A bookmark a week #4 sloe port

Another week, another kitchen whim.

Last year my wonderful mother foraged so many sloes that she bought me a load over so I could continue my fruit liqueur obsession (honestly, I have a cupboard just for them). I decided to make sloe gin and sloe brandy. The gin was great, the brandy's also great. Both do kind of have a medicinal hint to them, but that's ok, I could drink them when I had a cold and pretend it was healthy.

Soooo... the gin's all gone now and there's not much brandy left. 

So, so sad.

Anyhoo, I have a real problem with throwing anything edible away so when it came time to throw away the sloes I just couldn't do it. They'd been soaking in booze sugar for months, there MUST be something I can do with them! I know you can dip them in chocolate, but I don't have the patience for chocolate dipping and afterward I'd just have to eat all the chocolate. Bad plan.

Then I found this link.....

http://www.permaculture.co.uk/readers-solutions/what-can-i-do-leftover-sloe-berries-sloe-gin-sloe-port-and-sloe-chocolate

Port! I can make another booze drink! 

Ben and I love port with cheese but we really only have it at Christmas. We decided to make one batch with the leftovers from the gin, if it's good we'll make another with the brandy and have a full-on comparison with a good Stilton. Mmmm.... Stilton....

It's so simple, get the sloes, the sugar and the wine (not a very nice bottle, but something perfectly drinkable), chuck them together in a jar (the only one I had is far too big but nevermind), shake and put in a cool dark place. 

t was not a tricky job

Once it was done, we left it in our cosy little cupboard with its liqueur friends and then we forgot about it for a while. 

I'm currently very excited about the kumquat brandy on the left

I know it says shake every day but I haven't needed to do that with any other fruit'nbooze concoction so I thought I wouldn't bother. 

Guess what? It worked!

So we strained it through muslin, retaining the sloes for the chocolate bark in the link. I'll make it if it means I get another use out of the sloes (3 uses, hoarding win), added the brandy and then, boom! Port.

In our fancy vintage glasses, too

After tasting, I can tell you that it's bloody lovely. Nice and fruity with a proper kick.

We'll be putting it away for Christmas as these things usually mature nicely in the bottle and trying it again then. In the meantime I'll use the sloes from the brandy to make another bottle so we can have the proper taste test. 

Verdict, I shall never again throw away booze-soaked fruit. I have some vodka-soaked gooseberries in the freezer..... maybe with white wine....?

Tell you what, if I do it and it isn't hideous I'll do another post on it.... if it is hideous, I won't tell you a damn thing about it.

Love and kisses,

H.