This week I've again only been to the plot once, during my lunch break to quickly pick some corn salad (lucky for me I live and work near my allotment). I really need to spend a day down there soon, may be after Christmas.
Talking of Christmas (which seems quite soon but also ages away), I've actually taken two whole weeks off work, yippee! This is the first time in about 15 years I think, so it will be great to not feel pressured into packing everything Christmassy into a few days.
Saturday night, Liz (of 'liz's mum's apples and garden where I grew squash this summer') had a Christmas bash so it seemed rather fitting to make my fourth spiced apple cake of the season, using her mum's apples of course. This time I halved the recipe completely to make a smaller loaf, and also again used room temp butter instead of vegetable oil plus added some extra nutmeg. I also halved the amount of sugar again (so only used a quarter of the original )
Yummy
It seems like a week of repeats as I used the corn salad in sandwiches again (and added a bit of paprika to the egg). Tasty though.
I made a stew again in the slow cooker too, I'm starting to get into the swing of this. I used my own onion, garlic and rocket pesto (pesto from the freezer) - the pesto goes in near the end, so by that time it had defrosted (otherwise it would've cooled the mixture too much)
Back to Christmas - last autumn I made sloe vodka (it's the same as sloe gin but with vodka instead, which I prefer). Then Jan got ill with her thyroid condition at the end of November / December and I never got round to bottling it up for presents. So it has sat on a shelf for a year developing lovely flavours, and a beautiful colour.
You can't really see the sloes here, they're in the dark bit at the bottom.
Making sloe vodka or gin is really easy :
Ingredients - sloes, vodka, sugar.
Equipment - large jar or bottles for holding the mixture, plus maybe a jug and funnel to help pour and something to strain the vodka mixture from the sloes, at the end
Pick your sloes (blackthorn berries) in late summer / autumn when the berries have ripened and turned blue. Traditionally you wait until after the first frost, to encourage the flavours and so the berries burst when used, releasing the flavours. But it's much easier to just pick them when you can and stick them in the freezer, which does the same job as a frost. I keep an eye out for them when ever I get the chance to go on a country walk. This is also much easier than pricking every sloe with a needle or knife which a friend told me they did once!
Although very quick to make, you have to leave the vodka for at least several weeks for the flavours to develop, so ensure you give yourself enough time if you want to give it out for Christmas.
Anyway, when you're ready, get yourself a bottle or two of vodka and decide what you're going to make the sloe vodka in. I keep a spare bottle, because as you're adding volume with the berries and sugar it won't all fit into bottle of vodka you've just bought.
So, I pour out the vodka into a large jug then fill the empty bottle /bottles with about 1/3 of berries and 1/3 sugar (I use organic Demerara), then fill it up with vodka. easy peasey!
Shake the bottle every day for two weeks (make sure the lid is on properly) to dissolve the sugar and for the sloes to release their flavours and beautiful colours. Then leave for as long as long you can resist before enjoying.
On Saturday I decided to bottle mine up. Luckily, when I made some for Xmas pressies a few years back, some of the recipients gave me back the pretty bottles, so I didn't need to buy more this time round, which saved a bit of money.
I hardly ever drink alcohol these days, but sloe vodka is a definite exception at this time of year - cheers!
I've kept the berries (putting them all back in one bottle for storage) as they have absorbed the vodka and sugar and can be used for various puddings etc (they're a bit strong on their own).
The sloe vodka makes a really nice present, here with elderberry and apple jelly I made earlier in the year (made with added cloves for a festive flavour twist)
That's it from me this week - hope you all have a lovely festive season :)
Linking in with Harvest Monday hosted by Dave at Our Happy Acres
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That sloe vodka certainly is pretty. We don't have sloes around here - can you eat the berries as they are or do they only used in other things?
ReplyDeleteThat should read "...or are they only used..." - my fingers are slow today ;)
DeleteThanks Margaret. Raw sloes (a member of the plum family) are hard and sour, but once they've been with alcohol and sugar can be eaten if you like the strong alcohol flavour. I know people will then eat them with ice cream or make a chocolate liqueur for example - there's a hard stone in the middle to remove though. I've made a boozy fruit leather before with them which I might do again with these at some point :)
DeleteThat sloe vodka sounds yummy. I had no idea it could be made at home like that. Though I guess folks made their vodka at home here during the Prohibition. And your 'week of repeats' sounds good to me! Harvests here are repeats too, but yours are more interesting to me.
ReplyDeleteThanks Dave, yep when I heard of sloe gin / vodka originally I thought you had to actually make the vodka or gin. But really we're just flavouring it.
DeleteHaha, it's funny how other people's repeats look better than your own - I wish I had your kale repeats!
Sloe vodka sounds like an easy tasty treat. I don't think sloes grow around here, but if they did I might give that a try. I've made something very similar with brandy and cherries and also with mulberries. Both are delicious.
ReplyDeleteHi Michelle, mmm yes definitely lots of different berries can be used. I've used bullaces before (small wild plums bigger than sloes), I haven't been past that hedgerow again since then though.
DeleteThe spiced apple cake looks delicious, so does the sandwich, its so nice to have fresh leaves at this time of year isn't it. I need to visit the allotment in the next day or two and see what's going on down there. CJ xx
ReplyDeleteThanks CJ, yes it's really nice to have some fresh leaves. Hope you find some goodies at your plot. Hey, I've been been wrapping presents with re-used Xmas paper, gifts from charity shops (including a good set of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy for a friend's daughter), fair trade treats, gift memberships for the RSPB for my nephews and niece, and decorating twigs in our lounge - trying for a low impact Christmas as usual :)
DeleteYou make your Sloe Vodka very sweet, by the sound of it. When I make Sloe Gin I only add a couple of dessert spoonfuls of sugar, because I like the Gin quite "dry". Yours is cloudy, I note. I filter mine through muslin (or a paper coffee filter) which makes the Gin clear and shiny.
ReplyDeleteHi mark, yes it is quite sweet - how my family like it but yep the amount of sugar can be varied.
DeleteThe top photo is before I strained out the berries and I'd just given the bottle a shake, so all the bits are floating around. That's a good idea to use a paper coffee filter though.
For me the spiced apple cake is the star!
ReplyDeleteThanks sue, it's a good recipe, glad I found it (can't even remember how I found it now)!
DeleteI also prefer sloe vodka to sloe gin. It's a lovely drink on a cold (or just damp) winter night :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Matt, my mum and dad really enjoyed their bottle, it didn't last long!
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