Sloe and Bramley Apple Jelly Recipe
Comments(97)
This teeny jar of Sloe and Bramley Apple Jelly is the last one left in our larder, vintage September 2005. The jar is 1½ inches high and the ladle is in fact a mustard spoon. We ran up some individual portion pots for a friend of ours, as a joke. This one must have got left behind. She had made the mistake of leaving a large jar of our Sloe and Bramley Apple Jelly on the table, when she gave her husband Newmarket sausages for supper and he polished off most of it in one sitting.
This recipe makes a good raunchy jelly to eat with red meat, game and strong cheese. It’s also great as a sauce base for red meat, such as lamb chops. Danny usually adds a generous dollop to his pheasant casserole and dinky individual game pies, rather than adding a slug of port or sloe gin. As Sloe and Bramley Jelly has a good, strong depth of flavour it is definitely worth making a decent batch for your store cupboard. We use a bit more sugar than the usual 1pt/1lb ratio with this jelly and this seems to work well as we always use cooking apples.
Ingredients:
- 1½ lb/700g sloes, washed
- 1½ lb/700g of bramley cooking apples (ideal) or any other cooking apples. We use windfalls as they won’t keep.
- Sugar (1pt/750ml of strained juice to 1½ lb/700g of white granulated sugar, if using cooking apples. 1pt/750ml of strained juice to 1lb/454g if using sweet eating apples).
Method:
- Wash the apples, cut out bad bits and chop roughly. There is no need to peel or core the apples.
Place sloes and apples in a large deep heavy bottomed saucepan, or preserving pan. - Add water to cover ½ of the fruit. Bring slowly to the boil and simmer very gently until all the fruit is soft and squishy. (This can take anything from 20 minutes to an hour, depending on how ripe the fruit is.)
- Pour the cooked fruit through sterilised muslin (how do I sterilise muslin? See tips and tricks below). The muslin is often referred to as a “jelly bag”. We use tall buckets to catch the drips from the jelly bags. Rather than hang the bags (conventional method-between two stools) I find it easier to line a large plastic sieve with the muslin. This clips neatly onto the top of a clean bucket. The sieve is covered with a clean tea cloth to protect against flies.
- Leave the jelly bag to drip overnight (or about 12 hours).
- Measure the juice the next day.
- Pour the juice into a deep heavy bottomed saucepan and add 1½ lb/700g of white granulated sugar for each 1pt/570ml of juice.
Heat the juice and sugar gently stirring from time to time, so as to make sure that that all the sugar has dissolved before bringing the liquid slowly to the boil. - Continue to boil for about 10 minutes before testing for a set. This is called a rolling boil. (What is testing for a set? See tips and tricks below).
- Tossing in a nugget of butter towards the end will reduce the frothing that can occur.
When jelly has reached setting point pour into warm sterilised jars using a funnel and ladle. (How do I sterilise jars? See tips and tricks below). - Cover immediately with plastic lined screw top lids or waxed disks and cellophane tops secured with a rubber band.
- Label when cold and store in a cool, dark place. Away from damp.
Tips and tricks:
- What is a jelly bag?
A jelly bag is traditionally a piece of muslin but it can be cheesecloth, an old thin tea cloth or even a pillowcase. The piece needs to be about 18 inches square. When your fruit is cooked and ready to be put in the jelly bag, lay your cloth over a large bowl. Pour the fruit into the centre of the cloth and tie the four corners together so that they can be slung on a stick to drip over the bowl. Traditionally a stool is turned upside down, the stick is rested on the wood between the legs and the jelly bag hangs over the bowl. We experimented and now line a sieve with muslin, place it over a bucket and cover the lot with clean tea cloths (against the flies). - How do I sterilise muslin/the jelly bag?
Iron the clean jelly bag with a hot iron. This method will also sterilise tea cloths. - Jam “set” or “setting point”?
Getting the right set can be tricky. I have tried using a jam thermometer but find it easier to use the following method.
Before you start to make the jam, put a couple of plates in the fridge so that the warm jam can be drizzled onto a cold plate (when we make jam we often forget to return the plate to the fridge between tests, using two plates means that you have a spare cold plate). Return the plate to the fridge to cool for approx two minutes. It has set when you run your finger through it and leave a crinkly track mark. If after two minutes the cooled jam is too liquid, continue to boil the jam, testing it every few minutes until you have the right set. The jam is far more delicious if it is slightly runny. - How do I sterilise the jars?
We collect jars all year round for our jelly, chutney and jam making sessions. I try to soak off labels and store the clean jars and metal plastic coated screw-top lids in an accessible place. The sterilising method that we use is simple. Just before making the jam, I quickly wash and rinse the jars and place them upside down in a cold oven. Set the temperature to 160c/140c for fan assisted. When the oven has reached the right temperature I turn off the heat. The jars will stay warm for quite a while. I only use plastic lined lids for preserves as the all-metal lids can go rusty. I boil these for five minutes in water to sterilise them. If I use Le Parfait jars, I do the same with the rubber rings.
