The Cottage Smallholder

Hanna

Hope this helps.

     I pick my sloes when you can eat them and they are sweet. Where I stay this is around Dec/Jan. Trouble is there is a thin red line between them being sweet and all falling of the trees. I make my gin in Demijohns and I never sterilise them or use any kind of tablets etc. If its a previous Demi I just wash it out with tap water and start again. When you pick Sloes that late within 1hr of shaking the Demi to dissolve the sugar it will go a lovely ruby red. I put my Demis in the loft for one year where there is no light. After 1 year I filter them twice through fine coffee filters,this takes quite a long time. I then wash the demi and put the gin back and store in the loft for another two years before drinking.Ive Sloe gin at 5/7yrs old crystal clear,Ive an 8yr old Blueberry the same, Raspberry,Blackberry,Damson,gooseberry, Sloe-sherry, plum all clear. In the early days it was the done thing not to filter it and leave the fruit in I found that after a certain time it turned brown and the taste wasnt so good. Subjecting it to sunlight or bright light it tended to lose its rich colour. Anyhow as you probably know dont throw the sloes away,chopped up and added to chocolate you get liquer chocolate, you can add the fruit to Trifles and puddings and one of my favourites add two bottles of med dry sherry shake every day for a week and store for two months and filter twice and you get Sloe sherry

Cheers Bill

Hannah

          There is no bad Sloe Gin it just tastes different!

I would guess that your slightly brown colour was down to oxidation rather than anything else and maybe starting to taste like sherry. Some more key facts below might help a little more.

Pick your sloes as late as you can (first frost is a myth).

Pick twice as much as you need and freeze ( some years you dont get any at all).

I use Demijohns but any bottle or jar will do as long as you can get the sloes out.

You dont need to sterilize as your not making wine or beer (another myth)

Take the sloes out the freezer and most will burst as they thaw and will let out some juice,as you are putting them in the bottle and if you have picked them late a sqeeze between your fingers will burst them.

A friend of mine puts them in a tray and rolls a cheese grater over them before bottling.

Store in a dark place and dont open until filtering

Decant after 6mths ( I leave mine 1yr for Sloes or Damsons )

I syphon off down to fruit level then pour the rest through a strainer then the same liquid through the strainer lined with kitchen roll and then all the liquid through coffee filters twice.( takes a long time)

I put the gin back in the same bottle and store in a dark place for 2yrs.

After 3yrs I pour into a nice decanter put in my lounge and drink when I feel like it. 

On the Sloe front Ive access to hundreds of bushes and the best ones I know are 2/3 miles in a 4x4 up dirt tracks and these ones are the best as no one goes there. but even so some years there are none. I believe you can buy them on the web but I dont know where.

Sumprat

          Have you a good recipy for smoking Garlic?