I cut from a magazine a receipe for sloe gin which doesn't use sugar (from Andy Hamilton "wild food expert and brewer"). I am to just fill a jar with them, cover with strong vodka and seal. Leave for six months. Strain. Leave for two years.
I am going to try it. But next year when I am harvesting sloes again, I won't know whether it is worth the wait! Or the year after that!
I pick my sloes in September. Books and magazines keep saying you should pick them after the first frosts but down here in London that is October or later. If I wait that long the sloes will either be shrivelled, have fallen off, or been picked by someone else.
I went today to open space near Kingsbury station (in north west London - Kingsbury is the station just north of Wembley). It looks as if it is old farm land. I easily got two soya dessert tubs of sloes.
The tubs are in the freezer compartment at the moment, but I intend to prick each sloe with a needle tomorrow evening as I listen to the radio, and then start the sloe gin.
Extra: Today I saw a weasal for possibly only the second time in my life. It ran across the path in front of my bike as I cycled up between the riding stable and the marshes.
I also saw what I think was a kestrel. This flew low over the path and then perched on a pylon. It looked rather grey, but the bird book shows grey underparts, so I think that the most likely bird.
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