Whilst exploring the vicinity of our new base camp we hit upon some heavily fruited trees, the fruit looked like sloes but this was a tree rather than the spiky Blackthorne bush where we would expect to find them. Fidgetsmum Total Gardener. Sloes have shorter stems and hug the branches more. Sloe, Bullace or Damson? The difference between women's and men’s skincare *, Top tips for supporting anxious pets through change *, PMD Clean PRO Smart Facial Cleansing Device – review *, What does the perfect family holiday look like to you? 6. @GlosbeMT_RnD. Put the pricked or defrosted berries into a large sterilised jar, eg, a Kilner jar.*. Given however that an infused gin is commonly either served combined with tonic to make a sloe gin fizz or is served after dinner the subtlety of the aging of the Gin is usually lost. Prunus spinosa, called blackthorn or sloe, is a species of flowering plant in the rose family Rosaceae. If using a bottle a piece of folded card can be used to get the sugar through the neck of the bottle. Awarded 3 Gold stars in The Great Taste Awards 2014 the Judges comments were … This might be slightly premature as I’ve not actually tasted my gin yet (Update – I have now! 3. Damsons are like small plums, sloes are more like blueberries and tend to grow in hedgerows. So, if you make them now, they’ll be ready for bottling by mid-December, just in time for Christmas. Hedgerows offer a wealth of foraging opportunities. X, I have never had a sloe gin before. Most of the recipes for Sloe Gin or its derivatives online work with a total of a litre quantity of product and this works well if you have a separate vessel for infusion to the finished article. We had found a cluster of Bullace trees; a wild plum and relative of both Sloe and Damson. 5. Pour in your gin (or vodka) and seal the jar tightly. Sloe Rum Pick sloes, wash and dry them (so as not to dilute the alcohol)- 445g Use a cocktail stick to prick each fruit so juice can exit into the alcohol Add sugar in the fruit- 112g Add alcohol in my case rum! As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. I have always loved foraging and whilst today would hardly tax Bear Grylls in its originality or obscurity (I related the process of making acorns edible to my 8 year old to a frankly limited response) there was undeniably a reaction to the idea of food being freely available in the woods. The UK’s First Damson liqueur made with port, handcrafted at Raisthorpe using the finest port and locally grown damsons and sugar. If you like sloe gin, then you'll love damson gin – it has the same rich, fruity, deep flavours and really showcases this delicious British fruit at its best. How to tell the difference between sloe, bullace and damson. These fruit gins are soooooo easy to make, taste utterly delicious, and, if you can bear to give any away, make lovely gifts. See below) but here’s what I did… Here's one I prepared earlier... Big bottle of gin (use 3/4) 500g ish of damsons (or sloes) 300g ish of sugar (up to 500g if using sloes) Some sort of bottle with a wide neck or giant jar! How to tell the difference. Sloe is actually Prunus spinosa, or Blackthorn, and edible Plum (including Damsons) is Prunus domestica varieties. Like . Tip: discarded sloes can be covered in melted chocolate for unusual sweet treats (but watch your teeth on the stones). Sloes, bullaces or damsons - either way, prick the fruit before immersing in said gin. Damson and bullace are more or less the same, the picture there seems to look like a wild Victoria plum which is exactly the same that is growing in the field behind my house. This sounds like such a treat! Bursting with damson flavour and a wonderful aroma. How to tell the difference between sloe, bullace and damson. Pick them when they're at their best (usually in September), and experiment with other additions to the gin such as orange peel, cinnamon, star anise or cloves. Given the Japanese love of Umeboshi, and a number of plum infused Sake’s available I also thought a version using Sake might be interesting. Aug 26, 2019 - Damson or Sloe Gin Recipe from The Modern Preserver and other Christmas Cocktail recipes from Red Online The easiest way to tell the difference is in the branches and twigs, these have very sharp quite long prickles. Damson Port. In my case however I wanted to avoid using the extra vessel was hoping to use a handful of attractive bottles that had once contained arty gins. Sep 26, 2017 - Damson or Sloe Gin Recipe from The Modern Preserver and other Christmas Cocktail recipes from Red Online One commonly stated theory is that damsons were first cultivated in antiquity in the area around the ancient city of Damascus, capital of modern-day Syria, and were introduced into England by the Romans. The Sloe fruits are more spread out than the rest. The longer you can leave it, the more intense the flavours will be. Three members of the prunus genus What is the difference between a sloe and a damson? Also sloes are on blackthorn bushes which have large thorns on so if they are in a tree they are probably damsons. Pour in your sugar. Thanks for laying out all of the steps so clearly, I’m sure that your gin turns out fantastically every time! This combo is any port lovers must! We took the kids for a walk in the woods in what is likely to be one of the last days of the year recognisable as a summer’s day. We found enough for a decent snack for all of us and, whilst rebuilding a shelter of sticks and ferns that had unbelievable survived for a year since we had last been there, we snacked to our hearts content. I’ve wanted to make fruit-infused liquor for agessss but always seem to forget and just drink what I buy ;). Here at least both the sloe and damson hedges have thorns, but they are not too difficult to avoid. *  Tip: expect to go through a LOT of coffee filter papers! Here’s