Sloe Gin and Sloe Chutney

A couple of weeks ago, we went sloe picking with a friend. He has a spot that he visits every year which generally provides him with a plentiful haul and we’ve been meaning to go with him for a while. This year, since it was such a nice day, he thought he would take us somewhere new which he suspected might provide good pickings.

We started off slowly, picking individual berries from small bushes along the path until, out of the corner of his eye and across a field, our friend spied a bigger bush. When we reached said bush we realised it was surrounded by many other, even bigger bushes, heaving with sloes. We started to pick and soon realised that we need not have worried earlier about being greedy and stripping the bushes since there were huge amounts of berries available. We stopped after filling a couple of bags each and came home to find we had seven kilos between us.

It was late so the berries were squeezed into our tiny fridge and left until the next day when we began the long process of washing and de-stalking the berries. Back into the fridge again until the next evening when we had enough time to start turning them into something interesting.

We started off with a traditional sloe-gin and a traditional vodka. Since we had so many berries we also decided to experiment and make two smaller bottles of gin flavoured with almonds, lemon peel, cloves and cinnamon.

And then, since there were still so many berries left, we made a chutney.

Of course, we don’t know what anything tastes like yet since the gin needs to be left for at least six months and the chutney . I suppose that’s all part of the fun though.

Sloe Gin (or vodka)

600g sloe berries

250g sugar

1 litre gin or vodka

Wash and de-stalk the berries. Add to a sterilised jar with the sugar and shake vigorously. Traditional methods state that you should prick each individual berry (with a hawthorn if you’re being really traditional) to bruise the fruit and let out some juice. We figured the muddling method would work just as well though and life really is too short to prick seven kilos of sloes.

Top up with gin, mix and seal the jar.

Turn daily for a week and then weekly for a month. Store in a dark place for three months, or ideally, until next year.

Spicy Sloe Gin

600g sloe berries

250g sugar

1 litre gin or vodka

2 inch piece cinnamon

Small handful slivered almonds

2 cloves

2 strips lemon zest

Prepare as per above, adding the aromatics alongside the alcohol.

Sloe Chutney

1 kilo sloe berried

2 tart apples, peeled, cored and chopped

2 medium sized onions, sliced

1lb raisins

1 teaspoon of hot chilli powder

2 inch piece of fresh root ginger, grated

1 garlic clove, crushed

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg

12 cloves

Juice and grated rind of 2 oranges

1lb of soft brown sugar

1 pint white wine vinegar

Put the ingredients in a large cooking pot and stir, using a wooden spoon. Bring to the boil and stir occasionally. Reduce the heat so the mixture simmers and stir occasionally, for 3 hours or until it is thick. Ladle into clean, warm jars. Cover, label and leave in a cool place for a couple of months.

Recipe from the River Cottage forum.