Sloe gin: pick after the frost, steep now, pour by Christmas
The blackthorn hedges are heavy with sloes. How to pick them safely, start a jar this weekend and what to pour once it is ready.
The blackthorn hedge at the bottom of my orchard looks dead from October onwards. No leaves, long thorns, nothing for the eye. Then you get close and it is hung with small blue-black fruit, dusty as a plum, and you remember why you planted it. Those are sloes, and this is the week to pick them.
Eat one raw and your mouth will dry up like a cellar floor. That harshness is exactly what makes them good in a bottle. Steeped in gin with sugar for a couple of months, sloes give a deep ruby liqueur that tastes of almond, plum and something wild. In Sweden they are slånbär and grow in hedges and woodland edges in the south of the country. Further east from me, in Parma and Piacenza, families steep the same fruit in alcohol to make bargnolino. The British version, sloe gin, is the easiest place to start.
Picking sloes safely
Only pick what you can identify with certainty. Blackthorn is a dense, very thorny shrub that flowers white in early spring before its leaves appear. The fruit is round, about 1 to 1.5 cm across, blue-black with a pale waxy bloom, with firm green flesh and a single stone. Do not confuse it with buckthorn, which has black berries without the bloom and several small seeds inside; those berries are poisonous. If a fruit has more than one seed, leave it.
- When: after the first frost softens them, usually late October to November. The fruit should give slightly when squeezed.
- Where: away from busy roads and sprayed field edges. Wear gloves and long sleeves; blackthorn scratches can become infected, so clean any you get.
- How much: 500 g is enough for one 70 cl bottle of gin. Take a share and leave plenty for the birds.
The method
Wash the sloes, pull off the stalks and throw away any split or mouldy ones. Old recipes tell you to prick every one with a silver fork. Freezing does the same job in a fraction of the time: a night in the freezer splits the skins, and if you have picked before a frost it stands in for one.
- Sloes: 500 g, frozen overnight.
- Sugar: 150 to 250 g. Start at 150 g; you can always sweeten later, but you cannot take sugar out.
- Gin: one 70 cl bottle of a plain London dry. Save your expensive gin for martinis.
- Jar: a clean 1.5 litre jar or two 1 litre bottles with tight lids.
Tip the frozen sloes into the jar, add the sugar, pour over the gin and close it. Shake every day for the first week until the sugar has dissolved, then once a week. Keep it somewhere dark and cool. Mine lives in the cellar between the Barbera and the jars of passata.
From hedge to glass
- This week: Pick, freeze overnight, start the jar.
- Week 1: Shake daily until the sugar is gone.
- Mid-December: Taste. It will be pink-red, fruity and a little sharp. Good enough for Christmas guests.
- February: Strain through muslin into clean bottles. Sweeten now if needed with a little sugar syrup.
- Next autumn: Open a bottle you forgot about. It mellows for years.
Bella's tip: Strain through muslin without squashing the fruit, and never blend or crush the stones. Sloe stones, like cherry and almond kernels, contain compounds you do not want in your drink. Whole stones steeping in gin are fine; ground ones are not.
How to pour it
Sloe gin is a liqueur, lower in alcohol than the gin you started with once the fruit and sugar have done their work, so treat it as you would a good cassis. Neat and cold after dinner, with a square of dark chocolate, is hard to beat.
What to pour
- Sloe gin fizz: Sloe gin, lemon, a little syrup, shaken and topped with soda. The best way to show it off.
- Sloe and tonic: Equal parts sloe gin and dry gin over plenty of ice, topped with tonic and a strip of orange peel.
- Sloe royale: A splash in the bottom of a flute topped with dry sparkling wine. An easy Christmas aperitivo.
- With the cheese: A small glass beside blue cheese or an aged toma. Ruby fruit against salt works every time.
Recipe: sloe gin fizz
Do not throw out the strained sloes. Pick out the stones by hand (they slip free once soaked), and stir the flesh into a chocolate cake or a winter fruit compote. The fruit is boozy, so keep it for the grown-ups.
Guide: syrups infusions
If you cannot find a hedge, Hernö makes a Swedish sloe gin that Systembolaget lists, and it is a fine way to taste what you are aiming for. But the version from your own jar, picked on a cold morning with frozen fingers, will always taste better to you.
