What To Do With Sloes, From Sloe Gin & Beyond

It’s autumn’s last hurrah, your final chance to forage hedgerows for sloes. To be fair, these inky-blue berries with their grey bloom have been gracing blackthorn trees (Prunus spinosa) since the end of July but ideally, it’s best to pick them now once we’ve had the first frost. Sloes and gin are the most well-known of matches but we want to look beyond this and have found several recipes, the results of which you’ll be able to use from morning to night.

Sloe Drinks at a Glance

Steep, simmer or sweeten

The sloe berry in its natural form is tart and tannic, not something you want to pick on a walk. Use it in cooking when steeped, simmered or sweetened, and you’ll feel you’re onto something, giving your home cooking a new dimension.



Making your own produce from foraged fruit is a seasonal ritual that connects you to the rhythms of life and landscape. It’s immensely satisfying too and the perfect activity for an autumn afternoon.

Foraging sloes - from hedge to kitchen

Hedgerows are still full of sloes so get picking before it’s too late. They’re easy to spot, given their bright colour and cloudy bloom. It’s easy and quick work to fill a bowl. When you get home, wash and dry the berries, removing any stems and start cooking with them. The berries freeze well if you don’t have the time to use them now.

Sloes are one of a nature’s wonders: their astringency is overpowering but with the right recipes, you can turn their astringent tang may seem forbidding, but with sugar, time, and a little imagination, sloes transform beautifully into liqueurs, jams, and sauces that taste of the season itself.

Drinks and Liqueurs With Sloes

First and foremost, do you wait until the first frost before picking your sloes for steeping in alcohol? You can but you can always put them in the freezer overnight so that their skins break. Alternatively, you can prick each sloe with a fork to allow the juices to permeate into the alcohol.

Sloe gin

The Bottle Co.


Sloe gin is the most popular thing to do with the fruit and it's very simple, requiring just sloes and sugar. There is a school of thought that you steep the berries in gin and leave for several months. You then add sugar to taste after filtering out the berries and any sediment. As the weeks progress, the berries infuse the spirit with beautiful jewel like colours, culminating in a liqueur that's perfect for sipping on a cold day or adding to some fizz. You can of course do this recipe with vodka or brandy, or infuse with spices like cinnamon or vanilla for a touch of festive spirit. Find the recipe here.

Sloe Vodka

Greedy Gourmet


Why not try sloe vodka for a change? It's the same process. Given the taste of vodka is more neutral, sloes really are the star ingredient here and do the talking. Ideally you'll leave the steeping ingredients for at least three months to allow the flavours to develop but no longer than a year. Find the recipe here.

Sloe Gin Fizz

BBC Food, Wayne Collins


Once you're sloe gin is ready, try a sloe gin fizz. Just add some soda or tonic water and you can sweeten to taste with some sugar syrup. Wayne Collins' recipe suggests garnishing with a sprig of mint and a blackberry. Find the recipe here.

The Best Wild Cordial

As you'll discover, sloes aren't all about alcohol and if you're after a refreshing non alcoholic beverage, try this cordial recipe, which gently coaxes the flavour from the berries. There are a number of steps, where you simmer the berries and you'll need sterilised bottles. Once done, seal the bottles and they'll keep for a few months in a cold place. Mix the cordial with water or make a mocktail or use on puddings as a fruity syrup. Find the recipe here.

Syrups, Jams, Jellies & Curd With Sloes

Sloe Balsamic Vinegar Reduction

Kitchen & Other Stories


This recipe is all about simmering and reduction until you have a richly coloured intense liquid. Be sure to keep the pulp to use in another recipe. It can be stored up to a year in sterilised bottles. You definitely need to try this recipe. Find the recipe here.

Sloe Jam

Delyth Cooks


Ring the changes and make sloe jam this year. Have it on toast for breakfast or why not try it with cheese and crackers. You could add a spoonful or two to a winter crumble or add to fizzy water for a refreshing drink. Find the recipe here.

Hedgerow Jelly

BBC Food, Pam Corbin


This hedgerow jelly is a mix of crab apples, sloes, damsons, rosehips or elderberries, all good foraging fruit. Given the fruit is strained once cooked, you only need to remove leaves and stalks before washing. Crab apples have high levels of pectin so the jelly should set easily. Perfect to have with roast lamb Find the recipe here.

Sloe Syrup Recipe

Wildwalks South West - Rachel Lambert


Rachel Lambert's recipe for this thick syrup is reminiscent of tart plums, with a background of dry sloes and dark sugar (we'd use muscovado sugar). Rachel suggests drizzling the syrup over porridge or in her Sloe Treacle Tart recipe (see below) – where that dryness disappears completely. Find the recipe here.

Sloe Gin Cranberry Sauce

Supper In The Suburbs


Here's a boozy cranberry sauce, full of Christmas flavour. When making the sauce, the stones of the fruit that have been used to infuse the gin leave a slight nutty or almond flavour behind which is delicious so do bear this in mind when making sloe gin. To cook this, you swap out some of the liquid (orange juice in our case) and replace with alcohol. With this recipe, you just use alcohol. Find the recipe here.

Sloe Berry Curd

The Forage Field


Push your culinary boundaries and give this curd recipe a go. You can use frozen fruit so there is no need to rush to make it now. Sloe berry curd is deliciously cream with the most lovely colour. This recipe is easy to make and given its unusual, everyone who tries it will be wowed.

