I know, I know…the C word. But seriously if you want Sloe Gin for Christmas you would want to start planning now. It is just so easy and delicious.A walk in the countryside any day will reveal an abundance of nature’s harvest and this year is a particularly good one for the sloe, ripening nicely in the hedgerows. The sloe is the fruit of the blackthorn, a dense shrub with long spines and darkish, green, oval leaves. The bark is a distinctive, rich black- brown while the sloe is small, round, dark-blue and often covered with a whitish bloom (actually a natural yeast).Don’t pick them though until the first hard frost which makes their tough skins more porous.Children often mistake them for plums.In fact they’re barely edible in their wild form because they’re too bitter but they make an excellent port-like wine, jelly (good with meat or scones) and, of course, a rather fine gin-liquer.

I hate writing down quantities as I judge it all by eye and taste but a good start is pick about 350g (3/4 pound) of those lovely blue black sloe berries from the blackthorn trees. I got these ones near Lahardan in Mayo on the shores of Lough Conn. I normally use a litre bottle of gin three quarters full. This is handy as the bottle will already be sterile from the alcohol. Take a pin sterile it by holding it in a flame until red hot. Prick all the sloes well by running pin through them several times. Pop them in the bottle add 200g of caster sugar shake well and store in the dark. Shake every day for 2 months and them its ready for straining and drinking. It will be red and sweet to taste (see photo) I plan to make the remaining sloes into a jam…hopefully.