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.
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i made a ginger and sloe gin with honey
tastes bril try it
We have just been picking sloes on Anglesey these last 2 days.
Those in a sunny position were ripe and ready. However, those in a more shady position were still a little green, so we left those to ripen for others to pick later.
Sadly the rain restricted picking time.
Hi Fiona,
go for it, I followed Fionas recipe last year using commercially grown damsons from a local orchard and ………..
its delicious, gorgeous, irresistable!
I’m getting some more at the weekend to do it all again, can’t wait.
I picked some wild purple plum/damsons last weekend and made a nice crumble for tea tonight the rest are going into gin- this years experiment!
Hi there, I have picked damsons today bit there aren’t the small wild ones. Can I still use them for making Damson Gin? Any views/suggestions welcome
Many thanks
Fiona S
Hi…living a lot of the time in France and my fig trees are groaning with luscious purple fruits, does anyone have a recipe for preserving figs (in brandy)? Just made 10L of sloe gin, my cherries in brandy are to die for…looks like a merry winter coming up. Also made ’44’ with oranges, coffee beans, sugar and eau de vie. If you want to try it let me know.
Just to say thanks for the tips&tricks. Found the blackcurrent one ten years ago I made a bit ‘over sugared’ , tastes a bit like cough syrup. I decanted the fruit off today, so that’s probably why, too long in the alcohol.For the blackcurrent I used a fruit preserving alcohol(40°),Ok to make Kir I suppose.I used the same quantity of fruit to sugar for these ones, I’ve got 2 litres to drink.!
Onwards with this years sloe gin. the sloes are from the garden, but I don’t have damsons.
Hi, I think you will be ok. I’ve also just picked a sizeable batch of sloe’s (around 4 hrs ago!).
It is a bit too early so, I will leave my out for a day or so to ripen a little bit more before going into the freezer.
I think when to pick depends on several things – Will the birds or other people get them first. I think it also depends on how much sunlight is getting to the sloe’s. Where I picked mine is roughly west facing & gets lots evening sunlight. I think if I had waited another 2 weeks at most they would not be worth it.
I’m also quite lucky where I am, I have several other locations to pick sloes from which I will give a try later in the month or into October. We also get lots of plums, cherry plums, some raspberries, damsons & cherries. I already have some sizable batchs of these mixed with gin, vodka & brandy 😉
Im hoping to get very very drunk in a few months time!!!
I’ve done exactly the same thing, also ‘cos I’ll be too busy at the “proper time.” This is down in Kent, everything is ahead this year.
I cut a slit in mine before they went in the freezer – and added gin to fruit yesterday. Already they are a magnificant colour, so really hopeful for Christmas.
Has anyone put the fruit in the blender, or in any other way mashed them up before adding booze? The result is so rapid it must speed up the entire process surely?
Just harvested my sloes, I live in West France and they are not hard, but soft. Some have a whitish bloom, others don’t.If I leave it any longer the birds will feast on them, like last year.
Tried with blackcurrents Ten years ago and they are ready to drink now.
I’ve just picked some sloe’s while I’ve had time to as busy period coming up -but everyone is telling me its way too early – i now prime time is end sept/Oct but if I get my sugar right surely it should be OK. I intend to freezer for a couple of days before starting them off. Thoughts please? Sloe Gin virgin!