Cook With Sloes

Venison and Slow Gin Stew

Olive Magazine


This recipe is a combination of warming stew, sloe gin and a cheesy polenta. You'll need time on your hands to allow the stew to cook slowly but you'll be richly rewarded. Serve with gremolata (parsley, garlic, lemon juice and olive oil) which rounds off the flavours perfectly. Find the recipe here.

Sloe Gin and Blackberry Jelly

BBC Food, Valentine Warner


How about rounding off a rich meal with a grown up alcohol infused jelly for pudding. It's simple to make and looks dramatic when served in glasses. Just make sure you leave enough time for the jelly to set. Find the recipe here.

Winter Warming Sloe Treacle Tart

Wildwalks SouthWest - Rachel Lambert


You really must try this: it's a rich fruity treacle tart with a crumbly oatmeal pastry. Serve warm with cream or ice cream. Rachel Lambert was inspired by Swedish and German friends who encouraged her to make sloe syrup which in turn resulted in this wonderful (and different) treacle tart. Find the recipe here.

Sloe Snacks

Sticky Sloe and Nut Cluster

Wild Walks South West - Rachel Lambert


We've saved the best recipes to last and these gooey crunchy clusters of sloes and nuts are the bees' knees. And you can make them from the leftover fruit of sloe syrup. The full recipe can be found in Rachel's book Wild and Sweet. Find the recipe here.

Sloe Gin Chocolate Bark

Island Wild Food


Another recipe that makes use of sloes that have been steeping in gin. Try this combination of white and dark chocolate, sloes from your gin and a little sloe gin, plus some toasted almonds or other nuts. The bark is simple to make and tastes superb. Find the recipe here.

Tips & Troubleshooting: Perfecting Your Sloe Recipes

Part of the enjoyment of making sloe gin, or any sloe recipe for that matter, is that no two batches are ever quite the same. However, a few small tweaks can make the difference between a pleasant tipple and a truly exceptional one, when you're making gin.

1. Taste as You Go

For sloe gin, if you prefer it on the dry side, use less sugar to start with and adjust later. For a richer, liqueur-like finish, add a touch more. A quick taste after a few weeks’ steeping will tell you whether it needs extra sweetness or time.

2. Give It Time

When making sloe gin, three months is a good minimum, but many swear by leaving it even longer for deeper flavour. Store your jar in a cool, dark place, shake it gently every so often, and strain it only when the colour has deepened to a ruby hue.

3. Filter for Clarity

To avoid cloudiness in sloe gin, strain slowly through muslin or a fine coffee filter. Patience here pays off here as the clearer your gin, the more jewel-like it will look in the glass.

4. Using Leftover Sloes

Don’t discard those gin-soaked berries as they can be repurposed into truffles, jams, or chutneys, lending a subtle warmth and fragrance. A handful stirred into melted dark chocolate makes the most decadent winter confection.

5. Store and Serve Beautifully

Decant your finished gin into clean, decorative bottles and label them with the date. Homemade sloe gin keeps beautifully for years and makes a perfect gift for Christmas or New Year.

Conclusion: Savour the Season with Sloe Recipes

Making sloe gin and other sloe recipes is more than just a culinary task — it’s a celebration of autumn, patience, and seasonal living. From foraging berries in frosty hedgerows to bottling the deep ruby infusion weeks later, these recipes bring the flavours of the British countryside into your home. Whether you’re enjoying a glass of homemade sloe gin by the fire, drizzling sloe syrup over puddings, or spreading sloe jelly on freshly toasted sourdough, there’s a quiet joy in using nature’s bounty creatively.

For anyone curious about how to make sloe gin, or simply wondering what to do with sloes, this is the perfect season to experiment. With a little patience and a sense of adventure, you can transform these humble autumn berries into gifts, drinks, and dishes that capture the essence of the season, a taste of slow living that lasts well into winter.

Frequently Asked Questions About Sloes

When is the best time to pick sloes?

The ideal time to pick sloes is after the first frost, typically late October to November. Frost softens the skins and helps release the juices. If you want to pick earlier, simply freeze the berries overnight to achieve the same effect.

Do you have to freeze sloes before making sloe gin?

No, but it helps. Freezing breaks down the cell walls in the berry skins, allowing the flavour to infuse into the gin more effectively. Alternatively, you can prick each sloe with a fork or pin before adding them to the gin.

How long does sloe gin take to make?

Sloe gin needs a minimum of three months to develop good flavour, though many people leave it for six months to a year for a richer, smoother taste. Shake the jar gently every few days during the first month to help dissolve the sugar.

What can you do with sloes apart from making gin?

Sloes are versatile beyond gin. You can make sloe vodka, sloe syrup, sloe jam, hedgerow jelly, sloe curd, or a non-alcoholic cordial. The berries also work well in savoury dishes like venison stew, and gin-soaked sloes can be used in chocolate bark or truffles.

Are sloes safe to eat raw?

While not poisonous, raw sloes are extremely tart and astringent, making them unpleasant to eat straight from the bush. They need to be cooked, steeped, or sweetened to become palatable.

How long does homemade sloe gin keep?

Properly strained and stored in a cool, dark place, homemade sloe gin keeps for several years and often improves with age. Decant into clean glass bottles and seal tightly for best results.

What do you do with the leftover sloes after making gin?

Don't throw them away. Gin-soaked sloes can be dipped in dark chocolate, added to jams and chutneys, baked into brownies, or blended into a boozy ice cream. They add a subtle warmth and fruity depth to desserts.