On 18/11/2010 20:07, Rusty Hinge wrote:
Martin Brown wrote:

I take it you are well aware that sloe bushes are rather spiny and a
bit rampant. It is used as a stock proof hedge where I live in North
Yorkshire and is hardy to at least -10C in our soggy wet winters.

And a jab from one of those spines often turns septic.

The sloes are only worth harvesting after they have been frosted. Sloe
gin is good and aromatic but looks like pink paraffin in the early
stages.

You can get over that by wrapping a bag of them in bubblewrap and/or a
towel, etc, and put them in a freezer. This slows down the cooling, then
the ice crystals which form do so slowly and puncture the cell walls.

So I have been told. Never done it though.

We make sloe gin roughly every other year - and some years the birds
wolf all of them before we even get a chance to go and grab a harvest.

Regards,
Martin Brown