Sloes or Damsons?

Hello All!
We have a large tree (15ft+) with loads of fruit on it. We're not sure if it's a sloe (blackthorn) or a damson tree. I've looked on t'internet for pics and am still undecided between the two. Hubby says he cannot see any thorns .... I'm sure someone here can advise, as always .... Many thanks chums!!

Winnie

 

I'm not sure about Damsons, but I have plenty of Blackthorn trees. The berries are small, a much darker blue than the one in your pic, and you can't fail to find thorns on a Blackthorn tree. There are often considerably longer and sharper than the thorns of Hawthorn, Blackthorn grows very scraggly is the best way I can put it, not a straight branch to be seen usually. The older bark is quite rutted, and the the bark (young and old) is often nearly black in colour, though the younger bark polishes to a lovely deep red/purple.

So without knowing what a Damson looks like, but knowing Blackthorn, by deduction I reckon it is Damson.

 

Thanks Clueless1 ... looks like damson jam then in the near future. Will search for when to harvest and recipes too!

Winnie

 

Harvest in autumn and make Damson Gin

Take one plastic bottle with screw top lid. Fill a quarter full with damsons (washed and unstoned). Top up with cheap gin and a bit of cheap sherry if you like. Leave for 4-6 months. Drink. Say goodbye to your brain cells! Lovely!!

 

Sadly I cannot get the picture to a size where I can see it properly, but Damsons are more plum shaped as a fruit and often have a white bloom all over them when they are ripe. Sloes are more often round rather than plum shaped. The taste test will conform, though. A ripe damson is edible as it comes off the tree, a ripe sloe is definitely not.

 

It's not a sloe, more likely a damson or bullace.

 

Sloes, bullaces or damsons - either way, prick the fruit before immersing in said gin. As had already been warned, not only will this stuff have a serious effect on your brain cells, but I strongly suggest you don't go within half a mile of a naked flame ... or was that just because we made ours with some seriously high alcohol content gin?

 

Sloes are quite edible raw, but too many will give you a bad belly as they are quite sharp. They also dry your mouth out instantly, and no amount of water will get rid of the dry sensation, it just goes in its own time. In that sense they are a bit like crab apples. One or two will do no harm, apart from drying your mouth out, too many will having you proceeding with haste to the nearest lavatory.

 

I have a sloe tree, going to try the gin this year then. When are they ripe? Mine are still green.

 

Autumn. They are ripe white they are dark blue, and you can squish one effortlessly in your fingers. Harvest them, wash them, get the spud masher on them and pick out the stones.

 

Hello All,

I am new to this site, but found it by accident when looking for places to pick sloes in the Midlands. In live in Birmingham, but would be grateful if anyone could tell me if there are sloe trees nearby, I appreciate I will have to travel but not too far? Anyone out there able to help?:ntwrth:

 

Thanks to all. Will try out the gin recipe when the fruit is ripe in Autumn. This year has seen a good crop of plums (last year we had none). I'm hoping to make some jam before our daughter returns to the UK in a couple of more weeks. Last year we made a kilo-jar of quince jam. Not enough on the tree to make more. Our first attempt at making jam .. ever!! It's a rather 'dry' jam so I think we'll add a little more liquid this time round.

Sorry Suzi .. cannot answer your question re sloe-picking in the Midlands. Good luck in your search and welcome to GardenersCorner ... it's a real gem of a site!!

 

A much better recipe for sloe gin is to cover your sloes (pricked) with just enough sugar to cover
Leave it be until the sugar dissolves and takes up all of the flavour and colour of the sloes
Strain off the syrup, squeezing the fruit to ensure good flavour
Only then do you add the gin to the syrup, and this way it is much easier to balance the sweetness of the liquor to your own taste
Leave until Christmas in the dark, strain and bottle in dark green bottles (to preserve the colour)
This makes a far superior sloe gin to the recipe where you cover the sloes themselves in gin and sugar. Too much alcohol lost by disappearing into the sloes

 

I read somewhere once that Blackthorn (the tree from which we get sloes) is generally in decline in Britain, largely because many see it as a nuisance, due to the way it insists on not staying put (it spreads by underground runners and new trees pop up everywhere), so many land owners/managers chop it down. I don't know if there are statistics to back up what I read, but I must admit I haven't often seen any while out and about for a while. You sometimes see them in old hedgerows. Not much help for this year but the best time to case them out is early April. Blackthorn looks similar to Hawthorn at a glance, but Blackthorn flowers a few weeks earlier than Hawthorn so if while out driving in the countryside, if you spot a patch of hedgerow that is in full bloom while the Hawthorn is still doing its impression of a pile of dead twigs, then you've got a likely candidate for closer inspection.