last year i thought i’d wait until the first frost before collecting my gin-infusing drupes of joy. They’d all been eaten/picked long before then, i was left gin-less.

i’m keen that this doesn’t happen again, so i’ll be collecting a half-kilo-or-so on my way home tonight.

am i too early? am i doomed to fail?

You’re supposed to wait until after the first frost. No idea why though. Maybe it’s a rule spread by people who pick them earlier to stop other people picking them?

My theory (which may be wrong) is that waiting for the first frost was a way of avoiding having to prick them all individually, since the frost softens them up in the same way. But since you can put them in the freezer for the same effect, there’s no point. Pick now. But not round my way 😉

You’re supposed to wait until after the first frost. No idea why though. Maybe it’s a rule spread by people who pick them earlier to stop other people picking them?

yep, load of voodoo.

I have 5 litres in a demi-john on the go already. The flavour is there in the fruit now.

I dont steep mine with sugar though because you cant judge how much sugar you will get from the fruit. Steep them without, then build mix up with a sugar syrup prior to bottling according to taste. My dad, brother and I all prefer different dryness/sweetness. Throwing sugar in at the beginning is a bit hit and miss.

i quite enjoy adding the sugar to the glass just after pouring…

right, anyway, good. i’ll crack on with enthusiasm!

Thanks for the reminder – I shall go forth and pick this evening

You don’t need to prick or freeze them of you put them in a bag and splat them with a rolling pin a bit. Quicker way of doing it I have found. Just don’t get too enthusiastic or you end up with pulp

You don’t need to prick or freeze them of you put them in a bag and splat them with a rolling pin a bit. Quicker way of doing it I have found. Just don’t get too enthusiastic or you end up with pulp

In the past Ive laid them out on the worktop and tapped away with a wire brush from the workshop 🙂

the frost helps them split.
same is achieved by putting in the freezer, which is also good to keep them so you can stagger your batches

edit: the first stage of a very contentious process, all good fun

In the past Ive laid them out on the worktop and tapped away with a wire brush from the workshop

Phillistine ! You’re meant to do it with a silver pin 😉

I thought the frost was supposed to make them a bit sweeter, hence the use of the freezer for a night.
I reckon mid-October is about right – so I’d leave it a couple of weeks for them to ripen fully.

I picked at the weekend. No sign of even nearly a frost yet here in Suffolk.

FWIW I slice rather than prick…

#BreakingAllTheRules

Waiting for the first frost means waiting until they are ripe… All you early pickers have failed…

Waiting for the first frost means waiting till February, they’ll all be gone by then.

Waiting for the first frost means waiting until they are ripe

non-sequitur fail!

Frost and ripeness two completely independent things.

and the sliver pin isnt required if you wear a silver medallion.

#ginfact

Stoner – Member

Frost and ripeness two completely independent things.

unless… it’s the cold temperatures that trigger/complete the ripening process?

(this is just a suggestion, nothing better than a guess, i am not a botanist)

Frost and ripeness two completely independent things

Of course they are… what it means is, generally speaking, if you haven’t waited for the first frost you are too early, frost doesn’t make them ripe it refers to the time of year when they are ripe…

But here in the warmer south-ish-east, the plants will have fruited sooner (compared to the north) and the frost will be later, so will presumably be over-ripe (if not already picked by others) by the time the frosts come…

In the past Ive laid them out on the worktop and tapped away with a wire brush from the workshop

Phillistine ! You’re meant to do it with a silver pin

You’re supposed to use a thorn from the bush Shirley

you leave Shirley’s bush out of this.

slow Pickers, now?

Eh what? Now? Where?

this is the last frost date, but you get the idea.
And frost dates can vary by many weeks from year to year.
It’s just an old wives tale and is no indication of when a fruit is ripe or not.

Yup, ours are all picked and steeping already, they were already good and ripe in our local spot (Hertfordshire) a couple of weeks ago.

On a related note, what gin are people using as their base? After some experimentation we went with the Morrisons own brand as a pretty good cheapish option. The Aldi one is supposed to be decent too. Obviously we wouldn’t dream of wasting the Adnams with sloes 😉

(P.S. Hello Ian!)

After some experimentation we went with the Morrisons own brand as a pretty good cheapish option.

Ditto.

I did a quick taste test since I had some gins around.

Morrisons el cheapo – more rounded, less bitter, not very dry.
Gordons Green – clean, dry
Gordons export – v alcoholic, smooth, round flavour, but hot from the alc.

This year we’re trying a different recipe for the sloes.
Tasted Patxaran whilst on holiday and it was wonderful.
1 litre of anissette
750g sloes
2 tablespoons of sugar
6 coffee beans
Cinnamon stick
Leave to steep for 6-8 months
Who knew they use sloes in the Basque Country.

This year we’re trying a different recipe for the sloes.

Are you waiting until they’re ripe before you pick them?

as for Gin, i’ll be using ‘that bottle*’ that’s been lurking at the bottom of the booze-chest since last year, when it wasn’t used, because there were no sloes left long before the first frost.

(*it’s green, might be Gordon’s, or an own-brand lookylikey)

what gin are people using as their base

👿 <cough, splutter>
I only make Sloe Vodka m’dear… seems to be little difference in flavour between cheapish and expensive-ish

edit – picking too early seems to have a harsher flavour but then I have an exclusive set of trees around my mates horse yard.

On a related note, what gin are people using as their base?

Tried Lidl last night, but their Gin didn’t seem that well priced so nipped to Sainsbury’s over the road, they had 1ltr of Greenalls for £15 which worked out as cheap as their “Basics” Gin and roughly the same price as the Lidl one.

How much is it at Mozzos, ahem Morrisons?

(PS: Hello Mark 8) )

IIRC it was £10.50 for 7cl

The ones I saw at the weekend were plump, and covered in bloom. Looked ready to me, but I’m no expert.

For a couple of years, Sainsburys had the cheapest gin available. Cheapest = bestest.

Ours (in South Devon) are definitely ready – they look more like damsons than sloes this year. Really fat and relatively sweet (I found a few bushes that were edible without the typical “sloe face”) so I think I’ll go easy on the sugar when I’m making the gin relative to last year…

Oh, forgot to mention, this year’s recipe includes half a dozen crushed almonds for that marzipan emphasis 😀

How much is it at Mozzos, ahem Morrisons?

I can’t remember exactly either, but pretty sure it was just over £10 mark as Stoner says.

just back in from picking another couple of pounds of v ripe blackberries to make my blackberry vodka. They’re nearly on the turn now. Get picking peeps.

As mentioned it’s pretty much bollocks other than it helps them split. When they’re ready pick them and they’ve been ready for weeks around here but pretty much at a peak now.

525g of sloe berries now in the freezer.

Loads more to pick, I might try collecting half a kilo per week, and label the bottles accordingly, all in the name of science…

If it helps we had a frost up here last night. 😀

ripe blackberries to make my blackberry vodka. They’re nearly on the turn now.

Ahhh it’s too late now for Blackberries the devils got ’em