Two recipes: Wild Damson Gin and Sloe Gin recipes
Posted by Fiona Nevile in Liqueurs | 711 comments
Wild damsons are a beautiful rich dark colour
Unlike sloes, wild damsons are hard to find. For every thirty wild plum trees there may be just one wild damson tree. When I spot wild damsons in the hedgerows, they are harvested into a special bag.
These, and the diminutive bullace, are the kings of hedgerow fruit. These tiny fruit make such an irresistible liqueur that overnight guests have actually turned down Danny’s famous cooked breakfast, and gone back to bed to sleep off the excesses of the night before.
Our damson and sloe gin is not the thick ultra sweet variety. We prefer the sugar to enhance rather than shield the flavour. Every three months or so it’s sampled and, if necessary, topped up with sugar. Usually no extra sugar is needed.
We try to keep our damson and sloe gin well away from the drinks tray! Each year we make a lot of fruit gin and vodka (more recipes to follow, in time). Sloe gin is the big craze at the moment around here, as sloes are more plentiful.
Here are our recipes for both. We are also starting experimenting with sloe gin see this post for details
Tips and tricks:
- Make more than you need the first year, so you can compare different vintages. This liqueur does improve over time.
- Some people drain the grog through muslin after a couple of months, to clarify the liqueur and bottle. We don’t bother as one old soak tipped that, once the gin is drunk, you can pour medium sherry on the fruit and start all over again! The latter is devilish and drinkable within three months. We have a recipe for this in our wine and gin section.
- Keep your fruit gin away from the light as this will maintain the colour. Unless it is in a dark green or brown bottle. Wrapping it in brown parcel paper will keep out the light.
- Make notes on a label of your fruit gin/vodka /sugar ratio and stick it onto the bottle(s) so that you have a record, if you make a particularly good batch. We note our responses as the grog matures. Yucky after sixth months can be to die for in a year (you will probably not remember without notes). Notes seem boring when you are making the grog but they are so worthwhile when you start again the next year. It won’t be long before you will get a feel of what works well for your taste (and the notes will come into their own).
- Adding almond essence to sloe gin lifts it from good to great. I haven’t tried this with the damson gin but return in a years’ time for our review.
- Don’t kill the liqueur with too much sugar at the start. Use the amount above to start your sloe or damson gin and then every couple of months take a tiny sip. At this time add more sugar if it is too sharp for your taste.
- Gin v Vodka? Vodka can be used as the spirit for these recipes. Although I’m a vodka drinker, we tend to stick to a gin base for our fruit liqueurs.
- A good damson gin can be made from ordinary damsons available in the shops. As they are bigger you would need to put them into a larger Le Parfait jar (I’d use a 2 litre size).
- People have been picking sloes from September 1st around here. Some people say that you shouldn’t pick sloes until after the first frost. This can be circumvented by putting your sloes in the freezer overnight. We don’t bother with either method and always have great results.
- This year we have made up a number of small (1lb honey jars) of sloe gin to give as Christmas presents.
| Wild Damson Gin and sloe gin Recipes |
Recipe Type: Liqueurs
Prep time: 15 mins
Total time: 15 mins
Ingredients
- Wild damson gin:
- 1lb/454gm of washed wild damsons
- 6 ozs/168gm of white granulated sugar
- 75cl bottle of medium quality gin
- Sterilised 1 litre (at least) Le Parfait jar or wide necked bottle with stopper/cork
- Sloe Gin:
- 1lb/454gm of washed sloes
- 4 ozs/112gm of white granulated sugar
- 75cl bottle of medium quality gin
- Sterilised 1 litre (at least) Le Parfait jar or wide necked bottle
- 1-2 drops of almond essence
Instructions
- Wild damson gin:
- Wash damsons well and discard any bad or bruised fruit. Prick fruit several times with a fork and place damsons in either a large
- Kilner/Le Parfait jar or a wide necked 1 litre bottle.
- Using a funnel, add the sugar and top up with gin to the rim.
- Shake every day until the sugar is dissolved and then store in a cool, dark place until you can resist it no longer (leave for at least three months, we usually let it mature for a year). If you are planning to drink this after 3 months, have a nip afetr a month, and top up with sugar to taste.
