The last hedgerow fruits of the year are waiting to be picked, pricked and steeped in alcohol over the next two months to make the traditional Christmas Day drink of rich, ruby red sloe gin. Not so long ago the idea had folksy connotations of farmhouse kitchens and WI recipes, but these days sloes are chic. And they don’t only find their way into gin but into sloe vodka and whisky, chutney and wickedly alcoholic chocolate truffles.

What are sloes?
They are the fruit of the blackthorn, a tough hedgerow shrub that is covered in white blossom in spring. They are a wild cousin of plums, though much smaller and so tart and astringent they are impossible to eat neat. Soaked in gin and sugar, however, they develop a character all of their own, and when the drink is strained the sloes can be used with other fruits in jellies and jams, even pies and crumbles, or in stuffings for game.

How do you make sloe gin?
Everyone has their own take on the recipe but typically you wash and dry the sloes, then, in order to set the exchange of flavours and alcohol in motion, you need to prick the skins. Put them into a large, sterilised sealable container, such as a Kilner jar. Sugar ratios vary but, typically, to a litre of gin add about 700g sloes and 350g sugar. Leave for at least two months, shaking the jar every few days at first, then every week. At Sloe Motion, a specialist company in Yorkshire, Jonathan Curtoys freezes his sloes as soon as they are picked. “The tradition was that you waited to pick the sloes until after the first frost,” he says, “but changing weather patterns mean you never know when that might be. The thinking was that the frost sweetened the berries, so if there is any truth in that, freezing has the same effect. But it also means you don’t need to prick the fruit, as the water in the fruit expands during freezing and the skins split.” The fruit is then defrosted and steeped in gin and sugar in the time-honoured way. Though gin is traditional, Curtoys believes that the future is also in sloe vodka – “good in cocktails” – and particularly whisky. “The whisky lends its own smoky sweetness, and you get a lovely long, rounded flavour that combines with the cherry-ish flavour of the sloes.” Even more decadent are sloe gin truffles. Once the sodden sloes are removed from the alcohol, they are de-stoned, mixed with ganache and then rolled in Belgian chocolate.

Where to buy?
Sloe Motion sells sloe gin at £14.95 for 35cl (0844 8001911; www.sloemotion.com). Traditional fruit liqueur maker Bramley and Gage mixes the alcoholic sloes from sloe gin into Devon cider to make Slider (£10.80 for 35cl), which can be mulled with sugar, nutmeg, cinnamon and apples or pears for a festive drink (01454 418046; www.bramleyandgage.co.uk).

Readers’ Queries

Where can I find dried piri-piri chillies?
Whole from the South Devon Chilli Farm, £2.20 for 12g – around 30 chillies (01548 550782; www.southdevonchillifarm.co.uk); or crushed from Seasoned Pioneers, £2.25 for 25g (0800 0682348; www.seasonedpioneers.co.uk ).

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