For the last few years we've been making batches of sloe gin, using sloes collected in deepest, greenest Essex.
The recipe, kindly supplied by the Forwood family from The Constance Spry Cookery Book, first published at the Aldie Press in 1956, calls for:
- 1½ pints sloes
- ¾ pounds sugar (preferably caster)
- Quart gin
- A pinch of pounded almonds
Or converting to metric units, and scaled for the bottles we store it in:
- 1 litre
- 440ml≈245g sloes
- 175g sugar
- 580ml gin
- A pinch of pounded almonds
- 700ml
- 310ml≈172g sloes
- 123g sugar
- 406ml gin
- A pinch of pounded almonds
We go picking some time in September or October, wash and pick the berries over to throw out grubs and the like. We then freeze the sloes to break their skins, you may prick them if you prefer. We then make several batches through the year, but the traditional one goes in just after picking and is ready around Christmas.
After two to three months you have something sweet and delicious; at around six to nine months the up-front sweetness starts falling away, and you get something more distinctly gin-like. By two to three years, it is quite a different drink, but still lovely. It all comes down to personal taste. Tinker, experiment and have some fun with it.