I absolutely love sloe gin and get very excited when I see the berries coming in late summer. It is a lovely festive tipple and can be enjoyed on it's own with tonic or a dash of it in a sparkling wine or champagne. It is pretty easy to make, the most complicated part is picking the sloes out of those prickly bushes.
Ingredients:
Enough sloes to half fill two 750ml kilner / mason jars
175g (6oz) sugar
1 liter gin
Method:
The traditional way to do this is to pick the sloes after the first frost, they can be picked however when they are ripe and juicy. Wash them and pick out any bits of leaves or twigs. Place them in a zip lock bag and freeze overnight, this will split the skins and help the juices escape. Divide the frozen sloes between your kilner / mason jars add the sugar and gin and shake. Place in a dark cool place and shake at least once a day. Do this for at least three weeks but can be kept like this for longer, the longer it's left the better the flavour will be. When you can no longer wait, which happens fairly quickly with me, strain the gin through a piece of muslin and decant into clean sterile bottles.
The gin is now ready to enjoy and will last up to two years, though I can't imagine anyone has managed to make it last more than a couple of weeks at most! 😁
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