Making Sloe Gin

This is a rather belated post on how I made my sloe gin with the sloes I collected a couple of months ago.

As I wasn't quite ready to start right after picking the sloes, I split my harvest up into bags of 500g (just over a lb) and put them in the freezer. I also figured freezing them would mimic to some extent the effect of a frost on the sloes; and that is to soften the skins of the fruit which will result in more flavour exuding from them. It also saves pricking each one with a pin!. I also thought it might be a good idea to find out where Gordon's Gin was cheapest. I'd heard from two different sources that yes it does make a difference if you use cheap gin, and no it doesn't! So I thought it best to try and have the best of both worlds and buy a good gin when it was on offer.

A quick google found that in one particular week it was on offer at Asda so a trip to a nearby town was needed, luckily by my friend Judi as she works there several days a week.

A few days later and I was good to go. I think I roughly followed the recipe in my go-to preserving book, The Preserving Book, but I can't remember; which is really useful! Well the book is. I'm not!

I took out one bag of 500g of sloes from the freezer and split them evenly between two 1ltr Kilner jars. This is where it goes a bit pear-shaped...I might have added about 100g of caster sugar to each jar and then I definitely added 1 litre of gin between the two jars i.e. about 500ml per jar.

And then you wait, well kind of. For the first week you need to give the jars a shake each day to help the sugar dissolve. Within a week all of the sugar has been absorbed.

Day 1

Day 3

Day 6

And then you wait, again. After six weeks or so you *need* to have a little taste of the contents to see if you need to add any more sugar; the resulting sloe gin should taste like a sweet liqueur so after tasting I added a couple of heaped tablespoons of sugar and did the shake thing for a few days afterwards until it had dissolved.

I'll take another taste in a few weeks time and it should then hopefully be ready at Christmas!

Joanna

Getting there..............slowly!

Its been a while since I've found a bit of time to post an update on our progress but I can at last say almost all of the plot has now been dug over and that for the first time it is more weed free than full of weeds........

I am realising that even though we have got rid of the worst of the weeds, they keep coming back and Bed 2 that was weed free is green again, mainly because I have neglected to keep on top of the weeds while I continued digging over the other beds.

Although now that the colder weather is here, the weeds are at least taking longer to grow back so hopefully we can put that to rights over the winter months!

 

So from the top of the plot this is where we are now.

 

Bed 1

This had potatoes in this year and I'm really pleased with our harvest.

 

We had been digging up the earlies for a short while. These were the Duke of York variety and they've been ok but I wouldn't grow them again. I think we left them in the ground a bit too long. Still we did get just under 5kg of them from one row.
We also have a row of main crop potatoes, Picasso and these have been really good. A nice tasty potato that has been good for everything. Nearly 8kg from this row.

And we haven't bought any potatoes since the end of August!

 

Bed 2

This has had runner beans, strawberries, carrots and beetroot in it this year. A mixed bag  I know but we have used this bed just so we could have a harvest this year.

We're going to dig up the strawberries and plant new ones in the perennial bed, mainly because they are completely overgrown with grass.

And we had just enough runner beans with just a handful in the freezer. The carrots were small but perfectly formed and we picked most of the beetroot when they were small too. The last of these have been pickled and will be ready in a week.

This bed still has the Swiss chard in it. Never eaten it before so we'll give it a go but we'll probably just dig the plants up when we go over this bed again which is completely green!

 

Bed 3

I finally finished digging this bed yesterday. I had hoped to have had it done by the end of October before the colder weather started but alas we hit a snag. There had been a bit of raised ground in the middle of this bed and when I got to it, I found out why. First off it was where a previous plot owner had decided to have a bonfire.........except a lot of it hadn't burnt properly so there were piles and piles of un-burnt magazines, chunks of wood, you name it. Having dug that out, I hit the next problem............carpet. Yes actual carpet. Not the matting you use to keep weeds down but actual proper carpet. It started in the middle of the plot and went on and on. It took me ages just to find the edges........it went right to the edge of the plot.

And what was worse it had at least 6 inches of soil on top of it and weeds, like mallow, growing through it in places.

 

It was an absolute nightmare and just as I was starting to feel like I was never going to get it up, I had a breakthrough! I was also having to pull it up in bits as it was so large I was never going to be able to lift it in one go.
We then had a stroke of luck as the site had a skip so that a spare plot could be cleared and the manager of the site very kindly took all that horrible carpet and put it in the skip for me!

So having cleared the carpet I was then able to dig the second half of this bed which seems to have taken an eternity!

 

Bed 4

The mesh tunnels arrived in September and so we planted the onions; one row of Shakespeare and one of Troy.

 

 

They took a while to get going, over a month, but are now firmly established.

 

We've planted a second batch with another row of Shakespeare and one of Senshu Yellow we swapped with a friend. These are just starting to sprout now. Its amazing that despite being covered they have still been pushed up in places, must be worms!
As you can see we also have some scaffolding boards for paths now too.

 

Perennial Bed

This is going to be TK's bed as he wants to grow things that keep on growing basically. So he has the rhubarb which was looking really healthy........

 

 

Until we had the storm that never was a few weeks ago.........

 

 

When it took a bit of a beating.

