Look what I found...

Er, I did, despite making sloe gin I do not drink very much and make far more blackcurrant cordial and spiced plum cordial than I do alcohol based drinks.

Anyway we went out to dinner recently and the dessert was a winter pudding, a small individual 'summer' pudding filled with blackberries and with a tot of sloe gin poured over, and a swirl of cream. My sloe gin is a cooking ingredient, like the calvados I put in my apple cake!

No way! Anyway, these are more fortified fruit drinks. Nourishing and good for you and probably count towards your five a day (if you drank enough)

Not a chance!

So did any of you post on the "I've lost my taste for alcohol thread"?

I didn't Nfk simply because I was all jammed out!

You mean you have never breached the sloe gin within 3 months absent ?
I have picked sloes too early - late August which is a mistake. This year all harvests are late - so about now the sloes are probably nicely ripe or nearly there. They should not be too hard I think - they are wild plums and you would pick a plum when it is beginning to soften.
If you want to speed up the process pricking each sloe with a needle is one approach or freeze them, which makes them squishier and more willing to relinquish their juices.

Aka have you tried making jam with the left over blackcurrants?

I'm making raspberry gin too!

thanks Aka I like the sound of those and the blackcurrant brandy!

Blackberry brandy ...nice one

find fine

PS I didn't crush the black currants in a food processor, I just used a potato masher, worked find.

Enjoy

Black Currant Liqueur and Crème de Cassis
http://userealbutter.com/2013/05/30/black-currant-liqueur-creme-de-cassis-recipe/
based on a recipe from Food Perestroika
24 oz. black currants, washed and stemmed
48 oz. (6 cups) vodka
sugar (amount will depend on the weight of your strained liquid)
Crush the black currants in small batches in a food processor. You don’t want a purée, you just want to maim the currants and break the skins. Place the currants in a large (2+ quart capacity) glass jar with the vodka. Seal the jar tightly. Shake it up and let sit in a cool, dark place for a month. When the infusion is ready, strain the liquid through a fine mesh sieve twice. Weigh the liquid.
To make black currant liqueur: Multiply the weight of your liquid by 20% to get the weight of sugar you need to add to the liquid. [In math speak... weight of liquid = L, weight of sugar = 0.2 x L]. Stir the sugar into the infusion until it is dissolved. Makes about 2 quarts (probably less).
To make crème de cassis: Multiply the weight of your liquid by 45% to get the weight of sugar you need to add to the liquid. [Weight of liquid = L, weight of sugar = 0.45 x L]. Stir the sugar into the infusion until it is dissolved. Makes just over 2 quarts.

We also do blackberry brandy. Fill a jar half to two thirds full with large ripe blackberries. Fill to the top with not expensive brandy. Leave for a month at least maybe giving it at bit of a shake occasionally just to annoy it. Strain into an empty expensive brandy bottle and drink at will. (The strained off blackberries make very good jam.)

We have 13 x 1 1/2 or 2l Kilner jars of sloe/bullace plum/gage gin currently steeping in our garage at the moment !! When she heard, DD3 expressed relief and said they'd come to us for Christmas after all now. Best gin was from Aldi, around £9 a bottle - we bought one case of 12 and another 8 bottles I think. Cashier didn't bat an eyelid either! Ideally you should wait for the first frost before picking the sloes, but if you do th at other people get in first, so we picked ours a week or so ago and put them in the freezer overnight.

AKA- any chance of your receipe for homemade cassis please.

I reckon half a pound of sloes and half a pound of sugar to a bottle of gin. You can use vodka instead Gin/vodka taste/quality is not important as the sloes and sugar disguise it, so it can be the cheapest brand in the supermarket,

As commented on sloes are not berries, but very small very dark bluey purple plums which have a beautiful bloom on them when ripe.

Kiora If you're going to make sloe gin for the festive season, you need to get a move on because it needs to steep for 3 months.

Rinse 350 g sloes and prick them all over with a wooden cocktail stick. Pack them into a sterilized preserving jar, sprinkling each layer with caster sugar; you'll need about 175 g. Pour in 700 ml gin and seal the jar. Store in a cool, dark place, occasionally shaking the jar, for 3 months.

Strain the gin into a jug and discard the contents of the strainer. Pour the gin into a sterilized bottle, seal and label. It is ready for drinking but may also be stored for up to 1 year.

Then filter it before bottling.

Kiora, prick the sloes with a darning needle, it helps to have a glass or 2 of blackberry wine while you are doing this. Cover the sloes with sugar in a jar or bottle, top up the jar or demijohn with gin, put a cork in, then shake it well every week.

You could try damsons instead of sloes. Damson gin for Christmas?

images of sloes

You won't be able to say that again Kiora

I love sloe gin wish I knew how to make it. I know it's suppose to be easy but I'm a city girl and don't know what sloes look like and I'd pick a poison berry and poison myself

Home made creme de cassis. It's good for you as made from my own organic blackcurrants. Don't know the strength but the vodka was 40%