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
Do you think it would work to mix damsons and sloes?
Hi Liz
I don’t see why not. I’d be interested to hear how it turns out!
Hiya Mags, I was indeed busy in the kitchen last night. I was pricking my defrosted sloes and ended up making 2 demijohns full of gin – nearly 6 litres of gin in total!
Paul S – great minds think alike! I had never considered demijohns but a colleague suggested it and it’s a good method.
Mags
Not sure you need preserving jars, particularly for the sloe gin. All you need is a wide knecked jar with screw top or even rubber/cork bung. The opening only has to be wide enough to get sloes in and out and they do not expand when soaked. I use 1 gallon demijohns. Trouble is each needs about 4 bottles of gin to fill!
You can then save preserving jars for mirabelles.
I have been occupied this evening racking the 5 gals of apple juice that has fermented nicely.
Anyone got a recipe for making Normandy cider?
Hi Fiona,
I’m glad you had good weather and were able to take advantage of it- I’ve had 3 days of gloom and persistant rain in West Norfolk, just as well that i’ve been at work!
and Paul,
haven’t got round to the mirabelle gin, they went a bit ripe so thought it better to just stew them and save for ‘twangy’ pie at a later date.
My life is so busy don’t know if i’ll get time to see if any are left on trees. Also i have a dilemma- only got 2 preserving jars left and wanted to do 2 vats of sloe gin, or should I do 1 mirabelle and 1 sloe???????
‘voting lines open now, usual charges apply’ as they say!
no-one has posted today, are you all too busy in the kitchen?
Hi Mags
Many apologies. It was the first fine day for ages so I was out in the garden and too tired to post when I got in. I do try to post every day but sometimes it gets elbowed out 🙁
Hi Fiona – thanks for responding so quickly. You’ve saved me a lot of time and trouble,best mate. xx
Advice, please. The damsons I collected today are ripe to the point of going soft. Do I therefore need to prick them before steeping in gin? I think it would be a very messy business – and is it really necessary when damsons are so ripe the skins are splitting very easily? Need to ‘bottle’ tomorrow, so any quick advice would be greatly appreciated.
Hi Heather
I never prick my damsons when making damson gin and have good results every time 🙂
Being at t’other end o’ t’ country, I cannot suggest specific locations. However, all the sloes I know are on overgrown coastal headlands, the scrubby edges of woodlands where there is a bit more light and in old natural field boundaries.
If your local authority has a helpful countryside officer, he can suggest locations. Also the local tree officers will have encountered them.
Hello,
I live in Southampton and was wandering if anyone knew good areas to go sloe picking in Hampshire. Have been meaning to make Sloe gin for years now!
Cheers
Kate x
Thanks Paul S for the info – I thought I had picked yellow bullaces but further investigation after reading your posts confirm I have found mirabelles, especially as they have that lovely “twang” Mags mentioned – perfect for my family members that don’t like things too sweet.
Mags, as my jam is nice & sharp, I experimented with it & have found it a refreshing change to apple sauce on pork chops & far nicer than mango chutney with chicken curry.
Can’t wait to start a little earlier collecting these delicious fruits next year.
Hazel xx