Dropped Julia off at work this morning and took the opportunity to take a few photos. They have, as you can see, picked a variety of produce, including sloes. It’s probably a bit early to pick sloes, as the flavour is traditionally said to be better after the first frost. However, you can remedy this by putting them in the freezer. If you pour the gin or vodka on them when they are still frozen it’s supposed to burst the skins, which means you don’t need to prick them either.
I can’t vouch for the flavour part as I’ve never done any competitive testing. Nor can I guarantee that the skins split. What I can say is that we use this method and it produces a lovely smooth liqueur in time for Christmas. Using the freezer instead of waiting for nature to take its course gives you an extra couple of months to steep the fruit instead of waiting for the frost, and this is bound to help.
There are plenty of apples and pears waiting to be picked, plus, of course, the medlars.
The door is now repainted after the attempt at breaking and entering, and is looking good.
Finally, Julia has obtained five waste bins that were going to be thrown away. They are going to have a new life as planters. There were more available, but as Julia said, where are you going to get that much soil from?
They were bins but now they are planters.
Top tip regarding the sloes, haven’t made sloe gin for a while, but was intending to have another go this year – I like the idea of having it ready fro Christmas – will take a container out on my wander today.
Good plan – the time soon goes. 🙂
We were going to make sloe gin for my eldest daughter, who loves it. It seems to evaporate when she stays with us. However, she posted on Facebook yesterday that she has given up alcohol for a year. Hmmmm…. We’ll still make it I think, and tempt her.
You can always keep it for next year. 🙂
Yes; it will be nicely matured by then.
Indeed it will. 🙂
This is a great time of year with all the fresh produce coming in!
Yes, it certainly is. We’re having a great year for plums. 🙂
A clever way of speeding up the sloe process
It’s handy for a lazy man – I’m so sloethful. 🙂
I really like the painting on the door. And the hints about sloes…Will have to look up medlars…
Medlars are another world… 🙂
I looked them up! VERY interesting!
I’ll keep you posted. They are a traditional Nottingham variety so we ought to give them a try. 🙂
I love the term bletting. They looked, um, rotten, but then so is game that’s been ‘hung.’ They made me think of quince, which take a certain amount of cooking and then transform into something fabulous, not to mention they smell amazing before they’re cooked. Ah, well, our ancestors figured out how to make things edible because there was so much less to eat than now, which has made us a bit persnickety.
Yes, bletting is a strange area between ripe and rotten – we will have to see what happens.
We haven’t made sloe gin for ages but the crop looks so good this year that we might try again.
We make it most years, though we give most of it away as we aren’t great drinkers. 🙂
I didn’t know what a “sloe” was so I had to look it up online… I like the bins, but have to agree with Julia about the soil issue. It will take a lot of soil to fill them to use as planters.
We’re going to use a good helping of composted bark – we were watching it steaming today. 🙂
I like the ladybird painting on the door. Not tried sloes or sloe gin but the apples from the garden are being enjoyed already this year.
Apples are a lot more versatile than sloes, and taste better. 🙂
I made the right choice for my back garden then 😉
Yes, I would say you did. If you need sloes there are plenty in the hedgerows. 🙂
Of course!
🙂
Thanks for the info about sloes. The door looks so inviting. And isn’t Julia resourceful? We just might have to make her an honorary Mainer.