bingo
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Sloe jelly helpI made some sloe jelly yesterday, I've never made this before and didn't follow any particular recipe.
I boiled the Sloes in water and sugar, passed them off, reduced the liquid, then set it.
It tastes nice but really bitter, like a mouth full of orange pith.
Have I done something wrong, is there anything I can do to help it?
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BahamaMama
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I find sloes completely inedible even after soaking in gin for 6 weeks. I have seen suggestions to make ice-cream etc with them but for me they are completely unpalatable. I think that is just what they are.
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dougal
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I think they need to be used (with a very light hand) to just flavour/sharpen an apple jelly. Way, way, way too strong otherwise.
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gil
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I've made pure sloe jelly before now, and it was fine. Not bitter at all. Just a slight sharpness.
Put the sloes in pan, with water to just cover.
Simmer till soft
Strain through muslin / jelly bag
Do NOT squeeze the bag.
Measure the juice back into the pan
Add 1lb of sugar per 1 pint of strained juice.
Boil till setting point.
Have a look at my Articles about making jellies, also Preserving Wild Fruits
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judith
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Re: Sloe jelly help | bingo wrote: | It tastes nice but really bitter, like a mouth full of orange pith.
Have I done something wrong, is there anything I can do to help it? |
I did the same thing a couple of years back with some crab apple/blackberry jelly. The background flavour was lovely, but the jelly was soooo astringent it was completely inedible.
The only thing you can really do is heat it up again and add some more sugar - only you can decide if that is worth doing!
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gil
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Re: Sloe jelly help | bingo wrote: | I've never made this before and didn't follow any particular recipe. I boiled the Sloes in water and sugar, passed them off, reduced the liquid, then set it.
Have I done something wrong, ? |
Yes, you've used the wrong method and no recipe. See my post above.
| bingo wrote: | | is there anything I can do to help it? |
maybe what judith said. And use the recipe/method next time. It does work.
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Behemoth
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So what are the alternative uses for astringent tasting goo.
Slug killer?
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Wingy
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Incorporate it with some apples in a crumble, with sugar!
I always make apple & sloe jelly - rather yummy.
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dpack
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instant sloe gin ?
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bingo
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Thanks guys, it's the tanin that's making it taste horrible, Ray Mears pounds the sloes into like friut leathers and drys them in his new book, he says this sorts it out.
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gil
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I'd reckon that if you boil the sloes (as you say you did) instead of gently simmering for not that long, that will release the tannins.
Seriously, I've not had a problem with tannins with sloes when making jelly (or wine, come to that).
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Bugs
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Just supposing for argument's sake that one wound up with the same results as Bingo above...I don't think I did boil it and I definitely didn't squash the bag but I probably wasn't as gentle as I could have been 
So the jelly is beautiful, and smells/tastes lovely, and then three seconds later it removes all the moisture from your tongue and starts working its way down your throat looking for more.
And I've left it three months or so (frozen berries which were ripe when picked) and it hasn't got any better.
Can I use it for anything useful, should I give it another six months of hard stares, or should I just do the kindest thing and put something more tasty in the empty jars?
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gil
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Hmmm. Get juice from ordinary cooking apples by stewing and straining off juice, measure and add sugar @ 1lb/pint juice; add sloe jelly, warm it all up till jelly and sugar dissolve, re-boil to setting point.....
Or just start again from scratch this year and use half sloes, half cooking apples.
Whitebeam jelly is totally revolting in exactly that gullet-stripping way you describe. Tastes and smell lovely.
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Susanne
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Hi - have just joined - a great site.
I have access to a patch of sloes, hawthorns etc, and tried sloe and apple jelly (50/50) today. I went off-recipe by experimenting with juniper berries as a flavouring. No trace in the resulting jelly!
Does anyone have any tips as to herbs or spices that have an affinity with sloes? Or are they best left alone? The plants surrounding the sloes give no clues (grass, hawthorn, crabapple).
Another area of confusion is why it is often advised to sterilise the
jelly strainer when the strained liquid is to be heated again? Chemistry was never my strong point...
Hope this topic has not already been raised in previous threads.
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gil
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Hi there, and welcome to Downsizer !
You need quite a lot of juniper berries to make an impact on the flavour of a jelly - I make a blackcurrant and juniper jelly, putting the juniper berries crushed in a muslin bag - about 2 tablespoons full per batch of jelly, just at the boiling to a set phase.
I don't bother adding extra herbs or spices to my sloe jelly - if I want those flavours, I add them to whatever I'm cooking that I will eat the jelly with - e.g. juniper to the roast meat, or fennel seed to the roast potatoes.
Re sterilising the jelly bag before use - I always do this just in case I haven;t managed to totally clean the bag after I last used it. Especially as i use a pillowcase, not a nylon mesh bag.
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Susanne
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Thanks for shedding light on juniper berries - I thought I was being bold in putting in ten! I also strained them before the boiling stage. So no wonder no taste.
Re sterilising, I tried the ironing route, only to burn a hole. Perhaps a kettle of boiling water? Will try pillow cases as an alternative to the expensive bought jelly bags...
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Bugs
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| gil wrote: | Hmmm. Get juice from ordinary cooking apples by stewing and straining off juice, measure and add sugar @ 1lb/pint juice; add sloe jelly, warm it all up till jelly and sugar dissolve, re-boil to setting point.....
Or just start again from scratch this year and use half sloes, half cooking apples.
Whitebeam jelly is totally revolting in exactly that gullet-stripping way you describe. Tastes and smell lovely. |
Thanks for this - I think I'll probably leave it as it could be a terrible waste of good apples to force them in to a jar with this 'orrible stuff  I would probably have to dilute it to homeopathic quantities before it would be palatable. Pity about the whitebeam too - so pretty and prolific. I shall stick to damsons for jelly and jam in future, and allow my lovely assistant to make wine from the sloes 
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jamanda
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Bugs, if you get a chance to come over this way I can show you a whole thicket of bullaces which are ready to pick and make good jam etc.
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gil
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| Susanne wrote: | | Re sterilising, I tried the ironing route, only to burn a hole. Perhaps a kettle of boiling water? Will try pillow cases as an alternative to the expensive bought jelly bags... |
I've got a nylon jelly bag as well. That's really easy to put into a small pan of boiling water and heat for 10 mins or so.
I do my pillowcase in a bigger pan of boiling, mainly the botton half of it, but it usually all ends up in the water.
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gil
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| Bugs wrote: | | Pity about the whitebeam too - so pretty and prolific. I shall stick to damsons for jelly and jam in future, and allow my lovely assistant to make wine from the sloes |
Oddly enough, whitebeam makes a really lovely wine, no trace of the bitterness. Just don't heat/boil the fruit - do a cold steeping for 5 days, using fruit as ripe as it can get before the birds go for it.
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bridget and peter
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I've made sloe and apple jelly (Slapple Jelly) before - probably about half and half. No bitterness.
This year I've used about 1 lb apples, 1/2 lb sloes and half wild plums (?bullaces - small and red), cooked up together, rubbed through a sieve and added 1 lb sugar to 1 pint pulp to make a jam-type preserve I've called 'Slum Spread'. That's not bitter, either.
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yummersetter
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| Jamanda wrote: | | Bugs, if you get a chance to come over this way I can show you a whole thicket of bullaces which are ready to pick and make good jam etc. |
Bugs, if you come this way before going that way  I have something that needs to get to Jamanda
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Bugs
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Jamanda and Gil, thanks for the offer/advice - I may well take both of them up at some point!
I love slum and slapple spreads
Yummersetter, happy to help if we can!
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