Fancy sipping some homemade Sloe Vodka this Christmas? Or gifting a bottle to your favourite people?
You are SO in the right place!
Sloe vodka is such an easy tipple to make and really does make the most beautiful gift.
This homemade Sloe Vodka is growing my stash of homegrown booze a treat!
My blackberry flavoured vodka is still in the brewing phase, although it is now ready to strain (and taste test!).
And whilst our blackcurrants were an epic failure this year, I did still manage to lay down one lonely bottle of my homemade blackcurrant cassis for the darker months.
Homemade Sloe Vodka
There’s something very olde worlde about cracking open a bottle of a hedgerow brew that you picked yourself to share with loved ones on a cold winters night.
It’s a fruity, warming tipple that is so smooth taste.
And because you’re adding sugar and fruit, you can get away with using a cheap supermarket brand of vodka.
It’ll all mellow together into a rich and syrupy liqueur.
And the best bit is, the recipe simply couldn’t be any easier!
Sloe Vodka Traditions
By the way, it’s tradition (at least in my house!) to keep the best bottle from each batch, somewhere dusty and forgotten.
Consider this your ‘forager tax’ and have no guilt in keeping it all to yourself if you so choose!
We tend to polish this last, dusty bottle off as we work on preparing next years batch. I highly recommend making this your tradition too!
So, get your wellies on and hit the hedgerows.
When should you pick sloes?
Some folk say that you should only pick sloes after the first frost.
As I live here in Cornwall (UK) where the climate tends to be quite mild, the sloe harvest is almost over by the time that comes around.
The other option is to pick them and freeze them before using them.
A quick check of the internet as to why this is recommended tells me that one theory is that it softens the skin which then splits and allows the juices to come out.
The other is that freezing sloes makes their flesh sweeter.
As we’re splitting the skins with a sharp knife, and brewing them mixed with sugar, I think we can safely ignore that advice for this particular recipe.
Where do sloes grow?
When you’re foraging for wild sloes, you’re looking for blackthorn bushes.
Here in the UK blackthorn are a traditional hedgerow tree and are pretty easy to spot at this time of year.
They have vicious inch-long spikes on the branches.
And clusters of small black fruit that are quite similar looking to blueberries.
Sloes are part of the plum family. So inside that black skin with a whitish bloom, you’ll find an orangey-yellow flesh and a single flatish stone.
The fruit is hard, sour and unpalatable straight from the tree. The juice however is divine, once softened with vodka, sugar and time.
This is what you’re looking for in the hedgerow:
3 simple steps to a sloe vodka recipe
I said this recipe couldn’t be easier. And here’s the proof!
1/ prep your sloes
On getting your stash home, work through them all removing any leaves or bits of stew from each fruit.
This is time consuming work so I recommend putting YouTube on to help you through :)
Next, wash them well in a sieve under warm running water.
Shakes the sieve to remove most of the water, then tip them out on a clean towel on the kitchen counter.
Roll the towel over them to dry completely.
2/ prep your vodka
Sterilise a large glass jar or bowl. I sterilised mine by running it through the hot wash in the dishwasher. But you could also soak it in water laced with Milton sterilising tablets too.
Pour in the vodka.
Then follow with the sugar.
Stir together well.
The sugar will slowly dissolve in the alcohol over the next few days.
3/ add your sloes to the alcohol solution
Assuming you’ve picked your fruit before the first frost too, the skin on your sloes will also be intact.
So we need to pierce the skin of each fruit to allow the alcohol in, and the juice out.
Use a small sharp knife to carefully slice into each fruit, and then drop them into the glass jar.
Give it another good stir.
You’ll soon start to see the colour coming out of the fruit, staining the vodka with that beautiful purple hue.
Cover the jar, and store it somewhere cool and dry.
Stir it daily for the first week (don’t panic if you forget, stirring it just helps agitate the juice of the fruit quicker. It will still work/taste wonderful if you forget)
4/ straining your sloe vodka
Store the jar for about a month. A week or so either way won’t make a huge difference.
Next, simply strain the sloes out of the vodka, and decant into sterilised bottles.
Top off with a (sterile) lid, and pop a label on. Don’t forget to write the year on the label either – once you get into hedgerow brewing you’ll likely end up with as many random bottles in your pantry as I have!
Can you use the leftover sloes?
Yes! I tend to donate all my ‘drunken fruit’ that’s leftover from making various brews and tipples to my Mum who loves to use them up for me! She adds it to crumbles and pies, or just a spoonful or so on top of a bowl or rice pudding or custard!
If you have any great uses for using up your ‘drunken fruit’, please let us all now in the comments below!
Here’s a link to a video I made showing just how easy it is forage for wild sloes and make this delicious sloe vodka.
Enjoy!
Freeze and/or prick the sloes to allow the juice out. Pile into one (or more) sterilised glass jars.
Tip in the sugar, pour in the vodka and stir a little.
Pop the lid on tightly and store somewhere cool and dark, stirring/shaking occasionally.
After 2-4 weeks, strain off the vodka and seal in sterilised bottles. The alcohol content means that it will keep indefinitely.
And if you’re in the mood for more fun foraging projects, now is the perfect time to try out my popular Plantain Salve recipe! It’s so simple, and makes such a useful skin balm to help you through the season ahead.
And if you’d like another sloe recipe to try, this Sloe and Blackberry Hedgerow Jam is just delish!
