Anyone done sloe gin? This is my second year at it. Last year's was utterly fab. Any tips gratefully accepted. Not sure I want to put a vanilla pod in it.

Phil

I have made vinegar from the sloe berries and leaves, but I haven't made sloe gin. I don't drink but I did make some elderberry vodka once and it went down a treat. The elderberries totally masked the taste and smell of vodka. The smell of vodka reminds me of window cleaner.

I've not made sloe gin but have made strawberry vodka, blackberry vodka and some coffee vodka which I really ought to strain sometime as I've been meaning to for months.

I like my liqueurs sweet so add a lot of sugar, which in turn means the final result is thick and syrupy, a real liqueur-style result.

Adding less sugar results in a thin liquid, same density as original vodka, but flavoured with the fruit and tiny bit of sugar.

We did one with raspberries and no sugar at all, just a small amount as an experiment, and it was horribly bitter. Wouldn't do that again!

I think vanilla can be very strong, wonder if it would be worth trying one batch with the scraped out pod - the beans having been used for baking or something?

After all, one can make home-made vanilla extract with alcohol and "spent" vanilla pods, adding more pods as one uses them... I don't use much vanilla so not done this myself.

Another idea is lavender, but again, a little goes a looong way!

I have made lavender ice cream and that was really nice. I have heard of making vanilla essence in that way too but I have never tried. Sometimes vanilla pods can be bitter so I guess you'd have to taste a piece first just to make sure.

I don't like gin, but, as you say, Kavita, the sugar and berries transform the thing into something completely different: a really sweet liqueur.

Yeah, raspberries are astringent. Not surprised at the result.

I currently use blackberries for a sauce with veal stock and rare beef steaks, but why not use them for a blackberry gin?

Am about to try gin with a small local berry, just for fun.

Missed the elderberries this year.

Phil

We missed them too!

I always used to think it was "slow" gin and had something to do with how long it took to make !

Steve

I remember talking to the family of a French student I had with me for a couple of months, doing his industrial training. I was asked which wine I like best, they assuming it was going to be French! I said the best wine I had (have) ever tasted was/is 18 yo elderberry! Everyone gasped, except the old grandmother, who whispered ''ah, sureau'', with a glint in her eye!!

in times past, elderberry wine was very common,which is why elder is very common in old hedgerows.

LOL Steve! I also used to think it is slow gin!

I have not tasted elderberry wine, but I love elderberry cordial in summer.

Although it is of course Sloe Gin should it not also be slow Gin?

My mother used to layer 2 lbs sloes to 1 lb sugar in old fashioned sweet jars and then leave at least three months before straining.

The juice was then mixed to taste with gin/vodka whatever.

Ma, elderberry wine tastes quite different to the cordial as the cordial is made from the flowers and the wine is made from the berries...

in that case it is elderflower cordial. Elderflower wine is perfect with ice for a hot summer's day, or warm summer nights. Makes good champagne, too.

You are right, it is elderflower cordial :-).

I was always told that it is best to pick the sloe berries after the first frost because they become sweeter. Judging by the weather at the moment that could be some time LOL! I've never know it to be this warm in November before...strange.

Reading the posts about elderberry it reminded me that I still have a few jars of elderberry and cranberry jam that I made last Christmas. I will have to open a jar and see how it is...it should be vintage by now, but if it not then I will wait until everyone has had a skinful on Christmas day and give it to the unsuspecting. I really hate waste.

Yeah, Winton, it's SLOW sloe: three months, as you say. I started late this year, so it won't be ready for Christmas/New Year, alas. It'll be February.

I suspect that the frost thing is an old wive's tale, but then, I'm in the South of France, where the first frosts arrive here, up on the hill, in December: way too late for sloes.

Olive harvest coming up here next month: I STILL haven't got tapenade right! An Australian friend in Greece has got it sussed re preparation of lives for eating. Most of ours go to the olive mill, to make olive oil.

Phil