Sloe Gin
Ideally, sloes should be harvested after the first frost. However, this does not always line up with when they are ripe. I think it’s best to pick them when they’re ripe and mimic the first frost by home freezing them for a minimum of 24 hours. When they are frozen they rupture evenly which allows for better flavour dispersion into the gin so there is no need to prick the sloes before making your gin.
I also like to break another sloe gin rule by not adding in my sugar until the very end of the process. When you saturate a spirit with sugar it can interfere with the alcohol extracting the natural fruit sugars from the sloes. The sweetness of sloes can also vary from year to year and from plant to plant so I like to add in my sugar syrup when the gin is ready to be used. I add in the sugar bit by bit and taste it as I go to ensure it’s just the right level of sweetness for my taste. I’ve found that too much sugar can ruin a good sloe gin and after the months of waiting it can be very disappointing when this happens.
I’ve set out some measurements below but alternatively, you can fill any wide mouth jar halfway with sloes and fill the rest of the jar with gin (leaving a bit of space at the top for expansion). This generally works pretty well if you’re not too fond of following measurements.
You will need:
500g ripe sloes
1l of good quality gin
A 1.5l capacity jar
For the sugar syrup:
300g sugar
150ml water
Method:
Harvest your sloes when ripe. Rinse and remove all traces of the stem.
Freeze your sloes for a minimum of 24 hours.
Remove them from the freezer and fill a clean jar halfway with the frozen sloes and top up the rest of the jar with gin, leaving a small bit of space at the top of the jar to allow for expansion.
Turn and shake your jar every day for a week and then allow to sit in a cool dark spot for a minimum of three months but for maximum flavour a year is best.
Alternatively, you can split your sloes into two batches, one to use in three months as a Christmas treat and another to keep for the following year.
When your gin is ready, strain out the sloes using a muslin cloth and sieve.
Add your sugar syrup a little at a time, tasting as you go, until its at your preferred taste.
Decant the gin into clean, dry bottles & seal.
To make your sugar syrup:
Combine the sugar and water in a saucepan over low heat.
Warm the mixture until the sugar dissolves, then allow it to cool completely.
Be sure to only add a little syrup at first, as it sometimes requires only a fraction of the quantity of sugar called for in standard recipes.
One week into the process, the sloes have expanded and have begun turning the gin a beautiful shade of red.
Sloes are the fruit of the blackthorn tree, pictured here.