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hi
your resipie looks great i have mixed sloes and blackberries and hope this will be fine, i did not have apples. I will use presirving sugar for the pectine, i have 7 pints of juice but only strained the sloes through a sive and the blackberries through a stocking (new knee high) i wonder if it would be nescesarry to strain throug a muslin cloth as well?
Hi,
Sounds great. I have just made a batch of apple and bramble jelly today. I was wondering do you mash the softened fruit before you put it in the muslin bag to drip? I did.
I also used “sure-set” sugar (which has added pectin) I wonder does this make it set a little too firmly?
Best wishes.
Irene, Co. Down.
Hi Beatrice,
The stocking will be fine. I have seen people straining through old pillowcases in the past. The point about the muslin is that it does not soak up too much of the precious juice.
Hi Irene,
I don’t mash the softened fruit before it goes into the muslin bag and I never squeeze the bag at the end of the dripping process as this can make the jelly cloudy.
There is no need to use sugar with added pectin. There is enough pectin in the fruit to make a good set using ordinary sugar. Also I have found that often preserving sugar gives the jelly a strange artificial taste.
If the jelly is too firm this is down to a combination of using preserving sugar and boiling for too long.
I’ve just made 4lbs of Apple, Rosehip, Blackberry and Sloe jelly!! I had lots of little Lord Lamborn windfalls and couldn’t find enough of any of the other fruits on their own, however I managed to find enough as a combination.
Anyway I shall have to cook a roast at the week-end to sample the jelly. The scrapings from the pan, after I had finished bottling etc, were really delicious.
Thank heavens for Cottage Smallholders!
Tomorrow I am going to make Quince Jelly – any tips??
LizO
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Hi LizO,
Good to hear that your jelly turned out well.
I have no specific tips for quince jelly up may sleeve. Quince jelly is my all time favourite. Ours are not quite ready yet.
I made your blackberry and apple jelly last year (delicious) and have just made another batch this morning. Now I’m going to try the sloe and apple jelly. Could you also eat it as a jam, on toast, etc, or is it best on savoury things?
Hi – I’m a beginner so forgive me! I want to make some sloe gin and can’t find a picture of sloe anywhere to help me identify what I’m supposed to be picking…. can you help?
Hi Helen,
Sloe and bramley jelly is quite a strong taste. We eat it with game and sausages. It’s good with cheese as well. You cold eat it on toast if you like the flavour but it’s not sweet like jam.
Hi Steve, You can see sloes here http://rxwildlife.org.uk/2006/08/17/blue-sloe-berries/
Have just made Hedgerow Jelly – sloes, rosehips, bullace and blackberries – it seems cloudy but I definitely didn’t mash it or push it through the jelly bag1
Hi Rosie,
Sometimes jelly gets a bit clearer when it has settled for a bit. I haven’t had a problem with cloudy jelly yet so don’t know what to suggest.
Someone that I know makes lots of quince jelly and always squeezes the jelly bag and his jelly is always clear.
I have never used rosehips before – but would love to give it a go. Do I just throw them in whole – or do I need to prepare them in any way first?
Thanks, Harriet
Hi Harriet,
Rosehips are well worth making into jelly. Our recipe for rosehip jelly is here http://www.cottagesmallholder.com/?p=60
There is no need to prepare them as they are strained through a jelly bag.
If you want to make rosehip syrup, it’s a slightly different story. The rosehips need to be minced. Our rosehip syrup recipe is here http://www.cottagesmallholder.com/?p=121
I’d love to hear how you get on!
I’ve never used rosehips before either. Can I just use any old ones from the garden or are there specific varieties which are good for cooking?
Hi Annie,
I use rosehips from the garden and hedgerows. I am not aware that there are varieties that are especially good for cooking.
I am presently making sloe gin. When I have strained off and bottled the liquid, could I use the leftover sloes for jelly? I had a pound of them, so would add a pound of apples I guess. It seems a waste to throw the gin-infused sloes away. If not jelly, any other suggestions?
Thanks
Hi Shelagh,
I haven’t tried using the gin soaked sloes for jelly so I don’t know what it would taste like. Perhaps someone out there does?
I usually use the sloes to make sloe sherry. Our recipe is here http://www.cottagesmallholder.com/?p=104.
It would be worth reading the comments on our sloe gin posts as they are full of ideas for using the sloes. Use the search facility on the site to locate the posts.
Hello, I’m trying to make quince jelly, I’ve chopped and simmered the fruit for a couple of hours but when I try to strain it through a jelly bag (or tea-towel) it stops filtering through.
