sloe gin

Food & Drink, Events and Entertainment
21
Did you go to the Creux-du-Van afterwards Summit?

22
I did go there and find the parking area but then couldn't find the restaurant and got a bit lost, so went to Biel instead and had a lovely lunch along the lake.

23
The farm/restaurant is next to the top car-park - but I found out yesterday that it is now closed for the winter. So sorry about that. So you never did get to the limestone circle??? What a shame. You'll have to come back in late Spring and I'll take you,, ok.

24
Sounds good! I'll be there!

25
Our sloe gin is now good and ready - more than good- fabulous. So I'll be bottling next week so I can give our eldest and OH a couple of bottles to take home when they come for half term. My sloe gin is apparently the talk of the town in London and has been much missed for the last 2 years when I didn't make any (only found the sloe bushes last Summer on one of my walks).

Can one do anything with the 'pickled' sloes though - any ideas?

26
Try adding a tablespoon of the 'pickled' sloes to a beef casserole, adds a certain 'depth' of flavour!

I've added chopped sloes when making gin sorbet as well. Amazing.

27
I am concerned about the stones. As they are from the same family as plums, is it healthy to break the stones, are the kernels not poisonous?

My sloe gin is ready for bottling, I just need to find a fine strainer. I am thinking of using a Melita coffee filter, but I don't have one today.

28
Thanks Anjela - a great idea. I think I will freeze them in small portions to use as and when.

Sbrinz I never strains ours- why as the sloes are whole? i just use a funnel.

Because of the viscosity due to the sugar, I really don't think a Melita filter would work.

29
The sloes I get from the tree in my garden are tiny, so I don't stone them, just prick the skins and use them whole. If I use them in a casserole afterwards I'll half them and remove the stones, there's no need to break them.....

Sometimes there's a slight residue in the bottom of the bottle, so a paper coffee filter will work; but it takes forever to drip through!

30
Hihi what is a bit of residue between friends - some of the best wine bottles have a bit of residue and they still cost 100s . I've made mine in one of those big old fashioned glass sweet jars from the UK - a sweet shop in town was closing and selling the big jars - got 6 for a fiver! Wish I'd bought the lot. So I'll just use a funnel - and then OH and me will drink the dregs - sure it won't kill us. Hic

31
Or farmland with hedges.

Best time to locate your sloe/ blackthorn trees is March, when they are flowering in the hedges before anything else, in clouds of white. The rest of the year they look quite indistinguished, so look for the bushes with the first white flowers and find out if they have long, sharp thorns. Then go back in September for the sloes.

That said, they are not uncommon. I think I saw most in the hedges off the hiking path between Rheinfelden and Liestal.

32
I'm recycling the sloes to make sloe sherry and sloe whiskey with my sloes.

33
Just stumbled on this thread and it's got me really interested... But like another poster I'm not sure where to start. I suppose Google will fill in some details after this post.

But from the timestamps on these posts, I gather that the harvest must be in the fall? So long to wait!

Edit: For the Inquisitive: http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandsty...-make-sloe-gin

34
But find your sloe bushes in the early spring!

35
Now what I know what these berries are, I'm not too worried. I think I must have walked past a few billion in my time. ;-)

36
Wow it is very very good My guests agree it is better than anything you can buy - and a big bottle will soon be on its way to London.