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
Hello my sister-in-law said that I shouldn’t wash the damson fruit as it removes the lustre on the skin – this apparently enhances the end product. She said that the spirit/gin would sterilize anything in any event. What do you think?
I bet nobody ever thought: “Gosh, I wish I hadn’t washed those damsons”. I wash mine.
My family makes sloe gin every couple of years. A couple of findings:
1. Freezing sloes will break them down somewhat, meaning no need to prick them;
2. Crack a few stones for from th e sloes and put them in for an almond flavor.
Well have picked some wild damsons and going to try and make it. Sounds pretty easy. Hardest part is finding something to make it in.
could it be made in a demo-john?
I have. Last year but haven’t tried the results yet. I didn’t take into account how small neck of demi-john is so you will need to cut up small if you do use a demi-john.
Prompted me to try it! Not as good as sloe but then I am biased as this is the first time I have tried damson rather than sloe. Having another go this year. have heard a dash of almond essence is a good idea. Good luck. marianne
A Kilner jar is better.
Yes, much easier to use a Kilner jar 🙂
I think my damsons may have something inside by the stone. There are little black dots
Can I still use them
I made 2 litres of Damson Gin three years ago and left it to mature on the fruit for a year. The result was much better than expected but the recipe stated 350g of sugar for 750ml of gin – far too sweet. I had great hopes of using the residue with chocolate but it was absolutely tasteless.
I have the same issue telling which are damsons, plums, bullace etc. However Ihave found they all taste great in gin! They are all prunus family and seem to cross pollinate easily, so it seems like my Very Large Plump sloes are probably crossed with a wild damson/plum/gage…and taste great.
Hi there, I really want to try your damson gin recipe, we just found a whole row of damsons near our house! – the only thing is, I have heard of wild damsons and bullace being similar, and also sometimes Sloes getting confused with them, but you say 1 wild damson to 30 wild plums? Can you tell me how on earth we tell the difference? I’ve only ever heard wild plums being called damsons . . . . Thanks for your help, for all we know it may be a whole row of wild plums rather than damsons!
Just try eating one now. If the flesh is really sharp and dry , its a Sloe as they are not ready probably for another month.
I flesh is soft,juicy and sweet now and tastes like a plum, its a
Bullace(wild plum).Bullaces also have Red, Yellow and Blue skin colours.
Damsons are always blue, smaller in size than a Bullace but larger than Sloes and not such a distinctive plum taste.
Hope this helps.
I’m in the USA and we don’t.have damsons here what kind of fruit can I use ?
Yes, apparently it’s very hard to find Damsons in the US. Popular alternatives here in Europe seem to be Blackberries, Raspberries, Strawberries or Cherries, which are used to make fruit gins and vodkas and of course schnaaps and kummels.
Good luck!
I have not tried this, but I have read that, once the stones have been removed, the mush can be used for all sorts of alcoholic sweets etc, particularly to mix it with chocolate! How about giving it a try and letting us all know how it turned out?! Should be delicious.
Can I use the sloes in my mincemeat after I have decanted the liquer? It seems a shame to waste them 🙂
Yes, you can use the left-over sloes in baking, etc, although personally I prefer damsons for this.
In the unlikely event that you have any damson or sloe gin left over, Nigel Slater has a very good recipe, available online, for using it with duck.