I’ve already discarded the fruit pulp, this is just the liquid. 14 hours later and I’ve got about a tea-cup, it’s as if the juice is too viscous and is clogging the material. Any ideas?
Hi Steve B
It sounds like you needed more water when simmering the fruit. Try simmering again with more water for another hour or so.
A tea towel should work although muslin is the better option. Don’t discard the fruit pulp before straining. We have a good recipe for quince jelly here http://www.cottagesmallholder.com/?p=102
Thanks for that, I’ve just re-read the recipe and I was short by about 3 pints! As a word of advice to others, don’t get distracted while heating up the liquid, when it boils over it goes a very long way and takes quite a long time to clean up!
Starting again now.
Steve B, if it is any consolation my first ever batch of Quince jelly went wrong in a similar fashion too!
It is worth persevering! My tip would be to pop the lid on the pan and simmer it very slowly, I took mine off the heat several times as it carried on cooking with the heat from the pan. This way you shouldn’t loose too much liquid, but if the level does drop considerably add more water and turn the heat down to lessen the evaporation.
Good luck!
Hi all
Going to try using my sloe gin berries with some bramleys from the market to see if I can make a decent jelly
All in the name of science!!
Wish me luck
Hi Steve B
I hope that you had better luck this time. I’d love to hear how you get on. Mildred is right about the lid and very gentle simmering you also need to bring it to simmering point uite gently too.
Hi Mildred
Thanks for the suggestions!
Hi Patrick,
I would be very interested to hear what the jelly tates like!
Morning
Just finished the sloe gin and brambley jelly, think it maybe too sweet, possibly from all the sugar in with the sloes during Gin Flavouring – will update when cold and served! I have more left so will poss try again with about half the sugar content
Patrick
Hi Patrick,
You could always try boiling up your too sweet jelly again and adding some lemon juice.
Quite often I taste the fruit juice as it is heating up before I add the sugar. A little fresh lemon juice (sieved) can also develop the flavour of the fruit juice and also will help with the setting if you cut down on the sugar.
Well, I finally got it into jars! The juice was still very viscous, I had to use brute force to get it through the jelly bag. I wonder if I heated it up too much in the initial stages and it was starting to thicken? Anyway it looks beautiful but tastes more of sugar than anything else, I think I’ll take the advice you’ve given to Patrick and reboil it with some lemon juice. Meanwhile quince brandy making awaits!
Hello Steve B
It sound as if your juice was still to thick. Quinces need a long simmer bubbles just brushing the surface intermittently with the lid on and ots of checking and adjusting. Ideally the juice is thicker than water but thinner than single cream. Danny admires you for having a go! He’d never have the patience.
My first jelly just tasted of sugar then a ‘Jelly Making Demi God’ gave me two tips. Always taste the fruit juice before adding the sugar and add a tblsp of fresh lemon juice if you think the fruit juice tastes bland. You don’t need a pint to a pound of sugar. Quince jelly will set with much less, taste as you add the sugar and when you reckon that it ‘tastes right’ bring the solution to the boil.
Hi there
I am about to make some crabapple jelly again this year and wondered if you had and recipe ideas or suggestions for the fruit pulp that will get left over, it seems such a shame to bin it.
I have found a couple of chutney recipes, but I am not too sure how the jelly making process might affect the chutney.
Waste not want not and so on.
Any help or ides gratefully received
Lou
Hi Lou
You can make fruit leathers and fruit cheese. Membrillo is a sort of fruit cheese.
Thanks, How would you use a fruit cheese then? That’s soooo naive isn’t it? I know you can use it with cheeses, but other than that I’m stumped, oooh it’s exciting though.
Lou x x x
Hi, Please can you let me know where I can buy sloes from ?????
Hi Louisa
You eat fruit cheese with cold meat or cheese. Delicious.
Hi Julie
Sometimes you can buy them in London. Generally you have to pick them yourself!
What a fantastic site!I was just looking for ways to use my glut of cooking apples and have found so much exciting info . I shall now be searching the hedgerows for sloes;rosehips and blackberries to use with my apples.
Does anyone know of an easy way to remove labels from jam jars?Just soaking never seems to work for me.
Hello June
Glad that you are enjoying the site!
White spirit or petrol (lighter fuel) easily removes labels and sticky residue.
Hi Louisa, any idea where in London you can buy them, thanks Julie
Hi Julie
When I heard about this phenomenon, it was Waitrose that was selling them. It might be worth giving them a buzz to find out if they will be selling them this year. As far as I remember they were on sale in early October.
To get any bits of sticky labels and residue off that are left on jars after soaking, smear in peanut butter and leave for a while before washing off with hot water and washing up liquid. I was cynical when my hubby told me this but it really works!
