Two recipes: Wild Damson Gin and Sloe Gin recipes
Posted by Fiona Nevile in Liqueurs | 713 comments
Wild damsons are a beautiful rich dark colour
Unlike sloes, wild damsons are hard to find. For every thirty wild plum trees there may be just one wild damson tree. When I spot wild damsons in the hedgerows, they are harvested into a special bag.
These, and the diminutive bullace, are the kings of hedgerow fruit. These tiny fruit make such an irresistible liqueur that overnight guests have actually turned down Danny’s famous cooked breakfast, and gone back to bed to sleep off the excesses of the night before.
Our damson and sloe gin is not the thick ultra sweet variety. We prefer the sugar to enhance rather than shield the flavour. Every three months or so it’s sampled and, if necessary, topped up with sugar. Usually no extra sugar is needed.
We try to keep our damson and sloe gin well away from the drinks tray! Each year we make a lot of fruit gin and vodka (more recipes to follow, in time). Sloe gin is the big craze at the moment around here, as sloes are more plentiful.
Here are our recipes for both. We are also starting experimenting with sloe gin see this post for details
Tips and tricks:
- Make more than you need the first year, so you can compare different vintages. This liqueur does improve over time.
- Some people drain the grog through muslin after a couple of months, to clarify the liqueur and bottle. We don’t bother as one old soak tipped that, once the gin is drunk, you can pour medium sherry on the fruit and start all over again! The latter is devilish and drinkable within three months. We have a recipe for this in our wine and gin section.
- Keep your fruit gin away from the light as this will maintain the colour. Unless it is in a dark green or brown bottle. Wrapping it in brown parcel paper will keep out the light.
- Make notes on a label of your fruit gin/vodka /sugar ratio and stick it onto the bottle(s) so that you have a record, if you make a particularly good batch. We note our responses as the grog matures. Yucky after sixth months can be to die for in a year (you will probably not remember without notes). Notes seem boring when you are making the grog but they are so worthwhile when you start again the next year. It won’t be long before you will get a feel of what works well for your taste (and the notes will come into their own).
- Adding almond essence to sloe gin lifts it from good to great. I haven’t tried this with the damson gin but return in a years’ time for our review.
- Don’t kill the liqueur with too much sugar at the start. Use the amount above to start your sloe or damson gin and then every couple of months take a tiny sip. At this time add more sugar if it is too sharp for your taste.
- Gin v Vodka? Vodka can be used as the spirit for these recipes. Although I’m a vodka drinker, we tend to stick to a gin base for our fruit liqueurs.
- A good damson gin can be made from ordinary damsons available in the shops. As they are bigger you would need to put them into a larger Le Parfait jar (I’d use a 2 litre size).
- People have been picking sloes from September 1st around here. Some people say that you shouldn’t pick sloes until after the first frost. This can be circumvented by putting your sloes in the freezer overnight. We don’t bother with either method and always have great results.
- This year we have made up a number of small (1lb honey jars) of sloe gin to give as Christmas presents.
| Wild Damson Gin and sloe gin Recipes |
Recipe Type: Liqueurs
Prep time: 15 mins
Total time: 15 mins
Ingredients
- Wild damson gin:
- 1lb/454gm of washed wild damsons
- 6 ozs/168gm of white granulated sugar
- 75cl bottle of medium quality gin
- Sterilised 1 litre (at least) Le Parfait jar or wide necked bottle with stopper/cork
- Sloe Gin:
- 1lb/454gm of washed sloes
- 4 ozs/112gm of white granulated sugar
- 75cl bottle of medium quality gin
- Sterilised 1 litre (at least) Le Parfait jar or wide necked bottle
- 1-2 drops of almond essence
Instructions
- Wild damson gin:
- Wash damsons well and discard any bad or bruised fruit. Prick fruit several times with a fork and place damsons in either a large
- Kilner/Le Parfait jar or a wide necked 1 litre bottle.
- Using a funnel, add the sugar and top up with gin to the rim.
- Shake every day until the sugar is dissolved and then store in a cool, dark place until you can resist it no longer (leave for at least three months, we usually let it mature for a year). If you are planning to drink this after 3 months, have a nip afetr a month, and top up with sugar to taste.
- Some people strain the grog (through muslin/jelly bag) after 3 months and bottle it, leaving it mature for six months. We strain and bottle after a year. Don’t leave the straining process any longer than a year; leaving the fruit in too long can spoil the liqueur, as we found to our cost one year.
