Sloe Gin

I don't have any information or experience on this.
I hope to bump you up the forum in case someone else knows.

If you have a carving fork or similar large spiky fork, put the sloes in a bowl and just stab randomly into the heap. You will get several impaled on the fork. You can drop them into another bowl and make another stab into the heap. That is what I used to do.

The freezing overnight technique sounds as though it would work fine. I do that with marmalade oranges and then slice them before they are quite defrosted - he skins are partly softened and cook faster.

I make sloe gin every year and there's been a bumper crop of sloes this year. Like your friend, I freeze the sloes overnight - this breaks up the skins (otherwise you have to prick them, which is a long task). From last years experience, freezing the sloes doesn't make the gin cloudy, it just speeds up the process

We’ve made sloe gin by freezing berries first but didn’t bother to prick them. I think the freezing softens them enough and alcohol and sugar then extracts colour and flavor.

I have tried both methods and the gin will not be cloudy, but I did find that when I froze them last year instead of pricking them, in spite of straining them carefully, I seemed to get a slight layer of sediment. This year I have gone back to pricking them so we will see in a couple of months whether there is a difference. Winter is not winter without sloe gin!

Thank you all.

annsixty, I always freeze mine then defrost and squash a bit. Sloe gin is always fine.

You are very lucky to be able to get sloes this year. I gathered 4 oz in July and have seen none since. I usually pick several pounds and make up to six bottles of sloe gin every year, which gets handed out round the family. I am going to have to buy a bottle this year as present opening on Christmas day is not complete if not accompanied by a Sloe gin based champagne cocktail.

My damson tree died this spring so I couldn't even use them as a substitute , which is what I have done before.

What a pity I am not nearer, I have 3 and a half lbs and my friend has also used 3.
I have washed 2lbs so far.
Looking for a home for the rest.

We prick ours with a cocktail stick then use a pint of sloes to a pint of gin and just under a pint of sugar. Stick it all in a jar with a screw top lid and tip up and down regularly to dissolve the sugar.

Once the sugar has dissolved and the liquid is clear you can strain it into a bottle through a muslin.

We had plenty of sloes in the hedgerows this year but the were smaller than previous years.

Used to make it years ago but not found sloes since we moved house alas. Eventually I resorted to slitting them with kitchen scissors, just enough to pierce, found it quicker.

We always used a pound of sloes and only 4 ounces of sugar to each bottle of gin but everyone uses their own preferred quantities.

Don’t forget to swathe yourself in apron or other protection, I learned the hard way that sloe juice is hard to remove.