What can I do with the leftover sloe berries from sloe gin? - Sloe Port and sloe chocolate

Us permaculture types like to get the most from our harvest. Remember in the previous blog post, I told you to save those sloes for next time? Well now you get to make these delicious things out of them too...

Sloe port recipe

In this recipe the sloes are re-macerated with red wine & sugar and then the resultant drink is fortified with a little brandy. The resultant drink will come out at around 15-20% alcohol by volume depending on which wine & brandy you use.

It tastes delicious, like a port with a lovely gentle sloe edge.

You can add sugar to taste. I've included a lower amount than the sloe gin recipe, increase it if you prefer.

You'll need the container you used for the sloe gin to make this in and then bottles in which to store your 'port'.

To make about 1 litre you'll need:

• About 500g sloes left over from your gin above
• 750ml (1 standard bottle) of red wine
• About 100g sugar
• 200ml brandy

1. Add the sloes, sugar and wine to your container. Seal and shake daily for 6-8 weeks, keeping it in a cool, dark place.
2. Taste and adjust sugar if you think necessary.
3. At the end of this time, drain the sloes off the liquid through a double layer of scalded muslin.
4. Add the brandy and mix well.
5. Pour into your clean presentation bottles.

How to make sloe chocolates

This is my interpretation of an idea I saw in Alys Fowler's new book The Thrifty Forager.

1. Take your sloes from the above recipes and lay them in a single layer on some greaseproof paper in a tray or box with sides.
2. Sprinkle over some ground cinnamon and some finely grated orange rind.
3. Melt some good quality fair trade organic dark chocolate in a saucepan or bowl over a pan of simmering water.
4. Pour the chocolate evenly over the sloes.
5. Put the tray or box in the freezer until the chocolate is hard.

When you are ready to eat, break into chunks remembering that the sloes still have stones in them. The chocolate goes extremely well with the sloe port you've just made.

Lechyd da!

Carl Legge lives on the Llyn Peninsula in Wales on a permaculture smallholding and writes a regular blog full of delicious recipes and more. He is currently writing The Permaculture Kitchen, a book of seasonal, local, home-grown delicious recipes for Permanent Publications, the book publishing arm of Permaculture magazine.