Love the website. But can you tell me if I can use eating apples, as this is all I have in my garden?
Hi Vikki
That’s a great tip. Thanks.
Hello Jude
Yes you can. It wouldn’t be quite as punchy. I’d add some fresh lemon juice at the fruit simmering stage to enhance the apple flavour.
HELP! Am making the sloe and apple jelly and have just started the straining process but my liquid is cloudy and dull looking. Will it really turn out to look like the jelly in your photo? Am hoping that it will somehow go clear tomorrow when I add the sugar. Want to enter a produce show with it on Saturday so there is 25p first prize at stake here.
Some-one please reassure me or should I throw the lot onto the compost heap?
Sharon
Sharon
Don’t worry. The juice always looks a bit cloudy but when you add the sugar it goes clear
Hi – it worked, clear and jewel like jelly all potted up (and now I think I am addicted to making jelly, second lot, apple and rosemary, currently on the go).
Another question though – do I use wax discs as I would with jam – am using re-cyled jars with lids? Also, when making jam, do I need to use waxed discs if potting up into kilner jars?
Sharon
Hi Sharon
I don’t really know the ins and outs of using waxed disks. I use them for jam – with cellophane lids but not for jelly whether using cellophane or proper lids.
I’ve never put jam in a kilner jar but if I did I wouldn’t use waxed disks. I’m sure that you can find out on the internet if there’s a proper way of using/not using them.
Just made first ever batch of sloe and bramley jelly. absolutely lovely. thanks cottage smallholder for fantastic site.
question: i think i’ve boiled it too far and now its very sticky and thick. could i reheat it and add a bit more fluid to make it more jelly like?
any suggestions?
Hi Sara
I’ve an article here that will help you
http://www.cottagesmallholder.com/jelly-set-too-hard-514
I came on to ask whether I should worry that the liquid currently straining is opaque, but I have found the answer above – hopefully it will sort itself out tomorrow then.
Just getting things together to make this jelly and was wondering how much the recipe makes, i.e. how many jam jars do i need, I mainly have 8oz jars (225g). Hope someone can help.
I’ve made 3 batches of this jelly so far and it’s absolutely delicious. I have tended to use jam sugar (with added pectin) and a glug of port each time with wonderful results. In addition, I have used kilner jars and screw tops (with neither celophane or waxed discs). One added tip – strain through a square of muslin and a sieve; once the bulk of the juice has strained through, tie 2 corners together, making a sort of sling, then feed the handles of 2 wooden spoons through each hole created by the ties. Twist in opposite directions like a tourniquet and wring out more juice. More effective than waiting in terms of both time and quantity. Enjoy!
Hi all,
My attempt at sloe and bramley jelly using gin sloes is a disaster! Where do I start?!
Its a sort of dusky pink colour rather than red, has tiny bubbles right through it (only had margarine and not sure if that works with froth clearing the same as butter so I didn’t use it) and I have produced less than half a jam jar full!
The apples simmered until they were virtually pureed but the sloes didn’t squidge down at all. I wonder if the colour from the sloes all went into the gin hence the pale jelly? I also squeezed the pulp (should have read all the past comments first). I have a large jam pan and added water to cover half the fruit as stated, then topped it up as it evaporated.
Does anyone please have any tips? Or should I accept the fact that I am not a natural jam/jelly producer!
Hi
It sounds as though you have re-used sloes AFTER making sloe gin. That’s not the way, although would account for the pale colour. The sloes for the jelly must be fresh. In addition, there should be no need to top up the water as it evaporates because it shouldn’t SIMMER (no need to boil the guts out of it)for longer than an hour for the fruit softening part, although in practice I have always found about 1/2 an hour is enough. I also give the fruit a good stir AND have even taken the masher to it to get as much as possible from it. It doesn’t matter how much you bash the fruit around whilst it is cooking as it’s going to be strained anyway.
Once the fruit has been strained and the sugar then added to the juice, the resultant mixture should be roll-boiled without further additions of water, although as I have said, I have added a glug of port to mine which helps to bring out the other flavours. Again, this should take too long (if you ue jam sugar with the added pectin) – 20 mins or so before setting occurs.
Sorry, but I think you’re missing something but without popping over (wherever you are) to do it with you, it’s difficult to know how else to help.
Thanks for all that Steve. I did use the sloes from my gin (had read on this site somewhere that you can recycle the gin soaked sloes). I think maybe I didn’t lower the heat enough either. My sloes would squish but only with a fair amount of pressure on them. The jelly I made has set but has no real taste, just sweet really. I hate the thought of wasting all those boozy sloes but this definately wasn’t a success! Maybe I will give it a go again using half the suggested fruit amount (save waste if I am not successful again). Please would you tell me how much water you add?
