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
Help! This year my sloe gin has green oily globules on the surface which won’t filter out. Has anyone else had this problem? Any ideas why this has happened?
At Christmas I bottled the batch I started in September. I do not add almond essence. It is a beautiful deep red in colour. I have found that if you keep the gin either in the dark or in brown bottles, it retains more of the red colour. I found a 2 ply J-cloth (new clean) an excellent filter to remove the residual bits.
The sloe brandy has also turned out well and needed significantly less sugar so will be a better gift to a diabetic friend – dont want to kill them off.
Robbie. When did you set your gin down?
Just bottled my first batch of sloe gin. It is a dark, dark purple and the almond essence is magical. Can’t wait until next year when I’m hosting a “sloe slog”. Ten or so mates with a prize of 2009 sloe gin for the pair who pick most sloes by weight. Great site, keep up the good work.
Hi there
Have jsut read that bullaces are like wild greengages. We have a greengage tree and I never do anything with them as the jam I tried to make was like concrete – can I use them to make gin? We have successfully made damson and sloe gin (but are running out!!!!!).
Thanks Helen, I will definately try the sloe jelly. I have 6 litres of sloe gin ‘brewing’ so plenty of sloes to experiment with! Have to admit that Hubby and I did test a glass or two of the sloe gin I started in Sept….just in case it wasn’t right of course! Very pleased to say it was delicious and now keeps calling from the cupboard!!
I read with interest about using sloes too early so last week I headed out and found some more sloes for batch number 3. Most had withered but I found plenty in a more sheltered spot. It will be interesting to see if the quality/taste does change.
Hi all,
Fiona- thanks for the tip on the new rubber rings for leaky jars. Will go in search of some new ones… and maybe get some LP jars too…
I found soooo many sloes near my house and have made sloe and crabapple jelly- not ginned sloes as they are still soaking but I assume the principle is the same… used following recipe:
Sloe and crabapple/bramley jelly (I think Fiona has a similar one on this site somewhere…..)
-sloes
-double quantity crabapples/green apples/bramleys
-cook/simmer in just enough water to float until soft. Keep an eye so it doesn’t burn.
strain though jelly-bag/muslin as usual.
To make jelly: 1 lb sugar (I used a litle less as it was already surprisingly sweet) per pint of strained juice: boil and test for setting as with all jellies. Packed full of pectin and didn’t take long to set. Very plummy- not a hint of the astringence the raw sloes have. Resulting fruit puree (after straining) can be pressed through a sieve as you would for Damson cheese etc- the little stones are annoying though…
Both jelly and puree are delicious and deep purple.
I have read on many posts that the ginned sloes are eminently suitable for jelly etc and that the gin adds a certain je-ne-sais-quoi to the jelly: haven’t ever had the pleasure myself though but anything is better than the bin! Have no links to post on this though- or on the christmas cake idea… where did I see that again?? I think it might have been further up this thread or in a similar one (I think that was referring to Damsons- but my sloes taste so good cooked I feel they should get the same treatment)
Good luck and please report back!
Best wishes,
Helen
Hi Amanda
I’d be interested in a recipe too.
Hi Helen, I notice you are going to use the sloes from your sloe gin for jelly, Christmas cake etc. I have been wondering what I can do with the gin soaked sloes from my first ever batch of sloe gin. If you have a recipe for sloe jam/ jelly please would you let me have it? Any idea’s welcome rather than just putting them in the bin.
Thanks,
Amanda
Hi Helen I had the same problem with the Ikea Jars , if you go to an hardware store you can buy the rubber rings and as they are better quality you will get a watertight fit. I did this and the jars are perfect now !