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Sloe Gin
Sloe Gin is a traditional British recipe for a classic liqueur made by steeping wild sloes (relatives of plums) in gin with a little sugar and which is traditionally served around Christmas time. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic British version of: Sloe Gin.
prep time
20 minutes
cook time
10 minutes
Total Time:
30 minutes
Additional Time:
(+2–3 months maturing)
Makes:
2 bottles
Rating: 
Tags : British Recipes
Sloe gin is a classic 'winter warmer' of a drink and makes a wonderful nightcap for all those long near-
Christmas evenings. Because of the intense flavour of the sloes this also makes a wonderful drink for cocktails and for using as a base for
venison sauces or even fruit-based puddings.
Ingredients:
1l bottle of gin
600g
sloes
150g Muscovado sugar
Method:
Personally I tend to pick the sloes in early October. I then clean them, prick them with a fork and freeze them for a month or so. This breaks down the cells of the sloes and gives a better flavour to the gin. But you can just as well make sloe gin with fresh sloes.
Begin by dividing the gin between 2 x 1l bottles. Add 100g sugar to each bottle (I like my sloe gin tart, add 150g sugar if you like a sweeter product) now top-up both bottles with frozen and just-thawed sloes until the level of liquid reaches the neck of the bottle. Invert the bottle several times until the sugar dissolves. Now turn or agitate the bottle daily for a week, then weekly for a month or two ... by which time it will be ready to drink. However, if you can leave the drink for six months or more it will be even better.
After about 6 months decant the gin into fresh bottles. You can discard the sloe slurry at the bottom of the bottle at this point. But I find this a real waste and tend to press the sloe slurry through a sieve to remove the stones. I then add sugar and bake the slurry into a pie or use it to make sauces. It's tart but extremely flavoursome and goes well with fatty meats.
For even more cocktails, see the page on cocktail, long drinks and shots recipes where you will find over 1000 recipes for cocktails and long drinks of all kinds.