 

We've moved the blackcurrant bush next to it and will move the redcurrant bush in the next week or so.

Then we'll make a new strawberry bed and also prepare a section for some asparagus which I ordered online for delivery next spring.

 

He'll have a bit of space left which we might use for herbs.

 

And the only other news is we have some manure to spread out on a couple of the beds..........four barrows' full for starters.

 

 

So all in all not bad for our first six months!

 

Progess at last!

We really seem to have managed to make good progress with the digging over the last month. The perennial bed is dug, although weeds, particularly couch grass, pops up again just as quickly. It seems to be called twitch grass by other plot holders. It can be a bit disheartening to go over to the allotment and find a lot of it looking green again and not in a good way

I finished digging Bed 4 yesterday. This will hold legumes next year and onions. I bought some onion sets from the shed shop last Sunday. Two varieties: Shakespeare and Troy. All these little beauties for the princely sum of £1!

 

We actually have too many Shakespeare so we're going to swap some with a friend.

As soon as the micro mesh tunnels arrive we'll get these planted. They'll need protecting from the pigeons.

 

So I've started digging Bed 3 which technically is the last bed we need to dig over. Its also the worst. However Bed 2 which we planted some things in is looking a bit weedy again but hopefully it won't take as long to go over it a second time.

 

The parsnips that were already growing in the potato bed (Bed 1) have continued to grow. Some did die back but a few have green leaves still. We pulled one up the other week to see what it looked like and hey presto! We had a parsnip!

 

The runner beans are still going but slowing down. I did have to freeze some the other day though as there were too many for me in one day.

 

We pulled a couple of carrots the other evening and although small, it was reassuring to see they were nice and straight!

 

 

TK complained yesterday that I am making to many homemade things which is bizarre as he likes to help making them! This year we have made strawberry jam and raspberry jam. I used the raspberry jam to make this Gainsborough tart which is something my nana used to make. It has a coconut top

 

 

And yesterday I made millionaires shortbread

 

 

Yum!

Let Harvesting Commence!

We may not have planted much on our allotment. It may still be half covered in weeds. But amazingly we are now managing to harvest some fruits of our labours.

 

Not huge amounts but just enough for a meal as and when we need it. And that's how it should be, rather than having a glut of something and getting fed up with eating it or having to give most of it away.

 

So the first runner beans are ready, just a few a time, but that's ok as that's enough for me. Even though they are melt in your mouth yummy, I haven't been able to persuade TK to try one yet.

 

We decided the first earlies might actually be ready a week or so early seeing as the foliage was starting to die back on them. And we were right!

This is the harvest from the first plant we dug up

 

 

TK has said he will eat the tiny one.......

Again just enough potatoes there for a meal or two for us. We dug up another plant a day or so ago and will try and do that every few days and work our way through them

 

So potatoes, runner beans and now the first beetroot. I decided one looked large enough and it was. So here is our haul from the other day.

 

 

So all in all we're really pleased with what we have achieved in a few months. The shed shop should be getting some onion sets in soon so hopefully we will have enough free ground to plant these.

I did work out a crop rotation plan the other day so need to make sure the right area is clear for them!

In the meantime, its back to the digging before the weather starts to turn.

First Sign of Life!

It was  so exciting when we went over to the plot yesterday afternoon! The first signs of growth!

 

Yep, several of the Duke of York first earlies were breaking through the surface. We weren't expecting to see anything for another week seeing as we only planted them a week ago.

Time to start earthing up!

 

We have nearly cleared the area around the strawberry bed now.

 

 

Just need to remove some of the raspberries nearby and then we will try and board the strawberries in and protect them as best we can. They are already fruiting.

We've put up some notices in case anyone wants any of our surplus raspberry canes but not had any takers yet.

 

TK's friend came and helped us yesterday too so I gave them the job of doing some digging, which left me with not a lot I could do. I set them to work on some old earthed up areas as the soil was quite loose there...............and this is what they dug up!

 

 

 Not sure if any of them are any good, but we'll give them a try.

 

Can't believe how lucky we have been so far!

 

Days 2 and 3........

Although strictly they are days 3 and 4 as Friday was an absolute wash out.

Its the late May bank holiday weekend and half term so we are hoping to get a fair bit of digging done, weather permitting!

 

The soil is actually quite loose, not compacted at all, so digging it over isn't too much hard work apart from the weeds which seem to consist mainly of bindweed and couch grass; both of which I'm sure will be a bind to get rid of!

Most of the other plot owners we have spoken to have said don't bother getting the plot rotavated so we are a bit undecided about that.

This is how much we had done after the second day

 

 

And yes we picked some rhubarb!

And here it is a couple of hours later........in a crumble

 

 

I couldn't remember if I like rhubarb or not, but I'm pleased to say this was rather yummy.

Finding it hard persuading TK not to pick any more just yet!

It's cool harvesting something already though.

 

We've done a bit more digging today and have almost dug the width of the plot.

 

 

 

This morning we went down to the Shed Shop which is run by BALGA, the allotment association. We joined the association and also picked up some seed potatoes, although we will be a little late planting these out. We are trying a first early, Duke of York and a Picasso which is a main crop potato.

The bit of land that we have dug over is wide enough to plant a row of each.

Hoping we can get them in the ground this week.