,& I would love to make some myself

[AnnieP]

Lots of people get sloes and damsons mixed up: Sloes are much later in the year: We often don't go picking until October! They are smaller, about the size of a marble. Kate: How do you manage to keep it for a year? We have trouble saving it for Christmas!!

[Mrs Frugal]

The only way I can keep it is to make it something special that's associated just with Christmas. It's like mincemeat and Christmas pudding - never to be eaten at any other time of year! It's hard, I can tell you but by the first day of the Christmas holidays, it's just the most wonderful thing to curl up in front of the fire with on a cold evening. Mmmmm! Lovely.

[Karen & co.]

Ooh this thread reminds me of my Nana she always had sloe gin on the go in the cupboard, but I was always too young to taste it

 

Time to make my own

 

karen x

[Tara.F]

As there are so many lovely fruits ripening now I thought I'd throw a couple more ideas in!

 

If you don't have access to sloe berries, why not try a layered fruit punch?

Take a sterile jar (I got a pickled onion jar from my local chip shop and steralised it in a baby bottle steamer) and put in a layer of fruit. Any red fruit will do. Strawberries are very good in this recipe, rasps, blackberries etc.

put in layers about 2-4 inches thick of each fruit as it becomes available and alternate with sugar, topping up with the clear spirit of your choice (I like vodka)

I start my jars off in June or July with strawbs and rasps. About now I start adding blackberries. I avoid cherries cos they taste like Dr pepper but my husband likes that so puts them in his jar. We also start with white sugar but while making xmas puds, we put some muscovado in.

By xmas and the new year you'll have a lovely liqueur and you can use the boozy fruit in your xmas trifle!

[AnnieP]

I'm bumping this up again. Out walking the woofers today I couldn't believe how ripe the sloes are here. Anybody else spotted this? I don't usually pick until October, but they'll be well gone by then.

Is it just a blip on the sloe bushes I visit every year, or nationwide?.. I don't know when to pick these now....

[Lesley]

They're just about ripe here as well Annie - my daughter was eyeing ours up the other day

[Mrs Frugal]

Yes, same here! We went for a walk yesterday and they're huge and ready for picking down the bridleway. Must take a bag next week and collect some......ok, loads !

[Cinnamon]

Well, I just picked 700g of beautiul sloes, & someone had already been there before me & stripped 3 bushes bare

 

Thanks for the phot Kate - that was a great help.

 

Now I need to find a big jar........will a half empty Gin bottle do,do you think?

 

I also have a big pot of plums,anyone got any boozy ideas for those?

[AnnieP]

Yep. I did my sloes last weekend..its so early this year, but hey, the sloe gin'll be even more lovely by Christmas!

 

Kate, we've just opened the rhubarb schnapps too...absolutely delicious!

 

I would imagine you could do plum schnapps Sarah... just substitute the rhubarb for plums, and slightly less sugar I would think. Kate posted the rhubarb schnapps recipe in this section....

[Cinnamon]

Thanks - I will look into it.

We seem to be deluged with plums this year,& seeing them go towards a good drink means they will not have been picked in vain

[fourfinches]

picked damsons from the tree in the garden and sloes from the church grounds (there has to be a bonus in being a vicar!) and bought three bottles of gin I got some strange looks at the checkout in the supermarket Spent last evening pricking the fruit and putting into bottles - roll on Christmas!

 

Morag

[Hellcat]

Mmmmm - sloe gin and raspberry vodka. Yum. (not together, obviously!)

 

They charge a fortune for Raspberry Vodka at foodie shows, and you can make it with 2 punnets raspberries and a bottle cheapest vodka. Bingo!

[Eyren]

I'm bumping this up again. Out walking the woofers today I couldn't believe how ripe the sloes are here. Anybody else spotted this? I don't usually pick until October, but they'll be well gone by then.

Is it just a blip on the sloe bushes I visit every year, or nationwide?.. I don't know when to pick these now....

 

The ones near us are very ripe, too - I thought it was just my imagination, but maybe the hot July weather gave them a big boost this year (so often it is dull and rainy in July - like this August)! Maybe I'll pick some this weekend (enough for a couple of bottles), then do another batch in the autumn if they're still around.

 

It's not gluttony, it's a scientific experiment

[Linda]

 

It's not gluttony, it's a scientific experiment

After all the recent reports about there being very few students going into the sciences these days, I think it is very commendable that you are willing to put the time and effort into these vital experiments!

[Laura007]

i really like sloe gin and normally get a bttle of plymouth sloe gin for christmas. im gutted as we dont have any sloe's near us. san i use any other fruit and top it up with gin or vodka?

[Charlottechicken]

I managed to pick over a pound of sloes this morning, so am looking forward to trying this recipe out now

 

The strangest thing was most of the bushes had no fruit whatsoever on them, even high up In the end I found sloes on two of the most accessible bushes in the whole park, so it's not as if someone had been there first! There are loads of blackberries though, so that might be next weeks walk!

[Cinnamon]

All our blackberries have been & gone

Everything seems so early this year