How To Make Sloe Jelly

Homemade Jam Recipes

Ingredients: Sloe Jelly Recipe

4 lb / 1,800 grams of sloes
White sugar
Water

Method - What To Do

This is perhaps the ultimate hedgerow jelly, giving the avid forager something to look out for towards the end of the summer. Being completely free when picked from the wild, fresh sloes certainly make this a very cost-effective recipe.

Wash the sloes and then prick each of the berries. This can be done by using a cocktail stick, fork or knife. Alternatively, if you are in a hurry, lay all of your sloes out on a breadboard and then roll the small, coarse side of a grater along the top. By rolling them around a little, you can very easily roughly prick all of the sloes in a matter of seconds.

Place the washed, pricked sloes into a preserving saucepan and add just enough water to cover them all. Bring the berries to a quick boil and then reduce the heat to a very gentle simmer, leaving the sloes to simmer away comfortably for between one and a half hours (90 minutes) and two hours (120 minutes), until they are well and truly softened. After this time, strain through muslin or a jelly cloth, leaving the mixture to drip away for several hours (or possibly overnight), without pressing down on the pulped fruit.

Once you are happy that you have collected all of the drops, weigh the strained liquid and pour back into the saucepan. Match the weight of the liquid with an equal weight of white sugar. Stir in the sugar and place the pan back onto the heat, to warm through. As the sloe jelly begins to warm up again, keep stirring until you can no longer see any sugar. All of the sugar should have dissolved by the time that the jelly begins to boil.

Allow the syrup to boil quite briskly for ten minutes and then test its setting properties, by spooning a teaspoon of the jelly onto a chilled plate and poking it with a fingertip a minute later. If you feel that it is not setting adequately, continue to boil a little longer and test once more, and possibly for a third time.

When you feel that a setting point has been obtained, take the saucepan from the stove and allow to cool down a little, whilst skimming the surface. Finally, pour the sloe jelly into its sterile glass jam jars and top each surface with a disc of wax paper, in the same way that you would with freshly made jam. Screw the lids on tightly and leave to set, ready to spread on your early morning toast the next day.

Sloe Jelly Recipe - More Jelly Recipes.