Corina says
I remember my aunt used to pick sloe berries to put in alcohol. I’ve never tried making any myself but would quite happily drink it!
Kate Hackworthy (@veggie_desserts) says
I’ve had such a lovely sloe gin that a friend made. I really must try making your sloe vodka! Great video.
Andrea ThePetiteCook says
This vodka looks absolutely gorgeous (and I’m sure it tastes amazing too!). I never tried making it myself, but it’s definitely got to try it soon!
fabfood4all says
I have never made my own booze but am inspired by your post and I shall be looking out for sloes which I’ve no doubt walked passed without knowing!
jacquee | i sugar coat it! says
With the cooler weather approaching, I could certainly warm up to this liquid jewel!
christinegalvani says
Great tutorial on making your own Sloe Vodka! It looks awesome!
Kate says
Oooh I need to try making my own sloe vodka. Love the video :)
Sam | Ahead of Thyme says
Yum! Love that this drink came from berries that you picked!
All That I'm Eating says
I really like the sound of sloe vodka but every year I always make sloe gin…maybe I should make both this year…you know, just for quality purposes.
Jane Sarchet says
Oh absolutely! and I think you should invite me round for the quality control sesh ;) :D
Alan Jones says
Jane.ill make some just to invite you round
Jane Sarchet says
Deal!
foodhuntersguide says
I’ve never heard of this before but I would love to try it.
Dorothy Reinhold says
Great video! I would love to make this as gifts…
Gary Molloy says
Been making sloe vodka for 5 years now and it is an easy tipple to make.truely unique taste and a smooth drink.
Jane Sarchet says
Hard to beat on a cold winters night huh?!
Thanks for stopping by Gary
Jane x
Sharon Hyams says
I started my sloe vodka on 30th October but have just been reading that I should have kept in a cool dark room. I have had mine away from the window in my kitchen as I wanted to be able to see it to remind me to shake it. Have I ruined it?
I was so looking forward to putting it in little bottles and giving as Christmas presents. I would be very grateful for your views.
Jane Sarchet says
You should be absolutely fine Sharon :)
Steve says
Hello Jane,
Can I use honey instead of sugar?
Thanks
Steve
Jane Sarchet says
Hey Steve! Honestly, you’ve got me there. I’m going to guess on yes, as honey is used as a preserving agent like sugar, and the alcohol will offer more preserving powers.
However if anyone knows any different please let us know?
And Steve if you try it – would you let me know how it goes?
Jane x
Sonja says
Made a bottle blackberry vodka and a bottle of sloe gin. Blackberry vodka is lovely, haven’t cracked the sloe gin open yet, made both in October 2017, using your recipe. Have just put a sloe vodka to marinate, hope it’s as good as the blackberry. Thanks for the recipe.
Jane Sarchet says
Sonja, that’s so awesome to hear! Thank you so much for taking the time to leave me a message, it truly made my day! I’d be interested in hearing whether you prefer the sloe gin or the sloe vodka (and I think I need to do a little taste test of to two too!)
Jane x
Jannie Lloyd says
I’m in central France and this year the hedgerow fruits have been overwhelmingly fantastic.
I’ve got a couple of litre’s of Sloe Vodka and Sloe White Rum on the go. Only got a couple of litres of each as funds run out before the fruit did. This is the first time I’ve tried sloes with white rum. Hope it turns out OK.
Also got Damson Rum and Damson vodka so we’ll be set up for Christmas and (hopefully) well into the New Year.
Jane Sarchet says
Sounds just perfect Jannie :)
Debbie says
Thank you so much for this recipe. Having found an abundance of sloes last week, a few of which are now languishing in the freezer, could you please tell me do I need to defrost them first or can I use the frozen sloes in the recipe? Many thanks
Jane Sarchet says
I think I would aim to defrost them overnight before using Debbie.
Jane x
Muse says
I wanted to pop by and say how much I love this recipe! I spent a lot of time foraging this summer and I’ve made some lovely jellies and syrups with sloes, but this is by far the best!
The first batch was experimental because I wanted to see how well I could make it. We cracked the jar I put up around my birthday and we finished it off quite fast – how delicious, and so very good with ice and fruit cordial! I’ve just put up another couple of batchs to enjoy over Yule and for a gift to my partner’s mum.
Thanks so much for all your wonderful recipes!
Jane Sarchet says
What a lovely message! Thank you Muse, it made my day!
Sharon Florey says
Any recommendations on what to do with the sloes after? Can they be used? And also can you advise the best time to start a batch of sloe vodka
Thanks
Jane Sarchet says
Sure! Sloes are a little bitter but with sugar and apples you could use them in a crumble or pie. My mum stews them up with a little fruit juice & sugar and eats them with custard.
Be sure to remove all the little stones from the centre of each sloe (which will be a lengthy process) if you’re serving them to anyone that would struggle with crunching down on a stone.
The books suggest picking them after the first frost (I believe the reason for this is it splits the skin), but I picked some last weekend (early Sept) and they worked well in a jam. If you need them to have split skin for a specific recipe you can put them int eh freezer overnight to mimic the frost.
Jane x
Richard Low says
If you are freeing the berrys by hand, instead of slicing with a knife, use a thorn from the bush to peirce through both sides of the skin, it’s supposedly bad luck if you don’t, I do sloe gin usually and I leave the berries in the gin for 2-3 months usually just in time for Christmas from early October, I Also use brown sugar instead of white, it does take longer to break down though, but I find it is better overall, going to try vodka this year .