Many thanks for the advice,
Amanda
Hi Amanda
The colour for the jelly comes from the sloe skins, not the flesh, and the alcohol would have bleached out most of the colour into the gin to give it it’s owm rich dark colour. In addition, if you pricked them all individually, most of the fruit juice should have leached out into the gin as well.
I follow the recipe, apart from the alterations I have already mentioned (mashing, wringing, glug of port etc) although I probably use a bit more water than the recipe states, but not enough to completely cover the ingredients.
Also – whereabouts in the country are you (assuming it’s the UK) and when did you pick your sloes? That’s quite important too.
Hi Amanda
You can used gin soaked sloes in sherry/cider/chocolate but not for this particular jelly. Don’t try again as it won’t work.
You should have got more than half a jar too! Did you simmer or boil the fruit?
Hi Steve
Thanks for all your help!
Hi – no problem.
I love this recipe. As I have said, I have done 3 lots this year due to exclusive access to a fine sloe crop. I have given most of it away, but still kept a healthy number of jars for myself.
I wish there was something else I could do with the sloes other than the sloe gin or this jelly, although will continue to do both in the future. Are you aware of any other recipes I could try? I have searched the internet for alternatives but have been unable to find any.
Hi Steve
You have set the clarion call for more sloe recipes. I have some in the freezer so I’ll try and come up with a new recipe in the next 2 weeks or so.
Meanwhile I much prefer sloe vodka – a cleaner, clearer drink in all departments. Doesn’t last long in the cottage!
Hi Steve and Fiona. Many thanks for all your advice.
The sloes were from a very early batch (the first I have made so a steep learning curve). I live in the UK on the East Coast and I picked them at the end of August. This batch I did prick but following batches I just open froze first (far less work!).
I think I probably had them on too high a heat…I kept turning it up to try and get them to soften enough.
I also think, in hindsight and after reading the sloe gin comments on this site, I picked the sloes too early as well. Obviously weren’t as fleshy as they should have been.
On the plus side my sloe gin from them tastes delicious so not all was wasted.
Thanks again for all your advice. I will bide my time until next autumn and try the recipe with freshly gathered sloes.
Hi Amanda
I too live close to the East Coast – in Essex, actually, near Colchester. The sloes I picked weren’t picked until mid and late November.
There is a saying that Sloes should not be picked until the first frosts have hit them – and I deduce that you are alluding to that in your remarks about freezing them. This country saying is actually a myth in the literal sense; the best time for picking sloes is less to do with the freezing of the fruit and more to do with the fact that sloes don’t ripen properly until quite late in the year. Now that our climate has gotten so mild in Autumn (although you wouldn’t think it had, based on recent events) I reckon that a better guide is not to pick them until all the leaves have gone from the bushes. This has the added benefit of making them much easier to pick as they can be seen more easily.
I can only conclude that the sloes you picked weren’t ripe – that’s why they didn’t soften. In addition, it’s not the freezing of them that causes them to let go their juice in sloe gin – it’s the fact that they have to be labouriously pricked individually; there is no short cut to that.
If you leave your sloe harvesting until much later next year, you’ll find that they will be bigger and juicier and will make even better sloe gin – and you’ll have more success with your jelly! God luck,
Thanks Steve, I have learnt so much from all the advice on this site thanks to knowledgable people like your good self!
Just need to wait until next autumn and I will bear in mind the tip about the sloe leaves before picking them. I really appreciate all your sound advice, hopefully I will be back in a few months saying my sloe jelly is a roaring success!
Pricking sloes is just another rural myth. The juices are drawn out by osmosis, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osmosis. The skin is a semi permeable membrane and the juice moves across it into the alcohol/sugar solution to equalise the concentration on either side of the membrane. Besides if you pull the stalk out there is a hole in the end anyway.
If you don’t beleive the theory I did a test a couple of years ago, one bottle of pricked sloes, one unpricked, and there wasn’t any difference.
I make sloe chocolates with my used sloes, melt some chocolate, add stoned chopped sloes, roll into balls and chill in the fridge. Melt some more chocolate, dip the balls in and return to the fridge to harden. The second stage is necessary as the sloe chocolate mix won’t “set” due to the liquid content of the sloes. This gives you a melt in the mouth not the hand coating with a soft center.
I use an olive stonner to stone the sloes (bought on e-bay), but have realised that I am actually picking bullaces not sloes, they are a bit bigger and ripen earlier and are just the right size for the olive stoner. We had a weekend in the Cotswolds last autumn and picked enough to fill two demijohns, hence I am looking for more ways of using used sloes/bullaces!
Hello David
Thanks so mujch for dropping by and leaving all these handy tips. Our local supply of bullaces has run dry
Love the idea of the chocs!
