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Are these sloes?
l_m_richardson
Posts: 4
in Fruit & veg
i found these on branches whilst out walking to find blackberries! They look like sloes to me but I'm just not sure, especially as I didn't encounter the sharp prickles on the branches. can anyone tell me if they are sloes?
i'm intending to use them to make sloe gin, so when can I pick them? They are quite soft and blue/purple in colour. Just wondered if I could pick them now and put them in the freezer (instead of waiting for a frost)?
0
Posts
Not sloes ... damsons
You can make damson gin instead ... delicious
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Wow, really?! I have a damson tree in my garden and these are much smaller, harder and darker than the damsons. Looks like ive been fooled! Already got some damson gin brewing - looks like I can add to my collection! ????
could they be bullaces, Dove? I've never met one face to face, just going by the description
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
The bullaces I know are a yellowish colour flushed with red when ripe usually with a white bloom. I've not met 'black' ones although I have heard speak of them.
As children we used to call small wild damsons 'blackjacks'. That's what they look like to me ... Wild ones aren't as luscious as improved cultivated ones.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
I can recognise a sloe well enough but I've always been a bit hazy on the difference between bullaces, wild damsons and cherry plums
.
All I know for sure is you can make vodka/gin out of any of them so it's not strictly necessary to tell them apart
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
"... All I know for sure is you can make vodka/gin out of any of them so it's not strictly necessary to tell them apart
..." or even possible after a glass or two 
These are the bullaces I know from cottage gardens and growing wild in hedgerows in Mid Suffolk.
https://www.orangepippintrees.co.uk/damson-trees/shepherds-bullace
Last edited: 27 August 2017 12:10:18
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
All I want to do is make gin with them, so as long as I can do that I'm happy! Hopefully the recipes aren't too different! Just wanted to check I wasn't going to use something unsuitable and end up wasting gin!! ??
Just an update...
decided to try one today. i expected a sharp, tart taste, but instead, the yellow flesh was juicy and sweet. So I'm guessing it's some sort of plum variant.