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
My comment is to anyone who is still pricking their sloes: there really is a better way, which does not put your fingers at risk, and takes very little time to do. After rinsing your sloes, as I expect most of us do, let them dry, put them in a bag and then in your freezer! Once they are frozen, they can be thawed out at any convenient time afterwards, from a few hours to months later, and you will find they are now mushy, with all the skins ruptured, so much better than pricking, with little effort or time spent getting sore fingers! Just carry on with your normal way of doing things after that!
We never put more than half the recommended sugar in initially, and then add to taste once it is all brewed and strained. We also add some almond essence or extract, whichever we have, but very sparingly, to taste. We have never had a problem with the essence not mixing, as the 40% alcohol in the mix should take care of it!
Lovely……!!
What cn I do with the sloes after I’ve drained the gin off is it possible to put a bottle of wine in and how long should I leave it
This year I used corn on the cob handles to prick my sloes, the double prongs halved the time it takes with a fork, much less fiddly and less mess. I agree with lowering the sugar content too, if you add home made sugar syrup nearer the end, it is much easier to adjust the sweetness to your personal taste.
Some years ago I tried both versions of almond flavouring. The essence was old, and perhaps poor grade, so perhaps an unfair comparison.
The essence added version was not as good, but perhaps I simply put too much of the stuff in, it was too overpowering, somewhat harsh. The extract flavoured one was fabulous, but perhaps I just added the right amount?
They were tricky to add equally, as the essence was thin, and the extract was gloopy.
My take on this would be like any other addition to the flavour of the drink, add a little at a time, it’s difficult to fix if you add too much.
I read that almond essence improves the flavour of sloe gin. I have almond extract, can I use that..??
Some of the sloes I pick have a distinctive almond flavour, which makes an excellent sloe gin. I would say try it and see. let others know how it works out
Almond Extract is fine, just make sure it’s alcohol based, that’ll blend in just fine, an oil-based product will just float on the top as an oil-slick!
Good luck!
if my damson gin is too sweet could I just dilute with more gun when bottling???
1st time for me my own sloe gin & damson I have a good supply of fruit thanks to. All on this site I will let you all no how I get on thanks
Hi all
Half the enjoyment for us is spending a sunny autumn afternoon foraging for something that’s free! I also use whichever gin I can find cheapest… especially this year as the sloe crop is so huge, for the first time I’ve picked enough to try making sloe and apple jelly too, over 10lb and there’s still loads left on the trees! The last 2 years I’ve also staarted making a traditional french aperitif “Epine noir” (black thorn) this involves using fresh leaf shoots in spring after flowering and macerating in red wine, brandy and sugar for a couple of weeks strain and bottle, then being patient for a year (That’s the hardest part!) Sounds mad but it has a lovely smooth slightly marzipan/cherry flavour. If you like sloe gin, this is well worth a try!
Better get on with the jelly and gin making!
Ali S, Sloes would suck the sweetness out of anything, if they are around in your area, what about adding some of those. If you ended up putting too many in you could always add some more sugar!
I make sloe gin in quite big quantity’s every year which I sell to friends and neighbours and to be honest I buy the cheapest gin possible. It tastes no different than if you use expensive Gin. Dried sloes which can be picked up on eBay and Amazon do just as good a job as fresh ones and the finished product is no different, sloes are sloes don’t think you have a special supply tucked away in the corner of a field somewhere and a pack of 500g of dried ones should be about £5.00 and just think no scratches on hands no standing in the cold and you only need half the amount if you use the dried ones. Good luck with the Sloe Gin everybody.