what kind of tree?

Collioure

Out with the spinger this morning and noticed this tree......for all you people in the know, what kind of tree is it

Grizzly 45

Sloe berry hedge.
Very acrid tasting blue/black berry,used for making sloe gin.;)

Collioure

Grizzly 45 wrote: »

Sloe berry hedge.
Very acrid tasting blue/black berry,used for making sloe gin.;)

Feck*n brilliant......I was at a driven shoot a few years ago and we had sloe gin with prosecco, absolutey gorgeous so it was........defo goin to read up on how to make the sloe gin

terminator2

sloe gin instructions.......enjoy .......http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Make-Sloe-gin/?ALLSTEPS

terminator2

BTW the sloe is the fruit of the Blackthorn tree

deeksofdoom

I made it last year but it was ****e, i didn't shake it every day and I should have waited for the first frost rather than just throwing them in the freezer at the end of September.

Waste of good Gin.

Tackleberrywho

Blackthorn grows all over me daddies farm.
Very sharp thorns.
Dickie82 is making a few sticks out of blackthorn I sourced him last year.
Makes a lovely shooting stick in conjunction with a bit of deer antler.

I still can't get people to drink my dandelion wine so I'll stay off the slow Gin

sikastag

If ya can get your hands on the 'quare stuff', using same method for sloe gin makes a grand job of it.

terminator2

made some last year , lovely , put raisins and , cynamon , and cloves , horrible colour but tasted georgous , my missus made a christmas cake out of the raisins , :D

4gun

The berries look too big to be sloes.. it might be wild plum if they are as large as a 2euo coin, the absence of thorns would be a give away eitheir way next time pick a bag of them and if they're sloes make gin ...if they're plumbs make pudding

Tackleberrywho

4gun wrote: »

The berries look too big to be sloes.. it might be wild plum if they are as large as a 2euo coin, the absence of thorns would be a give away eitheir way next time pick a bag of them and if they're sloes make gin ...if they're plumbs make pudding

Just looked at the pic again

I'd say you are on the money.
We call them damsons, they are more bushy than tree like.
Bigger stone than a Victoria plum too and less flesh.

They can run the guts out of ya if eaten not ripe

tfox

def looks like damsons to me

And damson gin is damn fine tipple

Tackleberrywho

tfox wrote: »

def looks like damsons to me

And damson gin is damn fine tipple

I have a few bushes of them if you want to pick them, they normally just become windfalls every year.

Gin just depresses me

Hibrion

If you have a smart phone check out the Leaf Snap app. It gives you info on tree species and there is a nifty function where you can photo a leaf and get info on it.

EPointer=Birdss

terminator2 wrote: »

made some last year , lovely , put raisins and , cynamon , and cloves , horrible colour but tasted georgous , my missus made a christmas cake out of the raisins , :D

Thats a mighty good woman T2.

terminator2

sikastag wrote: »

If ya can get your hands on the 'quare stuff', using same method for sloe gin makes a grand job of it.

have to agree about the "quare stuff":D:Dand she is a great girl EP considering she puts up with me:rolleyes::rolleyes:

dicky82

Tackleberrywho wrote: »

Just looked at the pic again

I'd say you are on the money.
We call them damsons, they are more bushy than tree like.
Bigger stone than a Victoria plum too and less flesh.

They can run the guts out of ya if eaten not ripe

made some jam from these last week, bloody lovely, as for the walking stick im on it :rolleyes:
as for sloe berries, get some hapless feck to eat one when you're out the next time and watch their face cave in with how bloody bitter they are. (at least the one i ate was)

arrowloopboy

deeksofdoom wrote: »

I made it last year but it was ****e, i didn't shake it every day and I should have waited for the first frost rather than just throwing them in the freezer at the end of September.

Waste of good Gin.

I made mine on 1st November,and it still went in the freezer for a week,made a Gallon and a half,gorgeous ,twisted all winter:D.
Iltr gin ,1lb sloes 1/2 lb sugar,or is that 1/2lb sloes and 1lb sugar,its all very fuzzy but i have it wrote down some where.

pedroeibar1

It's not too late to have a go, I've just finished making a second batch.

Firstly, the sloe berries must be as ripe as possible. They should be the colour of black grapes and the best are a little soft. I usually pick mine in late September, sometimes even as late as end October – you have to watch the weather as a gale can easily strip the branches of berries! Some suggest waiting until after the first frost, but this has no scientific basis and most berries will have fallen before then.
Each berry is pricked or cut – all sorts of folklore on this – but, wearing a plastic glove I usually make one or two cuts in each berry with a Stanley knife and drop the berries into an empty wine/gin bottle until it is about half full of sloes. Then I add about 4 ounces of sugar, (less if a drier flavour is required) and top up with gin. Instead of pricking or cutting the berries, some people freeze and then thaw them – this has the effect of bruising the skins and helping the flavour/colour to leech out; I’ve tried this, it sort of works, but the flavour is not as intense.
Some makers add a few cloves or a bit of cinnamon stick, I don’t. Cork the bottle, store it in a dark place (light can affect both colour and flavour, like it does to olive oil.) Shake it every day for a week to help dissolve the sugar – it will take a few days to fully dissolve. Shake the bottle every week until ready to decant. It is the action of the sugar on the berries that extracts the colour and flavour, so a shake to disperse the extracted juice, etc., is good!
By Christmas the gin should be a deep red. As I usually make several bottles, I carefully pour off the gin, leaving the sediment on the bottom of each (usually this is the bottom third of the bottle,) I pour all the cloudy stuff into a few bottles, let it settle for another week and then repeat the above, usually using a coffee filter to clear the sediment.
The same recipe can be used with blackberries and whiskey.
I always use own-brand gin from any of the supermarkets – no point in using expensive gins as the sloes will overpower any other flavours. It can be drunk neat as a liqueur or mixed with tonic. It is great for making a sorbet and adds a lift to a fruit coulis /pouring sauce.

session savage

Tackleberrywho wrote: »

Just looked at the pic again

I'd say you are on the money.
We call them damsons, they are more bushy than tree like.
Bigger stone than a Victoria plum too and less flesh.

They can run the guts out of ya if eaten not ripe

agreed, we call em damsens too. A member of the plum family apparently. Quare nice when they are ripe.