[ellisr]

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]

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!

[ellisr]

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]

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]

Sloe jelly and hedgerow jam

[Hatty]

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   

[ellisr]

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   

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

[Hatty]

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 

[ellisr]

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]

I've made Blackberry whiskey too, though only use the cheap stuff, shear sacrilage to defile good whiskey like that.

[ellisr]

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]

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

[SallyintNorth]

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.

[SallyintNorth]

I looked on amazon for you but no joy 

Is this the same thing?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-listing/0705000834/ref=dp_olp_used?ie=UTF8&qid=1314831071&sr=1-2&condition=used

[Skirza]

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.