Ingredients

1l bottle gin
600g damsons
200g Muscovado sugar

Damson Gin Preparation:

Method:

I have a friend with a damson tree and tend to pick them around mid September. If you don't have a damson tree then shop-bought damsons will work equally well. Halve the damsons and remove the stones then halve the remaining pieces once again. Prick them with a fork and freeze them for a week or so. This breaks down the cells of the damsons and gives a better flavour to the gin. But you can just as well make sloe gin with fresh damsons.

Begin by dividing the gin between 2 x 1l bottles. Add 100g sugar to each bottle (I like my damson gin tart, add 150g sugar if you like a sweeter product) now top-up both bottles with frozen and just-thawed damsons until the level of liquid reaches the neck of the bottle. Invert the bottle several times until the sugar dissolves. Now turn or agitate the bottle daily for a week, then weekly for a month or two ... by which time it will be ready to drink. However, if you can leave the drink for six months or more it will be even better.

After about 6 months decant the gin into fresh bottles. You can discard the damson slurry at the bottom of the bottle at this point. But I find this a real waste and tend to press the damson slurry through a sieve to remove the skins. I then add sugar and bake the slurry into a pie or use it to make sauces. It's tart but extremely flavoursome and goes well with fatty meats.