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 Fiona
I mooved to Irland and found loads of sloes so tried my hand at the gin then forgot all about it for sixs years ,I tried it and it was fab
how long can you keep sloe gin for and can you keep adding gin and leave it again .or do you have to start from scatch each time Thankyou Elizabeth.
Hi Elizabeth
You can keep sloe gin for years – the longer that you keep it the better it tastes. Don’t try adding more gin! When your bottle of sloe gin is finished try adding a bottle of sherry to the gin soaked sloe remains. Rocket fuel but fun.
H Elizabeth.
Just to say… Six years? Wow! Enjoy!
Max.
Help please – sloe identification!
Some help for a novice appreciated
I headed to Hurst Road, Surrey in early October on the tip from forum and picked what I thought were sloes – spent hours researching and following recipes etc…. and just tested the progress today and it’s foul! Nothing like other branded sloe gin. Although I realise it’s a little early to taste test i thought it might be starting to come along
So i’m not sure what I picked!
Description of berries:
– dark colour, not quite purple or black but somewhere in between
– much smaller than i expected being about size of half a fingernail but i put this down to a poor season this year from what i’d read
– no stones or pips as far as i can tell
– some resistance when pricking with a pin
Description of bush:
– about the right height for a sloe bush (maybe 10ft tall, 6ft wide) and berries were in clumps of about 4-12, but no real thorns as such
Description of gin (about 6-7 weeks in):
– followed all the recipes… ~500ml gin, 200g sugar, 400 odd berries per 1 litre jug, kept in dark cupboard 8 weeks with regular turning in the first week and about once per week since
– very dark colour, very much like ribena
– VERY bitter, also quite a lasting taste back of mouth
Any ideas what it could be?? Or do you think there’s a chance it could still come to fruition if left for another couple of months?
Thanks!!
Sloes have small STONES -they are small but they are there. Get one out of the bottle and have a look!
If you may have picked some berries without stones at this time of year (or even October) they will probably send you into an early grave 🙁 There are lots of dark, lush berries in the hedgerows that look good from early autumn into winter but are very poisonous. BEWARE.
Having examined your berry please find someone who can physically verify what you have.
You might have to toss away your concoction but at least you’ll live to pick the right berries in 2013. If everything is OK enjoy your grog…
It sounds very much like privet berries!
Certainly in “my” patch of blackthorns (sloe trees), there are lots of privets too and they have those clusters of berries at the same time. The berries are poisonous to humans, so, er… ditch it!
Hello
I have just made my first jar of damson gin. I used a 2l le parfait jar but couldn’t fir it all in! Should I use the recipe above for a 2l jar? I have plenty of damsons left to try it with. What do you think? Corrinne
Hi my family and i have just moved into a house with quite a few damson trees in it, we love gin and would like to know a basic recipe for making damson gin. Also how do we know when they are ready for picking?
Many thanks
Hello Martyn
The simplest recipe for damson gin is the one that you have left this comment on!
Damsons make wonderful jam – just follow a plum jam recipe, jelly and chutney. We have several chutney recipes on this site – again any plim chutney recipe would work with damsons too.
Hi all, I have just tasted the damson gin I put down a couple of months ago (first ever attempt, I used the above recipe). It has a definite smell/taste of almond, which I am guessing has come from the stones? Is this normal, and will it fade with time? Should I remove the fruit and let the spirit continue to age, or leave the fruit in?
Thanks
Hi Paul S
you asked for an update on how my experiment with mirabelle gin went some time ago and here is the result:
I started off a small batch of mirabelle/bullace gin late 2010 from frozen fruit and strained it about august 2011. I didn’t record any of the quantities alas but it tastes good to me ( my husband prefers damson/sloe)- i think i’ll go for it again this year.
In the same vein, it might be worth adding used damsons to a pork stew, which generally goes well with fruit (though damson sherry might work better than damson gin). I must experiment; it’s time I decanted last year’s demijohns.
Hello Peter.
Nigel Slater uses damsons for various marinades. Also damson gin in a marinade for duck. Damson gin, juniper berries, sherry vinegar, brown sugar. Googleable.
Max.
Hi Paul
Thanks for your comments. being a Yorkshireman myself i understand what you mean. Your two uses for used sloes, do they not have a strong gin flavour, or does that add to the pies and chutney experience.
Also, this year i hope to experiment with different types of gin. Perhaps using a good quality one (say Blue Sappire for example) and a cheaper one, have you had any experience of this, or am i wasting my time?
Paul
Hi Paul
Sadly the flavour in the sloes is not everlasting and from previous trials it seems the strength of flavour in the sloes dictates the strength in the finished sloe gin.
I am told that a reasonably pleasant drink can be made a second time with the sloes using sherry, which has a reasonable flvour of its own. I have never tried it, i must confess.
Being a Yorkshireman, I find the idea of throwing away the ginned sloes a very unattractive proposition. the best two uses I have found are from stoning the used fruit and:-
a) adding it to mince meat for mince pies, and
b) making sloe chutney.
The sloe chutney has been very popular with friends in recent years, especially once it is 3 months old and has matured.
I wish you joy and am always happy to hear new ideas on the used of ginnede sloes.
Paul
I had great success with my sloe gin a year or two ago. It had an amazing taste, A great cherry flavour followed by a lovely almond taste. Also a deep cherry colour. It did not last long. Having made the sloe gin i was reluctant to throw away the gin laden sloes. I reused then with vodka (1 litre and about 5 onces of sugar). The results were OK but not as good as the 1st batch of sloe gin. It had a pale cherry colour and the alcohol was quite strong. Maybe i should have added some more sloes and perhaps a bit more sugar to make it more of a liquor. Anybody have the same experience?