my recipe for easy damson or sloe gin. Sloes, Bullaces,And damsons are usually all dark purple in colour. Top up the bottle with the Gin or Vodka. Honestly, fruit spirits are really easy to make and blackberry brandy is really yummy. Sake is closer to wine than spirits in strength (typically around 15%) but unlike wine will keep once opened for a few weeks. … This site is chock full of videos to do just that. Last year was very poor for sloes after the hedge was cut; this year was better, but other bushes had very little fruit. Aug 23, 2017 - Damson or Sloe Gin Recipe from The Modern Preserver and other Christmas Cocktail recipes from Red Online Prick the damsons/sloes with a large needle or toothpick. I could not possibly confuse the two. September 7, 2015 September 7, 2015 ~ sultanabun ~ 9 Comments I’ve been reading some of those ‘150 ways to grow your blog without working hard or spending money’ articles. Please note I only link to products I have either tried myself or am happy to recommend. The damson is a sort of domesticated sloe – and your brother-in-law is lucky to live in Guernsey – the sloes there are bigger and juicier than in the rest of the UK.” They are better not blended he advises, and even batches of the same drink – sloe or damson are best kept small. While popular demand for damsons eventually dropped, the trees are still plentiful. Plus when you strain off the brandy, you have some gorgeous boozy blackberries which are perfect with vanilla ice cream x. I hope your mum approves of this recipe! 9. The historical link between the Roman-era damascenum and the north and west European damson is rather tenuous despite the adoption of th… Tip: Don’t buy expensive alcohol, budget own brands are fine! Thanks for looking and enjoy! Whilst there is value in leaving it longer the genuine results of aging come from significant aging, the skin, stalk and stone of the fruit all introduce tannin to the spirit and whilst tannin ultimately produces greater complexity in the shorter term it adds a dry bitterness. Haferpflaume feminine. We do the same thing with Coffee, Tea, Hops, Cocoa all of which are pretty darn awful in their natural state and whilst in all of these are also embellished with other flavours there is a sense in which we want the process we apply to them to result in presenting them at their best, processed but untainted. The name damson comes from Middle English damascene, damesene, damasin, damsin, and ultimately from the Latin (prunum) damascenum, "plum of Damascus". 1. Wash your fruit and discard any bruised or mouldy ones. Add a teaspoon of extract if you want, cover with the gin, stir gently and seal. 2. Only fruit produced from damson trees in the geographical area may be referred to as ‘Stromberger Pflaume’. Discarded damsons can be enjoyed gently heated with custard or ice cream (but beware those stones again). For the full recipe, click the picture or see www.redonline.co.uk Don’t beyond the neck if you have a stoppered bottle, the pressure may keep pushing the stopper out. The waiting is the hardest part of this process…. The top is a 20cl Damson Port with a 20cl Sloe Port beneath! My recipe therefore scales to around 75cl proportions. Bullaces have a fairly bitter skin, but slightly sweeter, less acidic flesh but not to the degree that you'd actually ever prefer them to a desert plum. Today was a good day. Put the damsons/sloes in a cooled, dry, sterilised large, wide-rimmed 1.5–2 litre jar and stir in the sugar. Oh fruit spirits really are lovely and so easy to make, as well as being much cheaper than you can buy in the shops. For me, Gin as already been infused with anything from Juniper (the fruit that makes Gin…well…Gin) through Cardamon, Orris Root, Lemon Peel and a in the case of the Cambridge Gin company… Ants! For this reason I prefer to use Vodka to create these liqueurs rather than Gin with the intention of bringing out the flavour of the Bullace (or Damsons, Sloes, Jelly Babies, Mars bars whatever). I’ll bookmark it and try it as soon as I can! Our Winter Damson Gin is made with the freshest, juiciest damson plums from Styam Farm which are sweet enough, so no sugar or sweeteners in this … I love gin so this is a great recipe for me. If you click on some of the links within some of my blog posts and then purchase a product from a retailer, I will receive a very small commission at no cost to you. Damson Cheese And Sloe and Damson Gin. My Mum has actually been looking for a good sloe gin recipe so I am going to bookmark this post to send to her! *. I have never really understood the obsession with Sloe Gin, at least from a home liqueur creation perspective. You just need to split the skins to release the juice, which is what the overnight freeze will do for you. Volume: 20cl. Raw damsons – a subspecies of Prunus domestica – are sour to the taste, but mixed with sugar and gin, it creates the perfect evening tipple and a great alternative to sloe gin. Once you can wait no longer either serve or strain through wine filter paper and re-bottle. If it's so sour it turns your face inside out it's a sloe. Copyright © 2020 The Rumblings Of A Madman on the Foodie Pro Theme. Also blackberry brandy would go really well with your apple crumble, I think x, Your email address will not be published. If you live near a public hedgerow (sloes) or have access to a fruit tree (damson) then you really should have a go too. The good news is that these are just as suitable for flavouring Gin as both Damson and Sloes so, after a little bit of child labour employed to collect the berries we can let infusion fun commence. We had found a cluster of Bullace trees; a wild plum and relative of both Sloe and Damson. The Sloe is basically a Blackthorn Bush. A step by step tutorial to make either Damson or Sloe Gin. 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