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
Matt.
Why not start married life as you will no doubt continue, with a compromise – sloe gin liqueur choclates. Please could you post the recipe, it sounds wonderful.
Fiona
Can you share the sloe chutney recipe with us please. We bought some recently with the idea of trying to copy if we liked it.
I gave some used sloes to my Mum to put in her home made mince meat for Christmas.
Hi James – it wasn’t me that recycles the sloes with sherry but I do recycle some of the fruit I use in my drinks by giving it to my mother-in-law (an ex housecraft teacher) who turns it into chutney – and very nice it is too! Am still in discussion with the ‘almond extract manufacturer’ – who are very slow to respond – about gelatine-like globules in my sloe gin. It seems that almond oil diluted with sunflower oil (the cheaper type of almond extract) does not mix with alcohol. SLOE GIN MAKERS BEWARE – USE ONLY THE EXPENSIVE STUFF DILUTED WITH ALCOHOL!! Will wait for their reply before I try the ‘activated carbon’ that you suggest. Thanks again for all comments.
I am looking forward to sloe picking time. All of the Gin I made last year in Germany (and wrote about in Oct 09) turned out amazing.
I recylcled my sloes by pouring cider over the berries once the gin was gone. My friends thought it smelt a bit funny, but it tasted ok and we got drunk very quick.
I have also used some slow gin in Jamie Oliver’s Quick Plum Sorbet with Sloe Gin recipe (Jamie at Home book). This was amazing and my dinner guests took home the recipe. I felt compelled to give them some sloe gin to take home too 🙁
I am getting married next year and I am also considering making an extra large batch to use for those small presents that you are suppoed to leave on the table for each guest. My wife wants to give chocolate, but we have agreed we can have both.
Fiona – you said (I assume it was you) that you ‘recycled’ the spent fruit with sherry. I thought we might try that – did you add any more sugar?
Hi James
No I don’t add more sugar. But taste it after a month or so and add some if needed 🙂
What a lovely idea! I wonder how you remember which one you liked best..?
I heard of a nice idea for anyone living in Lincoln area. Apparently the whisky shop situated on the hill opposite the cathedral devotes the otherwise quiet afternoon of Christmas Eve to a Sloe Gin Party. People who make sloe gin are welcome to turn up with a bottle of their brew for the other participants to taste. Word of advice if you are thinking of going – use public transport or a taxi!
As another variation on the theme of fruit drinks, I have found (near Edinburgh) some mirabelle trees in a wild place so freely pickable. Mirabelles are a small yellow plum used extensively by the French for Tarte aux Prunes. I’m going to use some in brandy.
Rob
@John
I laid it down back in November in jars, only bottled in January
Fiona – it must be pretty strong to overpower the gin and sloe flavours! It certainly sounds like a reaction, but unless it’s something that the manufacturer hasn’t declared on the bottle, I think it will be difficult to prove negligence.
I do sympathise, as it is so easy to assume that a product will be the same as the last one you bought!
If the worst case is throwing it away, you could try decanting a few samples and experimenting on those. I would try buying some activated carbon (sold in pet shops for aquariums) and dunking a mesh bag of that in the mixture, where it might help decontaminate it.
Thank you to everyone for your comments – the globules would be easy to strain out through a handkerchief or muslin square but have tainted the taste and I don’t think I can do anything about that. What I want to know is why one manufacturer is diluting almond oil with alcohol and one is diluting it with sunflower oil. Will keep you all posted – might be a few weeks.FIona