I’ve had a disaster with apple jelly. My first lot was syrup, my second lot was toffee. (The first time I cooked it at a gently rolling boil for 10 minutes; the second time I boiled the xxxx off it for 15 minutes. What is the perfect type of boil, and time of boiling?
Hi Derek
You need a rolling boil for jelly – lots of tiny bubbles rising above the juice and sugar.
The boiling reduces the water content – so if you have very thick juice the set will be quick and if you have fruit juice made with a lot of water the set will take longer to come. I have had jelly reach setting point in 3 minutes and also have waited 45 minutes for a set. Since I bought a steam juice extractor http://www.cottagesmallholder.com/fruit-steamers-are-a-brilliant-addition-to-any-busy-kitchen-3529 things have been more consistent – jelly reaches setting point in 10 – 15 minutes.
I am surprised that no one has promoted the Meyu-maija system for jelly making. It makes the messy system of jelly bags redundant.
Lakeland did sell them but under another name. Otherwise try the Internet for this product.
I am just about to make damson jelly and the whole process will take me little more than two hours.
Hi Ron
Yes we have! The article is here http://www.cottagesmallholder.com/fruit-steamers-are-a-brilliant-addition-to-any-busy-kitchen-3529 and you introduced us to them
Do you think Damsons would work instead of sloes in this recipe?
I have about 1.5lbs of damsons left over from making Damson Jam, and lots of windfall apples..
Thoughts?
Hi Zoe
Yes I think that they would be fine. You may need to adjust the sugar slightly.
What is this Meyu-maija method? The internet brings up no results, except for this mention.
Thanks for the reply… pleased to tell you it worked out fine.
Used 1.5lbs of damsons, to 1.5lbs of Bramleys. Left it to strain overnight. This yielded 1.5 pints of juice. I tried the 1:1 ratio with sugar, but it was still very tart, so upped it to 2lbs of sugar for the 1.5 pints and this tasted good!
Now have 3 very fine looking 13oz jars of Damson and Apple Jelly.
Many thanks for the help!
Zoë
Hi Derek
I forgot to put in the link to my response to Ron – it’s here http://www.cottagesmallholder.com/fruit-steamers-are-a-brilliant-addition-to-any-busy-kitchen-3529 these steamers are great if you are processing lots of fruit to make into jellie or cordials etc. Also good for cooking chicken (and great stock)
Hi Zoe
Great to hear that it was a success!
Thankyou so much for this beautiful recipe.
I have used it 2 years in a row now and it has proved to be a very useful bartering tool to exchange for damsons and plums.
Just in case anyone else comes looking for advice on this point, this year my sloes were picked a little earlier so not as ripe as usual. When I collected the juice the next day it was cloudy and had a heavy layer of what appeared to be starch at the bottom of the bowl. Please be reassured, it does still set perfectly and becomes clear following boiling. The taste is slightly more tart but its still very good.
I have just made a batch of this jelly, and it is really delicious. I actually wanted to make Rosehip and Apple jelly, but had a ‘blond/grey’ moment and bought bramleys by mistake! Also could only find rosehips locally in a neighbour’s garden on one plant, whilst my local park has enough sloes to feed the whole area! Was not sure what to expect, but it was really delicious and perfect consistency. I usually make blackberry jelly and this is similarly rich, but cannot truthfully say I will not be able to scrape it on toast at some point!!
[...] time to mature… If you’re keen to try a non-booze-related recipe with your sloes, this sloe and bramley apple jelly looks divine – one to try next year, [...]
This recipe is awesome. I used sloes drained from my sloe gin to make a slightly sweeter version – great on toast and in the middle of a sponge
[...] that much gin! But I might take him up on the offer of the recipe. Then there’s the sloes that should be picked after the first frost but thanks to our strange weather this year, the fruit [...]
I left my sloes in the muslin overnight and have some juice and a sediment in the bottom – do in incorporate the sediment or just use the clear juice?
Hi Sharon
Just use the clear juice. BTW if your juice looks cloudy it will go clear when you add the sugar.
[...] had about 500 grams of sloes left, so I used them to make this sloe gin and apple jelly recipe, which I think will be delicious with turkey and make a nice change to cranberry jelly, and [...]
I have made sloe gin many times and found a recipe for sloe gin duck by the Two Fat Ladies to use the sloes left after straining.I would highly recommend this recipe its delicious.
I picked 10.5 lbs of sloes on Saturday. Some of them will be combined with various forms of alcohol (gin, whiskey, vodka) in the time-honoured tradition and some will be used to make jelly, as I have done for the past 3 years – it’s very popular with family and friends as I give most of it away.
I will also make more jelly with the alcohol-soaked sloes when I have decantered off said gin, whiskey and vodka as I have previously discarded this “mess”.
