A Cotswold Year - Charting the seasons in the South Cotswolds


Monday, 4 October 2010

Sloes



Sloe berries are the fruit of the Blackthorn, a deciduous prickly shrub which grows in hedgerows in this part of England. Today when out for our autumn walk we saw someone gathering sloes. Apparently for use in Sloe gin they should be picked when ripe, traditionally in late October or early November, after the first frost of the winter. Sloe gin is made by pricking the berries with a fork (silver preferred) and adding gin and sugar and steeping them for a good length of time until a lovely red liqueur is produced.


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