Sloe Jelly Pictorial

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British Red

M.A.B (Mad About Bushcraft)
Dec 30, 2005
26,709
1,947
Mercia
I have a problem on the homestead. I cannot grow cranberries (because we have really good soil not the acid marshy stuff cranberries want) and I cannot grow Seville oranges (because this is Lincs). But I do like tangy spready stuff like marmalade and cranberry sauce. So I have been on the lookout for a local alternative for a while.

I spotted sloworms thread on alternate uses for sloes and Camerons link to a sloe jelly recipe and decided to give it a whirl. Its great!

Here is how to do it.

1) Pick a load of sloes

Picked SLoes by British Red, on Flickr

2) Rinse the off, weigh them, and then bung them in a pan

Sloes in pan by British Red, on Flickr

3) Just cover them in water

Scant cover in water by British Red, on Flickr

4) Stew them till they burst and stain your spoon :(

Boil hard by British Red, on Flickr

Stained Spoon by British Red, on Flickr

5) Weight out twice as many apples as you had sloes

2 Kilos of apples per kil of sloes by British Red, on Flickr

6) Chop the apples roughly (skins, cores, stalks all of them) and put them in the pan

Chopped Apple by British Red, on Flickr

7) Panic that the pan isn't big enough even though its a five gallon pan and have a glass of wine to calm down

Full Pan by British Red, on Flickr

8) Take one lemon for each kilo of sloes, take the peel and juice and add it to the pan

Rind of Lemon by British Red, on Flickr

Juice of lemon by British Red, on Flickr

9) Stew the whole lot to a fruit mush

Stewed to pulp by British Red, on Flickr

10) Let cool a bit and bung through a jelly bag that must be (and this is important) much too small for the vast pan of fruit mush

Jelly Bag by British Red, on Flickr

11) When strained measure the juice (mine was about 10" wide) and return it to the pan

Strained Juice by British Red, on Flickr

12) Bring to the boil and add 800g of sugar for each litre of liquid

Add Sugar by British Red, on Flickr

13) stir well and skim off any scum that forms. And it will. A lot.

Skim off scum by British Red, on Flickr

14) Boil the snot out of the juice skimming off the scum until a spoonfull dropped on a cold plate forms a wrinkly skin. If you have wrinkly skin anywhere else, thats your own problem.

puckered jelly by British Red, on Flickr

15) Ladle the jelly into warmed jars using a jam funnel

warmed jars and jam funnel by British Red, on Flickr

16) Put lids on the jars

Sloe Jelly by British Red, on Flickr

17) Gloat in a smug way about how jewel clear your jelly is

Finished jelly in bowl by British Red, on Flickr

Nice and tart but not bitter or mouth puckering. Going to go well with roast game or lamb I think - and be fine on toast

Red
 

Clouston98

Woodsman & Beekeeper
Aug 19, 2013
4,364
2
25
Cumbria
Fantastic mate! As I said I just did similar and golly it is good- I think I'll be having toast constantly purely so I can put some on. It's not to sweet and still has some sharpness (not unlike a raspbery but more mild) so I reckon it'd be tops in a cold meat butty too- as you said. Thanks for the excellent tutorial! :)
 
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santaman2000

M.A.B (Mad About Bushcraft)
Jan 15, 2011
16,909
1,114
67
Florida
Looking good there BR. Thanks for sharing.

I know I've probably asked before but my memory really isn't that great anymore so here goes; can you grow figs there?
 

Mesquite

It is what it is.
Mar 5, 2008
27,803
2,892
62
~Hemel Hempstead~
It sounds good Hugh goodjob

I've just done a load of Damson jam and it's turned out really well, nice and tart but sweet. I doubt there'll be much left very soon :rolleyes:
 

ozzy1977

Full Member
Jan 10, 2006
8,558
3
46
Henley
Very nice, might give this a go my self as we have loads in the hedges around here this year unlike last which was pathetic going mouldy on the tree before they were ready
 

Trencakey

Nomad
Dec 25, 2012
269
11
Cornwall
Does anyone know if Damsons can be frozen ? I think I'll be able to get some at the weekend to make jam with but I dont think I'll have time until the following weekend to actually do the jam.Thanks.
 

dewi

Full Member
May 26, 2015
2,647
12
Cheshire
Will one be jam jarring said sloe jelly?

British_Red_Jam.jpg
 

Ferret75

Life Member
Sep 7, 2014
446
2
Derbyshire
You really are good! I might have to talk to you about a proper logo for English Country Life!
Hi BR, can you use any apple for this, (cooking, crab, eating apples) with them being important for the taste or just the pectin to make it set?

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk
 

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