- Sloe gin:
- Wash sloes well and discard any bruised or rotten fruit. Prick fruit several times with a fork and place sloes in either a large Kilner/Le Parfait jar or a wide necked 1 litre bottle. I put several sloes in my palm to prick them rather than picking them up one by one.
- Using a funnel, add the sugar and top up with gin to the rim. Always open sugar bags over the sink as sugar tends to get caught in the folds at the top of the bag.
- Add the almond essence.
- Shake every day until the sugar is dissolved and then store in a cool, dark place until you can resist it no longer (leave for at least three months, we usually let it mature for a year).
- Some people strain the grog (through muslin/jelly bag) after 3 months and bottle it, leaving it mature for six months. We strain and bottle after a year.
Leave a reply
Hi Helen
Bad luch about the Ikea jars. I use Le Parfait jars and have never had problems with them. They are pricey but as the last for years they are a great investment.
Re getting the sloes out of the bottles. Generally they come out with a hefty shake or six.
Hi everyone,
Like so many of you, I have been busy making sloe gin, vodka etc etc- I even tried spiced-up versions too. I have two concerns though and wonder if anyone has any clever thoughts:
1. I had two Ikea storage jars with metal-clip lids/ rubber rings (like cheap Le Parfait jars) only realised AFTER I had concocted my lovely mixtures that the jar seals are not 100% watertight… I have to gently stir and can’t invert them. Disappointed but glad I didn’t rush to Ikea to get more this afternoon (was the plan). Have splashed out on Le Parfait jars online- has anyone had any bad experiences with these?
2. due to lack of other jars I have been using any glass bottles with lids/ stoppers (all cleaned of course…) for my sloe gin etc. I was shaking and admiring them this afternoon and nearly had a panic attack: I have plans for the sloes after the gin has been decanted: sherry/ jelly/ christmas cake etc- I have been noting all the suggestions on this and other threads… How on earth am I going to get them out of the bottles I carefully stuffed them into????
Any ideas, esp on last point- greatly appreciated!
Helen
Hi Alan
The recipe is here
https://www.cottagesmallholder.com/sloe-sherry-recipe-104
At the head of this section under Tips & Tricks, there is a mention of a recipe for Sloe Sherry. I’ve looked but cannot find it. Any ideas? Or is it simply a matter of tipping a bottle of sherry over the soaked sloes after the gin has been poured off (or drunk)?
Hi Matt – Yep you’ve found the sloes!!
Last night I decided to take the plunge and make the recipe with rum. The contents of the recipe are 400g granulated sugar, 1.5kg Sloes, and approx 2.7ltrs of rum. The alchol content of the rum used varied from 34% volume to 75.5% volume. The calculated alcohol content of the rum blend is 46%. The vessel I’ve used is a 4.5ltr demijohn and the contents fill the vessel to within 30mm of the top. This will allow for the adding of extra sugar if it is required over the next few weeks. Now to be patient and not tempted.
Hi, I haven’t read all the comments above but wondered if you have ever sloed-up tequila? We’ve been doing this for a few years now and results are great.
tequila ice cream, a shot glass of sloe tequila on the side, could a pudding get any better?
Thanks for the advice I’ll give it ago with the rum and put less sugar in. I’ll let you know the results it could be interesting as I have a variety of rum’s to use.
Janice.
As mentioned above, I tried sloe brandy and the intital results are most promising. The fruit flavour of the sloes comes through but slightly differently due to the brandy base.
One thing I found is that as brandy is much sweeter than gin, I needed less sugar. In fact I had to add more brandy and sloes with no sugar to achieve a suitable balance. As rum is a sugar based alcohol, I suggest you use no more than half the amount of sugar as in the sloe gin recipes. You can always add a little more later, but you can’t take it out.
Please let us know if you try it and, more importantly, how it turns out.
Good luck. Paul S
I’ve collected about 1 1/2 kilos of sloes today and approximately half of the sloes did not have the distinct bloom as normally associated with this plum. As we are not forcast any frosts I’ve washed,dried and deep frozen them. I’ve seen that there are the two spirit base versions for this drink but has anyone ever tried it with rum. or is there some reason that rum wouldn’t be any good for this process. I look forward to finding out if this has been another alternative.