Author Topic: sloes and blackberries  (Read 11441 times)

ellisr

  • Joined Sep 2009
  • Wales
sloes and blackberries
« on: August 29, 2011, 03:45:15 pm »
Well today we have picked 3 baskets of sloes and 2 baskets of blackberries so the freezer is getting filled now. We already have 3 large ice cream tubs of elderberries in there.
Hopefully next weekend I will be able to get another couple of baskets of blackberries before we start cutting the hedges and when the weathwer gets cooler I can get them out and make jams, chutneys etc.

Seems to be a bumper year this year.

Dougal

  • Joined Jul 2011
  • Port O' Menteith, Stirlingshire
Re: sloes and blackberries
« Reply #1 on: August 29, 2011, 04:08:50 pm »
Ah the joy that is home made soe gin!
I also use whiskey to the same recipie, doesn't taste of whiskey at all either. Also if you take the berries used for the gin and do the same process again but using whiskey it is truely brilliant.
Alternativley instead of using whiskey for the second use of the berries try the cheapest cooking sherry you can find and repeat the process. Proper hip flask fillers!
It's always worse for someone else, so get your moaning done before they start using up all the available symathy!

ellisr

  • Joined Sep 2009
  • Wales
Re: sloes and blackberries
« Reply #2 on: August 29, 2011, 04:22:33 pm »
I don't do alcohol except for presents and I have enough elderflower wine for that.
I prefer to fill the larder with goodies

james-b

  • Joined Aug 2011
Re: sloes and blackberries
« Reply #3 on: August 29, 2011, 06:49:50 pm »
what are you planning to do with the sloes if not making gin? I dont like sloe gin and cant find any other use for them

James

ellisr

  • Joined Sep 2009
  • Wales
Re: sloes and blackberries
« Reply #4 on: August 29, 2011, 07:42:56 pm »
Sloe jelly and hedgerow jam

Hatty

  • Joined Feb 2011
Re: sloes and blackberries
« Reply #5 on: August 29, 2011, 11:07:25 pm »
Last year in Co Cork I found an old book called "wild and free" there is a recipe for sloe gin that uses no gin!! will try it sort it out and put it on here can't remember all the details but it involved burying it till xmas   ;D
How long did you say it would take me to dig this 5 acres with my spade?

ellisr

  • Joined Sep 2009
  • Wales
Re: sloes and blackberries
« Reply #6 on: August 30, 2011, 09:40:46 am »
Last year in Co Cork I found an old book called "wild and free" there is a recipe for sloe gin that uses no gin!! will try it sort it out and put it on here can't remember all the details but it involved burying it till xmas   ;D

Hatty that sounds wonderful if it doesn't contain alcohol or make alcohol

Hatty

  • Joined Feb 2011
Re: sloes and blackberries
« Reply #7 on: August 30, 2011, 10:09:42 pm »
The book is called "Wild & Free 100 Recipes & Folklore of Natures Harvest" by Cyril & Kit O'Ceirin 1978 The O'Brian Press

There are a few interesting things about the folklore of the Blackthorn

A sloe year is a low year
A haw year is a braw year

200 years ago it was used to forge Port Wine, it was used as a purge by doctors, dyes linen pale blue. The much maligned Irish cudgel was often cut from the wood, An astringent Tea ("Irish Tea") was made from the leaves which were also made into tobacco

 
This is the bit I was talking about
"When we were children, it was quite common for people, especially the younger ones, to cram a jar with sugar & sloes (previously pricked with a pin), cover with lukewarm water, cap or cork securely and bury it until Christmas. This was called Sloe gin and was probably mildly alcoholic because of the action of the wild yeast"  What we call Sloe Gin these days is actually Sloe Liqueur

Great Book if you can get hold of a copy  ;D
How long did you say it would take me to dig this 5 acres with my spade?

ellisr

  • Joined Sep 2009
  • Wales
Re: sloes and blackberries
« Reply #8 on: August 31, 2011, 10:44:04 am »
think I need to find a copy of that book and sneek it into the house as I am banned from buying books for a while

feldar

  • Joined Apr 2011
  • lymington hampshire
Re: sloes and blackberries
« Reply #9 on: August 31, 2011, 11:08:24 am »
I've made Blackberry whiskey too, though only use the cheap stuff, shear sacrilage to defile good whiskey like that.

ellisr

  • Joined Sep 2009
  • Wales
Re: sloes and blackberries
« Reply #10 on: August 31, 2011, 11:33:05 am »
Again I don't do alcohol I have asked my OH if he would like blackberry whiskey but he is a single malt man and doesn't fancy it. Blackberries are good as I can cook forever with them especially when the apples start coming in.

Hatty

  • Joined Feb 2011
Re: sloes and blackberries
« Reply #11 on: August 31, 2011, 10:56:51 pm »
think I need to find a copy of that book and sneek it into the house as I am banned from buying books for a while

Its really good has lots of unusual stuff in it, things to make with gorse, dulse (sea weed) plus all the usual hedgerow bits and pieces I looked on amazon for you but no joy  :( I found this copy in an old house we went to view thrown in the shed the guy who's house it was said I could have it, pity I couldn't afford the house it was falling down but had 40 acres including it own pine forest and private beach ......mmmmm 600,000 euro
How long did you say it would take me to dig this 5 acres with my spade?

SallyintNorth

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • Cornwall
  • Rarely short of an opinion but I mean well
    • Trelay Cohousing Community
Re: sloes and blackberries
« Reply #12 on: August 31, 2011, 11:03:33 pm »
what are you planning to do with the sloes if not making gin? I dont like sloe gin and cant find any other use for them

James

Sloe wine is absolutely beautiful.  I used to drink it in preference to claret in my local pub.
Don't listen to the money men - they know the price of everything and the value of nothing

Live in a cohousing community with small farm for our own use.  Dairy cows (rearing their own calves for beef), pigs, sheep for meat and fleece, ducks and hens for eggs, veg and fruit growing

SallyintNorth

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • Cornwall
  • Rarely short of an opinion but I mean well
    • Trelay Cohousing Community
Don't listen to the money men - they know the price of everything and the value of nothing

Live in a cohousing community with small farm for our own use.  Dairy cows (rearing their own calves for beef), pigs, sheep for meat and fleece, ducks and hens for eggs, veg and fruit growing

Skirza

  • Joined Mar 2011
Re: sloes and blackberries
« Reply #14 on: September 01, 2011, 08:04:05 am »
When I used to live down south and sloes where everywhere (oh how I miss them  :( ) I used to make sloe jelly. I also used to make a mixed berry jelly with sloes, elderberries and blackberries, kids loved it.

 

© The Accidental Smallholder Ltd 2003-2025. All rights reserved.

Design by Furness Internet

Site developed by Champion IS