However, I have experimented (I believe successfully) with Sloe and Bramley Apple JAM, with the following recipe:
1 lb sloes (unstoned weight)
2 large Bramley Apples
1 Orange
1 Lemon (juiced)
2.2 lb Jam Sugar (with Pectin included) or
2.2 lb Granulated Sugar and 1/2 bottle of Certo.
700 ml water.
1. Stone the sloes. I used a cherry stoner, although the sloes are a little tougher.
2. Place the stoned sloes in a maslin pan, ready, and the stones in a separate (smaller) saucepan.
3. Add 200 ml of the water to the stones and boil until the flesh cooks soft and falls off the kernals.
4. In the meanwhile, peel, core and chop the apples quite finely. As you peel and chop etc, place the apples in a separate bowl of water with the lemon juice added to prevent browning.
5. When all the apple is ready, drain them off and add them to the sloes, adding the remaining water, bring the mixture to a boil and simmer until soft, stirring occasionally.
6. Drain the boiled sloe pips into the mixture through a metal seive, and rough them up a bit with the back of a wooden spoon to push through as much of the residuary flesh as possible (don’t forget the underside of the seive).Discard the pips.
7. Take as much of the zest off the orange as you can and add it to the mixture. Juice the orange and add the juice only to the mixture.
8. When all the fruit is soft, add the sugar and stir until dissolved.
9. Bring to a rolling boil for a few minutes, stirring to prevent burning.
10. Remove from the heat and add the Certo (if you haven’t used Jam sugar). Stir in and roll boil for a few minutes longer.
11. Test for setting (you know the drill).
12. When ready, pour into sterilised jars and allow to cool.
Sloes are like cranberries, in that they do leave a bit of a dry after-taste, but this is a very rich jam, made all the nicer with the hint of orange. Try it! Another useful use for sloes, for which I have found very few other recipes.
One small thing about the above recipe. I forgot to say to add the orange zest to the mixture at the same time as the juice. I was trying to allude to NOT adding the pith of the orange after juicing takes place, but wandered off the subject of the actual zest.
Apologies!
Hi, we have just made two jars of sloe and apple jelly using your above recipe – It looks really lovely, but we haven’t tried any yet as it’s still cooling! I’ve noticed that some other recipes that I’ve found use lemon juice as an ingrediant, and I was wondering if you knew why this is or what difference it would make to the flavour?
Hi Elizabeth
Lemon juice contains loads of pectin so is often added to low pectin fruit jelly recipes to guarantee that they will set. Lemon is a flavour enhancer like salt and can be used instead of salt to enhance any recipe in the world – great for people with high blood pressure where salt might be unwelcome.
Sloe and apple jelly is very flavoursome so probably doesn’t need salt. If you do add it I’m sure we’d all appreciate reading your results!
Hi Elizabeth
I agree with everything Fiona says about flavour enhancement of both lemon juice and salt. However, I didn’t add either to the actual jam (and never have to the jelly either)- mainly because I don’t think it’s necessary in this case as sloes have enough flavour of their own. I added the orange to the jam, if anything to try and take down the flavour of the sloes and maybe just to add a little “something”. You can also add a glug of something alcoholic if you feel so inclined (as I have in the past) which has the same end; I would suggest Port, Whiskey or Brandy. I have certainly tried the former two. Just variations on a theme!
Steve
Made the sloe and apply jelly and it is beautiful. I used less sugar so a bit of the tartness of the sloes and apples still comes through. Also made the piquant apply and chilli jelly which is nice but doesn’t compete.
Really enjoy the site, thanks for the great recipes.
Hi Fiona and Steve,
Thanks very much for your comments (above) on lemon juice!
The sloe and apple jelly that my mom and I made was unfortunately a bit of a disaster!
, and although it did look lovely in the jars (as I mentioned before) – a lovely dark red colour, and completely clear – it turned out very firm and really sticky (a bit like toffee), and it tastes far too sweet – you can’t really taste the fruit at all, it just tastes of sugar! 
We started with 1½ lb of apples and 1½ lb of sloes. To begin with we tried to add just enough water to cover half the fruit, as instructed, but we needed to add quite a lot more during the simmering stage as it soon seemed to disappear – not sure whether we just hadn’t added enough initially, or whether we just simmered the fruit on too higher heat here!
I did taste the fruit juice before adding the sugar and it did taste quite bland and not very fruity, but having never made a jelly before, I thought maybe it’ll just have more flavour once we’ve added the sugar, and all turn out fine in the end, but unfortunately not!!
We used Cox’s eating apples from our garden. Although eating apples and not cookers, they seemed quite sour so we still added the 1½ lb of sugar to the 1 pint of juice that we’d made – but as the jelly turned out so sweet, perhaps we should have added less!?
