Sloes?

[nightshade]

Sloes are wasted in gin, they do make a beautiful wine though.

[Ladywell]

Originally Posted by Jim Ford

Try eating one and you'll have to go to casualty to get your mouth un-puckered!

;^)

Jim

That made me laugh - I saw a lone hiker on a lane near here pick and eat one - he soon spat it out!! (I had just parked to watch a buzzard) There is a pub about a mile further on - guess he couldn't wait to get in there to get rid of the taste!!

[Billabong Karen]

Slightly off topic, but a question that has been interesting me for some time... I have noticed that blackbirds and so on tend to leave some berries until quite late in the year, firethorn and sloes, for instance. They seem particularly to leave them until after the first frost. Probably this is just because they dont like the taste very much, and go for other available foods first. However, I did also wonder whether a frost has some effect on the berries that make them more palatable - a bit like Eiswein, where frost on the grapes somehow results in a sweeter, more sugar-intensive wine.

[Paul mabbott]

Originally Posted by nightshade

Sloes are wasted in gin, ..........

Yes, I always use vodka .....

[Paul mabbott]

Originally Posted by Billabong Karen

Slightly off topic, but a question that has been interesting me for some time... I have noticed that blackbirds and so on tend to leave some berries until quite late in the year, firethorn and sloes, for instance. They seem particularly to leave them until after the first frost. Probably this is just because they dont like the taste very much, and go for other available foods first. However, I did also wonder whether a frost has some effect on the berries that make them more palatable - a bit like Eiswein, where frost on the grapes somehow results in a sweeter, more sugar-intensive wine.

With most fruit, the longer you leave them the more sugars they produce so the more palatable they become to humans. However, there is also the matter of texture - as well as tasting very bitter, young sloes are very hard and, possibly indigestible to smaller animals. The ripening of the fruit includes softening of the texture.

[nightshade]

When I collect for winemaking I prefer the "after the First Frost" fruit it is softer and not as bitter also the seeds germinate more readily if I want some plants.

[Jonathan]

I found four hawfinches in southern Cumbria last Saturday morning feeding on sloes, probably more interested in the large stone within rather than the flesh. In the short blackthorn hedge were perhaps a score of fieldfare and redwing which I'd imagined were also feeding on the sloes, but after reading the link below maybe they were simply resting in the hedge before flying across the lane to the numerous hawthorn bushes.

The larger Mistle Thrush shows a strong preference for sloes over haws, while Redwing finds sloes too large to tackle, preferring instead to feed on haws, a preference also shown by Fieldfare.

Plants for fruits and seeds | BTO - British Trust for Ornithology

Cheers
Jonathan

[Billabong Karen]

Originally Posted by nightshade

When I collect for winemaking I prefer the "after the First Frost" fruit it is softer and not as bitter also the seeds germinate more readily if I want some plants.

Thanks Nightshade, and to you too Paul.

[Ladywell]

You can replicate the 'first frost' by putting them in the freezer for 48 hours before you use them!!

[APC]

Originally Posted by Ladywell

You can replicate the 'first frost' by putting them in the freezer for 48 hours before you use them!!

This doesn't work. The "first frost" thing is something to do with the movement of tanins through the blackthorn, out from the berry.

Freezing them does however mean that you don't need to sit there and stab each and every one as they will split when thawing.

I've got 2L of sloe on the go at the mo, woah!

Started it last week will probably try and keep it for next autumn/winter.