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Old 24-09-2007, 12:46 PM
echinosum echinosum is offline
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First recorded activity by GardenBanter: Feb 2006
Location: Chalfont St Giles
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Sue View Post
Might damsons trees in a hedgerow have the odd thorn or two? This morning we
picked what we think are fruits -too -big to- be -sloes but there were a few
long thorns on some of the branches. I plan to jam them but if they are
sloes they may not yet be sweet enough so they may have to be "ginned"
instead!
I made a small sample of jam from what I believed to be wild damsons, and found it had a sufficient hint of sloe-bitterness that I did not wish to eat it. I suggest making a small sample and tasting it before you make 10kg.

I have a suspicion that sloes and wild damsons tend to interbreed, resulting in a range of things with intermediate levels of thorniness and bitterness. So it is possible that not everything I picked was 100% damson.