Sloes…what can you do with them, besides steeping them in gin? As someone who does not enjoy the icky flavour of gin and tonic, nor the astringency of sloes, here was a challenge I could not back away from.

Ray Mears and Prof Gordon Hillman experimented with curing sloes by mashing them up with a pestle and mortar and leaving the mash for two days. This allows enzymes to break down the astringency in the fruit.

I picked mine in September, but you can pick sloes all the way through the winter. They get sweeter once bletted by frost. Sloes come from Blackthorn (Prunus spinosa).

I gathered my haul in a handy straw hat, whilst my son lay bored on the grass and didn’t help one whit. Blackthorn bushes are, as you might guess, spiny by name and by nature. Pluck with care!

Back at the boat, I mashed them and cured them for 2 days.

I then boiled the mash with just enough water to cover it. I strained it through a colander. The seeds are quite large so at least they don’t fall through the holes like hawthorn seeds do!

I decided to make a sloe yoghurt sauce. Check out the beautiful colour!

I folded half the sloe sauce into a cake mix I made and it turned the cake mix a lovely dusky violet. I’m not especially a cake person, but it WAS pretty…

Made 8 cupcakes and a traybake which I cut into squares and decorated. It is all important to cure sloes before you use them, and cook them too.

Enjoy!

xx Hedgewitch Kat xx