A few weeks ago you might of seen an update from me about a berry foraging session that I undertook. If you had seen it, you would off read that I picked a good quantity of sloe berries, elder berries and blackberries, and that I had put them in the freezer ready for using at a later date. Well today was the day that I decided to make some SLOE GIN with the sloe berries that i had waiting for me. I taken a few pictures and listed the ingredients and process below in case you’d like to give it a try.
INGREDIENTS
- 300g of cleaned and frozen sloe berries. Best frozen for a minimum of 24 hours.
- 300g of caster sugar
- 300g of a gin go your choice
THE INGREDIENTS 
SLOE BERRIES 
CASTER SUGAR 
BERRIES AND SUGAR 
GIN 
BERRIES, SUGAR AND GIN 
READY IN 3 MONTHS
- First thing you need to do is weigh out 300 grams of your frozen sloe berries. Freezing your sloe berries for a day or two, or even longer, helps with the fruits splitting and releasing their juices when mixed with the alcohol and also saves you from having to pierce each individual berry prior to infusing.
- Once weighed place the berries in your sterilised container of choice. This should be able to be sealed tight to prevent from contamination. I’ve used some large Kilner jars I had already.
- Next weigh out 300 grams of caster sugar and then pour that onto the berries.
- Then weigh out 300 grams of your chosen gin, i,ve only used a ‘cheapish’ gin as i,m not an alcohol connoisseur and considering it will be flavoured I see no reason to use an expensive variety.
- Pour the gin over the berries and sugar then seal your lid shut and then proceed to give the mixture a real good shake to help with the sugar dissolving and also to help up break the sloes a little more.
- If you hadn’t noticed already the recipe is basically equal parts of all three ingredients so if you have more sloes than i,ve shown in this recipe then adjust your sugar and gin accordingly. I’ve made roughly 1.25 litres here and will probably pick a few more berries in the next day or so and add to one of the mixes with the appropriate sugar and gin additions.
- There you have it, your sloe gin is now made. All you need to do now is give the jars a good shake every day or so until the sugar has thoroughly dissolved and leave the mixture to steep for the next 3 months.
- Once the 3 months, or so, wait is over all you have to do is strain the mixture into your chosen, sterilised, storage bottles and it will then be ready to drink. Have a wee snifter when you do this, purely for quality control of course, and if necessary add a little more sugar if required.
- All ready just in time for Christmas.
It a nice quick and easy recipe to make this SLOE GIN and hopefully you’ll enjoy a glass or two whilst watching rubbish xmas tv and listening to the family argue.
