The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Food & crafts => Recipes => Topic started by: Hatty on November 11, 2011, 10:44:27 pm
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Found this on the permaculture website, won't be throwing mine away this year ;D ;D ;D
http://www.permaculture.co.uk/readers-solutions/what-can-i-do-leftover-sloe-berries-sloe-gin-sloe-port-and-sloe-chocolate (http://www.permaculture.co.uk/readers-solutions/what-can-i-do-leftover-sloe-berries-sloe-gin-sloe-port-and-sloe-chocolate)
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I like the chocolate idea!!
Sloe gin has become a bit of a tradition at our Dales shows. Those of us on the pony forum quite often pass a flask of sloe gin around between us. Probably the other competitiors think we are a crowd of alcholics!! Especially when the shout goes up "whose got the sloe gin!"
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hunters chocolate I think is what it is called. Was going to do that this year, but now I have seen the sloe port recipe... :yum:
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We've made sloe gin and sloe vodka for the first time this year and we were just talking about what to do with the sloes at lunchtime. We'll be giving both of these a go, I think.
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I have found you can usuallly get another "batch" out of it first,
Then drain the sloes really well and stir into melted white chocolate - Green and Blacks is good - so it looks chunky, and almost individual pieces covered in choc. Put onto greaseproof or silver foil til set. Break into small chuncks and enjoy.
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I read somewhere today (can't remember where) that you can put them in a jar with a bottle of pale sherry, leave for three months and you get a nice fruity sherry. Obviously you pour the sherry out of the bottle first. :D
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I don't stone the sloes before making the gin, so don't think I could stir them into melted chocolate afterwards without incurring hefty dentist bills! Does everyone else stone them and if so, how?
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I can't believe that the recipe tells you to keep the stones in. I was thinking the same as you jaykay - literally a recipe for disaster! ;D
I think sloes will be a pain to stone thoughh, but worth it. Guess you just have to slice each one in half.
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I often use the sloes a second time but use whisky on the second making (same amount of sugar and spirit to the weight of sloes). Makes a fantastic hip flask filler. Make sure you use plenty sugar though or it tastes like bitter whisky, bleurch!
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I was bought an olive stoner...a small hand held gadget that you place each fruit in and press! Ive not used it on olives but its great on cherries (the very ripe ones sometimes miss the pip and squish it to the side so need a second press) I guess this gaget would work well on sloes too.
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I am going to have a go with my cherry stoner, but i think that the hole for the stone will be too big and most of the sloe will be lost.
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Sorry! Pressed the wrong thingy :-[ As I was saying, no need to stone sloes but you really should keep it for at least two years before drinking. As to the used sloes, Dan is right,a bottle of good, dry sherry. You can drink this at Christmas ;)
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I have made damson vodka this year, which I'm going re-soak in sherry in the new year. That should be ready about Easter. I'm then planning to make jam out of the remaining damson's! Waste not want not :P
I think the sloe chocolate idea sound excellent! :D
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We've done the sherry thing now too, not sure about stoning all those sloes though. :-\
At least the prospect of chocolate-coating them will lend a bit of encouragement. :D
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Stoning the sloes will release more sediment, it seems to me. Pricking each one, which I used to do, is time-consuming (and finger-pricking :(). Simplest thing is to freeze them, then the skins split a bit on thawing. Also gives more flexibility over when to start the sloe gin off.
Haven't tried recycling the sloes before - am about to start! :yum:
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I spent a lot of time trying to get the sloes back out of the bottle :dunce:
I'll use a wide-necked jar for the next brewing!
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Haven't tried recycling the sloes before - am about to start! :yum:
An update on our sherry experiment, 2 months on. We opened the jar last week and it smells fab, really almondy, a bit like Amaretto. :yum:
Resisted the temptation to taste it though, just. :D
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Well I have only just come across this site, but this idea is fabulous so am just about to do the Port! Many Thanks
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My sloes get well used...
First I prick them and make sloe gin, in the usual way.
Then, when the gin is ready to be separated from the sloes, I make sloe port (not in the same way as the original article in Post 1... I simply put the 'pre-ginned' sloes into another bottle, top it up with cheap port, and leave it for about 8 weeks. It adds another dimension to the port, and makes the sloes a bit sweeter for the next step...
When the sloe port is ready, I take all the sloes and cut the fruit away from the stone. I then mix the sliced up bits of sloes with melted dark chocolate, a dash of sloe gin and some cream, to make sloe truffles. I usually coat the truffles in another layer of dark chocolate, to hold the slightly gooey truffles mixture in place.
That's it. No waste. Three homemade/home 'enhanced' products.
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Mmmm that sounds fab :thumbsup: not thought of using as a chocolate filling,
another recipe to add to the list
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I made a liqueur using brandy, sugar and strawberries and raspberries this year, the liqueur was highly medicinal and rather nice, the fruit went on top of grown up ice cream which was exceptionally nice and the other half went into a rather alcoholic trifle which was incredibly nice, medicinal (as are all trifles) and of course represented all essential food groups, vitamin c (cream), vitamin f (fruit), vitamin s (sponge) and of course that essential mineral - custard, I think the jelly bit had vitamin p (pork) in it to set it as well.
Mmmmmmmm trifle, I like trifle, I may well be buried in a bath of trifle when I die