- Some people strain the grog (through muslin/jelly bag) after 3 months and bottle it, leaving it mature for six months. We strain and bottle after a year. Don’t leave the straining process any longer than a year; leaving the fruit in too long can spoil the liqueur, as we found to our cost one year.
- Sloe gin:
- Wash sloes well and discard any bruised or rotten fruit. Prick fruit several times with a fork and place sloes in either a large Kilner/Le Parfait jar or a wide necked 1 litre bottle. I put several sloes in my palm to prick them rather than picking them up one by one.
- Using a funnel, add the sugar and top up with gin to the rim. Always open sugar bags over the sink as sugar tends to get caught in the folds at the top of the bag.
- Add the almond essence.
- Shake every day until the sugar is dissolved and then store in a cool, dark place until you can resist it no longer (leave for at least three months, we usually let it mature for a year).
- Some people strain the grog (through muslin/jelly bag) after 3 months and bottle it, leaving it mature for six months. We strain and bottle after a year.
Leave a reply
Yes, I’ve really enjoyed reading through this site. This year we moved to Shrewsbury and on my doorstep I found trees dripping with plums, damsons and sloes. Missed the boat this year for the plums, but I’ve now got 1.5l of sloe gin and damson gin. The damson I done in sept so will probably have this year. The sloe I’ll leave until next year. Here’s to more happy foraging 🙂
They say that sloes that have been soaked in gin can then be soaked in sherry and give off less flavour. I doubt sherry soaked sloes would produce sufficient taste to make sloe gin.
I stone my gin soaked sloes and use them with pears, apples, onions, dates, vinegar and spices to make sloe chutney – excellent with cheese. My mother also adds some to her mince meat with apple to enhance her mince pies. Stoning sloes is a job for a winter’s evening when the weather is fit for little else. It’s time consuming but relaxing.
If you have access to previously unused sloes, I strongly suggest you use them if you are making sloe gin, as the gin is a large investment if it doesn’t work.
Have fun.
I have some sloe’s previously soaked in sherry..can I use them again or should I start a new batch?
I also wandered into this fascinating site after havong been gived 5lb damsons by our neighbours. I started reading and was still reading an hour later.
I now have 2 litres Damson gin and 2 litres Damson vodka on the go. I’ll try half of each after 4 months, and then the rest I’ll strain after 9 months and try after a year. I might try to keep some vodka for two years.
I’d love to try sloes, but have no idea where to find them here on the North Lancashire coast.
We gathered 3 kilos of perfect chestnuts from a heath in Norfolk 2 weeks ago. We’ve shelled and frozen most them and might try to make sweet jam to use in cakes.
Love this site.
I think I must be very lazy. I make sloe gin, and bullace vodka every year, but I never prick the skins. My results are always a lovely dark colour and flavour. What benefits are there to pricking the skins that I’m missing ?
I was given a similar bag of damsons. I put them in a half gallon demijohn having pricked the skin nd added some sugar to bring out the juice and then put a bottle of gin on top.
It has gone a beautiful deep red and a quick taste was very favourable.
Dont add as much sugar as for sloe gin, especially if they are ripe, and the outcome will be similar.
Cardianl rule is you can always add more sugar later but you can’t take it out.
Good luck with it.
I have just been given a big bag of Damsons, they are quite ripe, is it too late to “do” anything with them? Gin, Brandy, Whiskey, Vodka? I have done some sloe gin and whiskey for the first time and am so looking forward to tasting it!!
I went to pick some more sloes and found them all dry and wizened, maybe not enough rain?? I will know where to go for next year!!
Thanks for any help.
Love this website, so much info.
I’ve just moved to Asturias in Spain and went out blackberry picking this morning, 2kg have been added to 5 litres of the local orujo (like Grappa) with a kilo of sugar, should be ready for a quick tipple for Christmas. If I can wait that long. I know sloes grow in the basque country as they make a great drink from sloes and anis, but not sure if I can find them here.
Rebecca, in the past I’ve used a wide-necked wine bottle (Californian plonk) with a double layer of clingfilm where the lid should be. It seemed to work; you may be able to use a similar technique to make yours sufficiently watertight when inverted.
I was just intending to spend a few minutes looking for recipes for sloe gin and seem to have spent over half an hour just reading this site! Interested to see that some people use plastic containers – we have loads of plastic milk bottles we save to make mini cloches, so I think I’ll sterilise some of those (sorry if anyone’s already suggested that.)