Sloe Gin Jelly

Searching for damsons in my mother's garden I came across a large crop of ripe sloes, so many in fact that I had enough for Sloe Gin (500g of sloes are currently waiting in the freezer for me to buy some cheap gin), and for me to experiment making Sloe Gin Jelly.

My recipe below has 1 shot of gin in.  I'm not sure I can taste it.  But it is a wonderfully tart jelly that would go well in a gravy, with red meat, game, strong cheddar, as much as on toast.  Apparently I have a long wait until my new damson tree fruits, but sloes turn out to be a good alternative.

500g sloes
500ml water
1kg bramley apples
500g sugar
1 shot gin (optional)

Simmer the sloes in the water, covered for about 20 minutes until the fruit is all pulpy.  Roughly chop the apples and add to the sloes, skin, cores and all.  Simmer for another 20 minutes until the apple has disintegrated.

Strain the fruit pulp through a jelly bag overnight.

Measure the collected fruit juice (mine came to 500g/500ml) and add the same weight in sugar to a clean pan.  Bring to the boil and boil rapidly for 10 minutes before checking to see if the jam is set.  Seal in sterilised jars.

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