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
Apologies if this has already been answered above…
I have just embarked on my first damson gin experiment, inspired by your site and a fantastic find of damsons … But, my jars are not completely watertight and when I shake them, they leak. Thinking that after a year of this, I won’t have any gin left! Can I stir the gin instead… or will doing this spoil the end result?
Any advice much appreciated.
Rebecca
I made sloe gin for the first time last season, i have just strained it but the gin is overpowering the fruit.
can i pick more sloes and do a second steep?
Hi Mags
Yes you can do a second steep 🙂
Damsons do not have thorns (or my two trees aren’t damsons, but drupe TBD)!
Hi folks
I am in Devon and have a local field hedge with both sloes (definitely) and another similar fruit. This one I am guessing is either black bullace or damson. Both the fruit and leaves look the same as the sloe’s but larger. It also has thorns like the sloes. Does Bullace have thorns? Does Damson have thorns? Well which ever it is – it is now ripe and about to go into Vodka and Gin. Can anyone throw any further light on this for me?
Thanks
Thank you! Will nip to Asda for more gin and vodka! BTW for those who are interested Ikea sell jars suitable for making fruit liquors, the name is “SLOM” and the prices are really reasonable.
0.5l 90p
1.0l 99p
1.8l £1.89
2.0l £2.69
I have just made my 1st batch of sloe gin and sloe vodka, I didn’t use the recipe on this site as I have just stumbled across it, I used 2 litre kilner jars, with 600g of sloes, 8oz of caster suger and a 70cl bottle of gin in one jar and a 70cl bottle in the other, there is a lot of “space” left in the jars, should I top them up further with gin and vodka? or leave them as they are?
Thanks in advance,
Michelle
Personally I try to leave a minimal gap at the top of the bottle or jar – just incase the air affects the grog. So I’d top up if I were you.
Just found the site looking for recipes. Thanks a lot. We have 25lbs of damsons to use other than my wine. now we know. Let you know how it turns out.
I’m wondering if you live nearby, Sarah M- there is an apple tree near the brambles, sloes & plums I pick!
I now have sloe gin and apple & blackberry jam on the go, & have today made up an apple & onion chutney to have with my roast pork, & tomorrow am baking a Somerset apple cake, fidget pie & a mixed fruit chutney!
It IS addictive! 😛
I only found this website yesterday morning after having found lots of sloes growing locally and wanting to create some sloe gin (as recommended by my very helpful neighbour Sandra), I have to say that it is a great place to find things out, so many lovely helpful people too!
On top of finding the website, it was a great bonus was the fact that when I went back yesterday to pick some more sloes, I also discovered several wild damsons tree an eating apple tree and several lovely elderberry bushes hiding around the corner, so now I’m thinking I may need to go get some more alcohol for all these… Thanks for all the great recipes, looking forward to trying some!!
I have two 3ltr kilners on the go with sloes picked three weeks ago, popped in the freezer overnight. The gin is a gorgeous deep red now, very rich!
On the lookout today for more & to my delight I found a wild damson tree! Hopefully no-one else knows of its existance (the branches were crowded)& I will be harvesting more once I’ve popped down the offie! 🙂