Sloe Gin Recipe

The Humble Sloe, Natures Winter Gift.

As the nights draw in and the cold sets in, my heart is lifted by the call of the sloes.  These little purple berries have been catching my eye for a few months now, but the best time to pick them is October, so I have to be a little patient.

Well! It is October now and I have been  busy out gathering these little gems.  This year 2010 has been a great year for sloes and it looks to be a bumper harvest.  I alone have managed to collect 7kg, which makes me very happy, as I will be able to make a batch ready for Christmas and another to keep for next winter.

Having watched my father make sloe gin growing up, I now take over and my aim is to make the best possible sloe gin.  To achieve this will take good planning, a lot of research, a little love and passion.

I want to make my sloe gin just right, not too sweet or dry.  As I am making 2 batches the mistakes I make on the first will be rectified for the second batch, to be kept for next winter.  I have been looking at many recipes in preparation of developing my own.  

My bountiful harvest of Sloes, October 2010.

The Recipe:

I have decided to make 2 types a Dry and Medium Gin.

Dry Sloe Gin:

500g of Sloes. (unwashed with stalks and debris removed).

150g Unrefined cane sugar.

1 lit Dry London Gin (bog standard own brand, average price approx £13 per lit).

*Prick the sloes and place into a glass container that can be sealed,  add the sugar and finally the gin.  Store the container in a cool, dark place for 2-6 months, if you are a patient person.  For the first two weeks shake the container every day, then every other day for the next two weeks and then once a week from then on.  After four weeks take a small sample and taste, if you want to add more sugar you can, but remember to start shaking the container daily as before to ensure the sugar dissolves.

*If you froze the sloes to be bottled at a later date the freezing process should have broken the cells down so it should not be necessary to prick the sloes.

Christmas/New Year

If you intend to consume your gin in time from Christmas and New Year the sloes must be bottled in October, I started picking mine after the first week.  I checked each sloe to make sure there was nothing attached to them, before placing them in the freezer.  There they will stay until needed when I will take them out and bottle once thawed. 

If you are keeping your gin for next winter, decant the liquid after 6 months and set the Sloes aside.  The gin should be stored to allow any sediment to settle on the bottom.  You can the siphon the clear liquid from the top leaving the sediment on the bottom.  Do not throw away the liquid containing the sediment, as this can either be used for cooking or stained through a coffee filter, wasting nothing.

Medium Sloe Gin:

500g of Sloes.   (unwashed with stalks and debris removed).

225g Unrefined cane sugar.

1 lit Dry London Gin. (bog standard own brand, average price approx £13 per lit).

Use the same process as for the dry gin recipe.  To make a sweet sloe gin increase the sugar to 300g.  If you decide to go down the sweet route, make a bottle of dry gin, if you find your gin to be too sweet the dry gin can be mixed with the sweet.

Now I have made the Gin what can I do with the Sloes?

It surprised me to find out that the gin soaked sloes have not given up all of their essence.  By soaking these little fruit in gin and sugar they are transformed from a bitter tasting berry to a versatile fruit.  

So what can we do with the sloes?  Well I am going to make a boozy berry muffin,  an American style pancake with a sloe filling and either Vanilla ice cream or clotted cream, to name but a few and for the rest I will be soaking them in Sherry. Probably the best Sherry to use is Amontillado a medium Sherry.

For those of you who fancy making a Sloe Vodka, I will be setting some sloes aside and updating you on the process.

Until then I will be regularly updating you once I have purchased the gin and vodka.

Whilst researching recipes for sloe gin at, Legendary Dartmoor,  I came across an intriguing site, giving readers an insight into Sloes on Dartmoor and local tales of the Tavistock Badger, click on the Badger to learn more!

News Flash, Reuters.

A badger in Germany got so drunk on over-ripe cherries it staggered into the middle of a road and refused to budge, police said on Wednesday.

A motorist called police near the central town of Goslar to report a dead badger on a road only for officers to turn up and discover the animal alive and well, but drunk.

Police discovered the nocturnal beast had eaten cherries from a nearby tree which had turned to alcohol and given the badger diarrhoea.

Having failed to scare the animal away, officers eventually chased it from the road with a broom.

Was this the Tavistock Badger?