A few days before the coffee morning I managed to get round to picking some sloes, before the man with the tractor and hedgebrusher came around. They are not the easiest of things to pick as the blackthorn true to it’s name is covered in long sharp thorns, but I managed to get enough.
I got my supplies together – a recipe off the interweb, sloes, a kilner jar, sugar and most importantly, the gin – I found a bottle in the back of the cupboard. Not being a G&T kinda gal, I’ve no idea how I came to have it or how long it’s been there!
There was the tedious job of pricking the sloes several times with a needle.
then placing all the ingredients into the jar and giving it a good shake. The jar wasn’t large enough to hold all the sloes, sugar and gin suggested in the recipe, so I adjusted it accordingly.
The jar is sitting in a dark corner in my kitchen where I can see it so that I remember to give it a good shake each day. The sugar has all dissolved and the photos do not do justice to the beautiful rich claret colour it has become.
I guess I can reduce the shaking now to once a week for the next couple of months, before straining and sampling. I can’t wait to try it, even though I normally only drink a glass of red wine or occasional sweet sherry or cider - does that make me sound like an old lady? I’ve read somewhere that after straining the liquid off, the remains of the fruit can be used to make a coulis to pour over ice cream or puddings. I shall have to try and find the site I read that on to get an idea of how to make it.
What a divine looking concoction!! The colour is as you say, quite beautiful, and I’m sure the contents are delish… you can’t go wrong with those ingredients!