We’re going to try again, as we still have quite a lot of sloes left in the freezer! If either of you, or anyone else, has any comments that might be of help for this next attempt, I’d be really grateful! Thanks
Hi Elizabeth
This is Fiona’s recipe really, but I would say that if you used Cox apples, then you put in too much sugar and almost certainly boiled the juice/sugar for too long. Did you use the “wrinkle test” for setting point? I only ever use Bramley apples – to my mind, the only cooking apple that should ever be used; the Bramleyhas no peer!
Another variation I have just tried is to add the flesh and juice of 2 oranges to the mix, but taking the zest off the oranges in thin slivers using a julien tool before adding the chopped up orange skins too. Hold the thin slivers of orange zest back until the juice has been extracted and add them at the same time as the sugar. Add half a glass of whiskey before testing for setting. Best version yet, I’d say.
Hi Steve,
Thanks for your reply. I think, yes, we did definitely add too much sugar, even though the apples tasted fairly sour. We did use the wrinkle test to see if the jelly had reached its setting point, but left it to boil for the full 10 minutes before testing it, so perhaps we should have checked it sooner! We’re going to use Bramley apples next time, so hopefully that will make a difference too!
The orange and whiskey variation sounds interesting – I think I’d better get the hang of the basic recipe first though, before I get to adventurous!
Hi Elizabeth
Interesting, as I have never had a batch reach setting point before the 10 minutes are up. Try adding a bit more water to start with, as you may be under-egging the “half cover the fruit with water” bit. That will only result in you having to take the mixture down a bit more (and probably for for longer than just 10 minutes) but if the result is better (i.e. you keep testing until setting point is just reached)then you won’t end up with such a hard jelly.
On the apples subject, although the Cox you tasted may have been a bit tart, try comparing that with a mouthful of Bramley – which I guarantee will result in your eyes slamming shut like clams. The Cox are still much sweeter.
Good luck.
Can anyone tell me when the best time to pick sloes are? I’ve just found a hedge near where we live but have never picked them (nor tasted) before.
I’ve made the apple and chilli jelly on here with great success and wanted to try this as I still have half a bag of cooking apples from my neighbours.
Hi Kerry
I find the best time to pick them is before anyone else has.
Seriously, there is a myth that you shouldn’t pick them until there has been a frost. However, I think this just relates to the time of year and that one would have expected there to have been frosts by now in “the olden days”. This also gives rise to the myth that they have to be put in the freezer before you can use them. Not true. (Another myth is that they have to be pricked to let out the juice – when they have perfectly acceptable hole where the stalk used to be).
Going back to pickng time, I prefer “when the leaves start to fall”. I picked mine in mid October. They have been fine – in fact, some of them were already looking a bit withered then.
Oh, by the way – I wouldn’t taste them on their own. They’re simply ghastly. But when juiced and combined with the apples and sugar to make the jelly (or you can make jam, but they have to be stoned, which isn’t easy) or sozzled with a variety of alcohols, they are one of nature’s gifts as are many things in the hedgerow (crabapples, hips, haws, bulaces, blackberries and elderberries to name but a few).
Thanks a bunch for that. I picked mine last weekend, we got well over 2kgs just off 2 small sections of hedge. Luckily we live in farmland and there is just so much around!!
I made 3 times the quantities here but didn’t put nearly as much sugar (I got 5,5litres of juice, but only put 4kgs of sugar) as I felt it was too sweet and all the jelly tasted of was sugar. I think it turned out well. Although it did take about 3 hours to reach setting point!
All very yummy though!
Hello all, I am making another batch of sloe and bramley apple jelly….last years tasted great but was very thick and rubbery, think I boiled to long! Just wondered if anyone had tried adding a slug of brandy to it to make it more ‘Christmassy’!
Would you add it with the sugar?
Any comments gratefully received….thank you!
Hi Amanda
If your jelly set too hard you can resolove the problem here’s how http://www.cottagesmallholder.com/jelly-set-too-hard-514. Brandy or port sounds like a good idea. Add just before you put it into jars so that it doesn’t evaporate during the cooking
Thanks Fiona. Think I will try stirring brandy in before I pot it. Any idea on brandy amount or just ‘to taste’.
This is such a brilliant site for help and advice .Thank you.
Hi Amanda
I’d use a couple of tablespoons of brandy if it was me!
Hi Amanda
I totally agree with Fiona’s advice on the timing of the brandy and the reason for it. However, the amount is a matter of taste and also it depends what amount you have made; I tend to do a double batch at a time. I would tend to put half a glass full in a double batch and even then it’s not that strong – but enough for you to know that it’s in there!
Thanks for the advice Steve and Fiona. I am a bit of a ‘more is always better’ kind of gal so will use half a glass of brandy and taste to check! Don’t want to put so much in it erodes tooth enamel on contact
!!
Been and bought some brandy this morning so will give it a go later this evening.
Thanks again for all your much needed advice.