Sloe vodka

This should have been posted a few weeks ago. We went on a sloe picking mission to get supplies for sloe gin and vodka.

Something odd was going on with the trees, some had loads of sloes, others had absolutely none, not like they had been already picked but literally not a single sloe to be seen.

This meant we got fewer sloes than in previous years, we came home with about 1lb 6oz of sloes.

The sloes were rinsed and several holes pricked in each one using a blackthorn thorn. This is a long process and best done with something interesting to listen to.

The sloes were put into a jar, then sugar and vodka added (1lb 2oz sloes, 9oz sugar and 1l vodka). It has all been left and will be strained just before Christmas with occasional shaking to make sure all the sugar dissolves. We also made a small batch of sloe gin to give as a Christmas present, using 4oz of sloes, 300ml of gin and 2oz sugar.

Grow sloe grow

A major car failure last week meant bank holiday activities had to be within walking distance.

A walk along the canal found these little guys out for a swim.

We also did some footpath exploring in the local area.

A good plan for the future is to actually take the map rather than looking at it then heading out. We took a different route to the one planned and ended up on the other side of town to where we expected.

On the upside the route came out near our favourite sloe tree. The location of this is a household secret as it is loaded with excellent sloes in the autumn. A little tricky to get to, but more than worth the effort.

A close inspection showed up some berries growing well (are they berries,? I think maybe not, seem to remember QI says berries have multiple seeds inside).

I gave the tree a few words of encouragement and we headed for home. Hopefully there will be a good crop at the end of the year.