Sloe Berries – 100gm

While sloe berries have a wide range of medicinal uses, at the Hop+Grain we use the for delicious sloe gin – a delicious crimson-red sweet liqueur made by steeping sloe berries in gin and sugar.  Try our recipe:

You’ll need:

100-150g sloe berries

50-80g caster sugar (depending desired sweetness)

70ml water

250ml gin

a jar or bottle to hold everything while steeping

1. sterilise jar and equipment

2. rehydrate the sloes by soaking in warm water for a few hours – just enough water to cover, about 70ml to cover 100-150g berries

3. prick the skins of the berries with a needle during rehydration, to allow the flavour out.

4. put the sloes with the rehydration water into the bottle with the sugar, then the gin before sealing the jar/bottle.

5. shake the jar every other day during the first week, then a little shake once a week.

6. try your best to wait for 8-12 weeks for all the sloe falvour to infuse into the gin.

PS. any white discolouration seen on some dried sloe berries are narually occurring sugars that precipitate on the surface during the dehydration process.