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
I have never added almond essence and preferred without to some makde by friend who added it. As always its a question of personal preference.
I made sloe brandy last year which I gave to my cousin’s wife who is diabetic. Initially I used same recipe for gin but it was far too sweet. By using far less sugar (adding more brandy and sloes)it produced virtually the same taste. She was happy as she could have a bigger glass of it on an evening.
Many thanks, Fiona. I’ve taken your advice on board. OTOH, to be honest, at £8.49 plus p&p for 114ml it’d be a bit too pricey for me, as I’m diabetic so alas no longer do any cake-baking. So I shall probably not add anything, just try the basic fruit, sugar, alcohol, which has already been maturing for a few days in a well-sealed preserving jar. I tried a damson before bottling; these ones are not very tart, so I’ve only added 2 oz sugar, as recommended by another online recipe
http://www.sloe.biz/pip/viewtopic.php?t=60.
If I eventually discover it’s not sweet or rounded enough in a couple of months, I’ll add a little sugar syrup and then let it settle again for a final few days as provided in yet another recipe – see
http://www.danish-schnapps-recipes.com/schnapps-recipes.html
I’m also making a batch of sloe vodka – this time 4oz of sugar to a lb of sloes. Both damsons and sloes were given a few days in the freezer. There’s a bit of vodka left over so I’ll try it out on some elderberries (also in the freezer at present) and see how that turns out Xmas or at New Year.
Some lovely suggestions and comments on this board – many thanks and good wishes to all of you, and an autumn of fruitful fermentation!
The problem is that frosts now come much later than they used to. If you wait for frost, the sloes are either over ripe and wizzened or gone.
Better to pick and then freeze them.
I heard somewhere it’s best to wait for a frost before picking sloes. What are your thoughts on this? Do you think it makes for better sloe gin? Many thanks.
Hi stick with almond extract – it’s more concentrated and considerably more expensive but worth it. Also go with the more expensive version with the alcohol ‘carrier’. I learnt the heard way that using even the cheaper ‘extract’ not ‘flavouring’, where the carrier is sunflower oil, is catastrophic. I’ve just poured a considerable amount down the sink – could have cried. The expensive version of almond extract can be bought from Lakeland and I think is about £8 per bottle but will last you a long time. Hope that helps.
Sorry, I meant to write that a ‘flavouring’ may be weaker in *flavour* than an essence. Not ‘weaker in flour’!
Can I just ask about the almond essence suggested for sloe gin:
1. Is it a good idea to add it to *damson* gin?
2. I can see from reading through that the addition of vegetable oil to almond essence is a problem. On my shelf I have two essences – one (Langdale) has rapeseed oil (so presumably a non-no). The other is Silver Spoon ‘Almond Flavouring’ which contains “ethanol, water and flavouring”. Ethanol is alcohol, so that bit should theoretically be OK, but I’m always suspicious of things marked ‘flavouring’ as they are presumably not essences, strictly speaking. And they may be weaker in flour.
This bottle says ‘no artificial colours or flavours’, and the liquid is transparent.
Anyone any ideas or suggestions, or knows of a better almond essence? If in doubt, I’ll just leave it out.
In Bradford Heaton Woods has a few blackthorn bushes but not many and I have probably got most already!
The Tree Officer is on holiday and the fantastic Countryside Officer has just retired but…..
I have his home number.
Leeds Liverpool canal tow path has some. Best idea is to get a bike and cycle tow path, especially through Esholt.
Hi Martin
so which one’s the holiday home?
I studied at Bradford Uni but I’m afraid I wasn’t a forager back then! but there must be heaps of old hedgerows to explore so get thy walking boots on.
Now for North Norfolk I suggest the ‘Peddars Way’ footpath its marked on all road maps and OS.
also see Pauls comment on 26th Sept.
Good Luck
I have wild damsons ready to make gin and was advised to freeze these first to ‘release the flavour’ better. Ever heard of this method? Also want to find source of Sloes either in W Yorkshire or North Norfolk so any suggestions welcomed. Thanks
Martin