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
Dear Inkdrop – re added ingredient for gin – if you use almond extract (which I believe is the usual added ingredient) for heaven sake use one with an alcohol-based carrier otherwise you’ll be throwing the whole lot away. I made the mistake of using a cheaper extract with a sunflower oil carrier and was left with globules on the surface which tainted the taste. Beware!
PS Paul S – loved the foragers disease – laughed out loud and have emailed it to all my fellow foragers.
Re adding spices etc to sloe or damson gin, try a couple of black cardamoms with damson or a few sprigs of lavender with sloe (my lavender flowers late so the timing is just right). If you’re experimenting, why not do just a jamjarful? I’ve tried raspberry, elderberry, strawberry, blackberry and cherry, although I still prefer sloe or damson.
Isn’t there a mention in one of the Harry Potter books of Madam Rosmerta drinking redcurrant rum? I like the sound of that. Last year I “pickled” raspberries in white rum to use up a glut of fruit, and gave the results as Christmas presents. No complaints so far!
For a different G & T, stick a few cloves into a squeezed-out half lemon after using it for juice, drop it into a jamjar and sprinkle with sugar, cover with gin and stir or swirl frequently for a couple of weeks (longer if you’re more patient than I am). I can’t bear waste so when I eventually use the gin, I usually suck the lemon before composting it…..
I put in a cinimmon stick last year and it was lush so I’ve done it again this year.
Apologies if this had been covered already.
I’m about to make an unhealthy supply of damson gin but i’m not sure about an ‘extra’ ingredient. Mostly it’s just damson, sugar and gin but i’ve read advice that say add either powdered almond, vanilla essence or orange peel.
Has anyone tried adding these, or should i just play it safe?
Many thanks.
Confused!
Mirabelles are not a sweet fruit. The Loraine tarts are glazed but still have a bit of sharpness to them. However, unlike sloes, they don’t make your cheeks cave in. We mixed ours with a few sweet plums and a couple of apples to help the jam set.
One thing I have learned over the years is that you can always add more sugar to a gin but you cant take it out.
Must go, wife just arrived with 4 more bottles of gin. hic.
thanks Danny & Paul,
telescopic fruit picker is now on the xmas list along with guide book on foraging.
I wondered if Annie Lennox might like the new title I have for her song- ‘thorn in my thigh’, as i removed an embedded one last night !
I’m still not sure if my little fruits are mirebelle- they really are quite sharp. The jam I made tonight has quite a ‘twang’ to it and one of my boys gave up eating it as it was ‘too sour’. perhaps i have picked them too early?
Oh go on then i’ll do the trial batch of gin if i really have to, i’m really not much of a drinker but looks like thats about to change………
Paul & Mags – thanks for the best bellylaughs I have enjoyed this week. 🙂
Fiona bought one of those telescopic fruit pickers last week for just under £10 from a local garden centre in Fordham. That was exceptional value as they can cost £20-30 online. Next up is a shepherd’s crook . . .
Mags
When I was at the pc contemplating a dificult problem I noticed the condition of my hands and arms, with their cuts and scratches. It prompted me to write the Severe Health Warning. I am pleased it brought a smile to fellow sufferers.
I can see no reason at all why Mirabelle gin should not be excellent, though I suspect you will need to go a bit easier on the sugar as they are not as bitter as sloes. We need to rely on you to make a sample bottle and tell us how good it turns out. Please do so and if it is a success we can put is on our to do list for next year.
Collecting the high apples is a problem but there is an appliance you can buy from good garden centres. It has a linen bag fixed beneath a 6″ diameter ring on a telescopic handle. The topside of the ring has plastic coated teeth used to pull the fruit off the tree, which then drops into the linen bag. It might not be as quick as a ladder but is far more portable and enables you to access fruit up to some 12′ above ground level. A freind’s neighbour came home with one from Waterperry gardens on Saturday afternoon. He was in a most excited state and immediately disapeared down his garden towards his apple trees.
Happy foraging.
I, too have the foragers disease with all the scars to prove it!
Spent a couple of hours yesterday at my new foragers paradise aka the sportscentre, i wonder if it was the site of an old orchard as found some marvellous cooking apples but sadly out of reach will just have to keep going back to get the windfalls. I draw the line at lugging around a set of steps.
It was such a beautiful day, so sunny and warm, in fact i was too hot in my hiking boots and thick jeans. picked 4 kg of what i think are mirabelles (thanks Paul S), 2 kg of which are going to become jam tomorrow but what to do with the other 2kg -do they make good gin?
the trees were over quite a steep ditch and i slipped on the trampled down grasses and landed on my backside with both hands plunged into nettles- ooooooouch- aching from the stretching and hands still tingling today but i loved every minute of it, i’m hooked on foraging.
My work colleagues laughed at my tale and my scars (got some impressive scratches from blackberrying last week) but soon scoffed all the fruit i took in, well you have to share don’t you otherwise you’d get the obvious side-effect.
Have found sloes in the hedge at the bottom of my road where it meets the cycle path (old railway line) so at least I don’t have to go far to pick these, have just got to try and find the time, and i’m running out of space to keep the bottles!
Must book at least a week off work next september to give myself time to deal with the booty.
LMAO Paul :oD Do you think we’d qualify for help under the Mental Health Act?
I must admit, round where I live I do tend to get some funny looks when I go out for a walk armed with a couple of buckets – well one never knows when some wonderful bounty will apper :o)
Hazel xx