[Kleftiwallah]

Good evening gardeners,  on our forage for brambles and crab apples during the summer/autumn we noticed a fine display of imature sloes.  We decided to return and gather them after a frost or two, well the first couple of frosts have come and we gathered 5 1/2 lbs!  Miles away from all traffic (apart fom the odd tractor).

Luckily we have an old glass sweety jar and that is now full of the ingredients, we could do with a second.

Cheers,  Tony.

[coldandwindy]

Sound good. Are you making Sloe gin?

 We had so many sloes last year that we've still got some in the freezer.
Very bad year for brambles for some reason. Maybe too dry? They were mean little small things & just ripening when the frosts started.

[Kleftiwallah]

Good (frosty) morning coldandwindy, 
I was wondering if freezing the surplus sloes would be a good idea, I'll take your word and do it.  The brambles we collected looked pretty good, now we have crunchy blackberry jam!  I suppose we could de-jar, sofen and put through a strainer?

Cheers,  Tony.

[Yorkie]

I had always thought that freezing the sloes helped when you wanted to make sloe gin later, as the process of freezing and thawing usually caused the skins to split (which I think you need to make the gin?)

[Kleftiwallah]

Hello Yorky,
I had heard that the sloes arent quite ready untill they have had a couple of frosts.  I wonder if the sloes fully frozen may cloud the gin?
A couple of years back I made sloe gin after running a knife round the sloes but the insides of the sloes discoloured the gin and it was a heck of a job to clear. Another theory was to prick the sloes with a silver hat pin but as that is soo labourious I've popped them in whole as there is a hole where the sloe was on the branch.

Cheers,  Tony.

[New shoot]

If you freeze sloes, it does cause tiny cracks in the skin, but they don’t fall apart on thawing like soft fruit does.  They are softer, but still whole.  In my experience it is not enough to cloud the gin.

It lets the juice out which means you don’t have to stick a pin in the sloes, so gives a good well flavoured end product.

[Kleftiwallah]

Your comments gratefully received new shoot.
Cheers,  Tony.

[coldandwindy]

Good (frosty) morning coldandwindy, 
I was wondering if freezing the surplus sloes would be a good idea, I'll take your word and do it.  The brambles we collected looked pretty good, now we have crunchy blackberry jam!  I suppose we could de-jar, sofen and put through a strainer?

Cheers,  Tony.

I always freeze sloes, even if using them soon. My very old recipe says to prick each sloe with a pin to let the flavour out. Pre invention of TV presumably! If you freeze them, even for a couple of days, it makes life easier regards no pricking required & there's never any cloudiness that I've noticed.

Edited to add - sorry NewShoot - hadn't read all the replies before posting.
Windy