This is my method - I filter the gin through a coffee filter paper folded into a plastic funnel:-
Actually, in that photo you can see the whole procedure: filtering in progress in the centre, full bottle of filtered gin to its right, and the grey plastic container with the spent sloes at the extreme right.
This next shot is just a lucky one, showing a drip just landing. You wouldn't believe how many more shots like this I attempted after seeing it, hoping for a better one (actually I think you would!)
The end result is distinctly pleasing. It's the colour of a good Claret wine, but more translucent. I think the family is going to like this!
To finish, a (posed) arty shot, with the bottle held in front of a light. Jane says it looks a bit "Halloween-ey".
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P.S. Taste test - the first glass
I found it quite dry (I had only put one dessertspoon of sugar in the bottle), but very "plummy", which I like. And these days, since I discovered that the effect of freezing the sloes is much the same as pricking them individually, it is a lot less trouble and therefore represents a better effort-to-results ratio.
Very jealous, I didn't do any sloe gin this year, I did however do some cassis. I will be bottling it this weekend.
ReplyDeleteVery pretty.
ReplyDeleteDon't drink it all at once
ReplyDeleteNo sloe gin for me this year - like most other years - but I do have one bottle of fruits-of-the-forest rum from last year and a bottle of sage-infused vodka.
ReplyDeleteI do have fond memories of having far too much sloe gin one winter evening in London with several good friends gathered around a piano... The sound must have been atrocious, but it was absolute heaven at the time.
Fruits of the Forest rum sounds even better than Sloe Gin! Presumably something like Rumtopf?
DeleteExactly! The fruits were used for a coulis for the dessert at last year's Christmas dinner, and the juices were served up as a liqueur - but there's still a small bottle left over, and it's deliciously sweet and fruity. It's best for cooking, since it's so sweet, but it can also be drunk with a hefty dessert.
Deletebetter effort to result ratio is always a good thing.... very pretty and YES we can imagine you taking about a billion photographs!
ReplyDeleteSomething I've never tried. Hope you enjoy it.
ReplyDeleteYes I agree - Christmas should last way more than one day -best to start tucking in now!
ReplyDeleteFunny how often the best shot is serendipitous! Great color!
ReplyDeleteHi Mark, lovely photo of the liquid dripping down. Well done, you!
ReplyDeleteWould you have a recipe for sloe gin? How do you drink it? Pure, or is it part of a mixed drink? Or do you use it for dessert? Sorry to sound so ignorant. Perhaps my excuse is that I hail from the Continent? :)
Do you think the coffee filter method you used would also work with jelly? I'm big on producing my own jams and jellies and I always use a fine meshed sieve when filtering. I have also tried muslin cloth, but I find it makes such a mess.
Hi Miss Bougie; my recipe for sloe gin is very simple - put sloes in bottle of gin; wait a few weeks; decant; drink! You can see the process more fully described in a post I wrote in September last year: http://marksvegplot.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/sloe-gin.html
DeleteWe usually drink the sloee gin just as it comes, but I think some people put Tonic Water in it.
I don't think the coffee-filter-paper method would work very well with jelly because the paper would soon get clogged up. We have a purpose-built jelly-straining bag which I think we got from a place called Lakeland Plastics (now just called "Lakeland").
Mark, thanks for redirecting me to one of your older posts. Will try your concoction next year.
DeleteLooking lovely Mark. I am totally stealing your coffee filter idea!
ReplyDeleteA dear friend loves sloe gin, we collect sloes for her in Seaton Ross where we live. They are very prolific in the hedgerows around here. As a judge of a garden competition in York a few years ago a lovely lady plied the judges with raspberry gin, she won! No truly, it was a fantastic roof garden she had, it would always have won by a mile!
ReplyDelete