Sloe

Today's the day ........................ for liqueur

Noticed quite a few of these about today on our walk - so it must be time to make some sloe gin.  Here's how we do it in our house:

You need equal volumes of sloes, sugar and gin.  So the amount that you make will depend on, either how many sloes you find, or how much gin you can afford?!  You will also need a glass jar with a lid, large enough to hold the aforementioned ingredients.

Take your sloes and find somewhere comfortable to sit.  Using a pin, stab each sloe a few times and put into the glass jar.  When you have a layer of sloes, cover them with some of the sugar.  Keep going until you have used all your sloes and sugar.  Finally, pour the gin into the jar, put the lid on and give it all a good shake.

Leave the jar in a cupboard for about three months, giving it a shake now and then.  The juice will come out of the sloes leaving them dried up like currants.  The sugar will dissolve in the liquid making it thick and syrupy.  All you need to do now is pour the liqueur through a sieve to remove the sloes, into the container you want to store your sloe gin.

If you start soon, it will be ready for a Christmas tipple ......................