Porky's Sloe Wine

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Porkbeast

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Its time to pick the fruit of the Blackthorn.

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With this in mind my wife and I went out on Halloween to pick some sloes from an old hedge near us in Rutland. Gorgeous day for a walk with the local hunt pharping the distance we picked two kilos of lovely sloes.

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Once i got them home I cleaned and rinsed them before mashing them with the end of a rolling pin in my fermentation bucket.

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Boiled up a gallon of water and added 2 kg of sugar and added this to the bucket making up to two gallon.

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Added the juice of two lemons, two teaspoons of yeast nutrient a strong cup of tea and a tsp of pectin enzyme. A teaspoon of all purpose yeast and left it to ferment on the pulp for two weeks. This is what it looked like after a few days.

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Strained and poured in to two demijohns a fortnight later...just look at that colour!

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Topped up with boiled water and I will rack it in a couple of days of the yeast from the initial fermentation which went in when I strained the fruit.

Ferment out and rack as usual. Store for 12 months in a DJ the bottle. Leave for two months and drink! That will be Christmas 2011!

We picked these on Halloween so i'm calling Sloween Wine.

Here are some folklore and herbalist notes on the ancient British Blackthorn.

Enjoy!

Porky

Snort!



BLACKTHORN
Blackthorn trees and shrubs are said to be held sacred by fairies. This berry has been found in archaeological sites from the Mesolithic and Iron Age periods (8000-2700 BC), proving that the blackthorn berry was a part of early man’s diet. Sloe berries are very tonic bitters. They are astringent, and stimulate the metabolism, clean the blood, and are used as a laxative and diuretic. They help with indigestion, eczema, herpes, allergies, colds, catarrh, neurosis, weak heart, kidney stones, skin, bladder, and prostrate problems. They disperse toxins. In 17th and 18th Century, sloes were brewed as a purgative to treat “fluxes in the belly. “The fruit and leaves of Blackthorn contain tannins, organic acids, sugars and vitamin C. Steeped in boiling water, the flowers have a mild diuretic, tonic and laxative properties. The dried fruits are used to treat bladder, kidney and stomach disorders. The liquid from the boiled leaves can be used as a mouthwash for sore throat, tonsillitis and laryngitis. It is also good for circulations, blood strengthening, and nutrient absorption.” Blackthorn is depicted in many fairytales throughout Europe as a tree of ill omen. Called Straif in the Ogham, this tree has the most sinister reputation in Celtic tree lore. The English word “strife” is said to derive from this Celtic word. A long hard winter is referred to as a Blackthorn Winter.

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To Witches, it often represents the dark side of the Craft. It is a sacred tree to the Dark, or Crone aspect of the Triple Goddess, and represents the Waning and Dark Moons. Blackthorn is known as “the increaser and keeper of dark secrets”.

The tree is linked with warfare, wounding and death, associated with the Scottish Cailleach - the Crone of Death, and the Irish Morrigan. In Scotland, winter begins when the Cailleach (also the Goddess of Winter) strikes the ground with Her Blackthorn staff.

According to Christian folklore, Blackthorn is seen as a sinister tree and associated with Witches. Blackthorn was often used for “binding and blasting.” A black rod is a Blackthorn wand with fixed thorns on the end, used to cause harm to others. In British folklore, a Witch will use a Blackthorn stang in rituals of cursing. The sharp thorns were reputedly used by English witches to pierce poppets in their curses, called the “pins of slumber”. In South Devon folklore in England, Witches were said to carry Blackthorn walking sticks, with which they caused much local mischief. Witches and heretics were burned on Blackthorn pyres. The Devil was said, in Medieval times, to prick his follower’s fingers with the thorn of a Blackthorn tree.

Blackthorn is also associated with Witchcraft in Scotland. In 1670, in Edinburgh, Major Thomas Weir was burned as a Witch along with his most powerful magical tool - a Blackthorn staff, carved with a Satyrs head, which was said to have fantastic powers - it was even able to fly through the air. Major Weir claimed that he received this magic staff from the Devil, but it is more likely that he obtained it while he served as an officer under General Leslie in Ireland. The Major was a pious Covenanter, and people came from miles around to hear his sermons. He was considered the “Saint of West Bow”, until one day in 1670, instead of his usual sermon, he confessed years of debauchery with his sister, Jean, to the congregation. Brother and sister were both tried and condemned to death. His ghost, along with the infamous Blackthorn staff, is still said to haunt the Edinburgh West Bow district. The Irish cudgel is called a bata, or more popularly, a shillelagh, (named for the Shillelagh forest near Arklow, in County Wicklow). Every young boy was trained to defend himself with this Irish fighting stick. Although sometimes made from Oak, Ash or Holly, the shillelagh is usually made from Blackthorn, which is hard, strong, plentiful, and has a convenient knob” formed from the root of the shrub. The black bark is especially tough. The wood was cured by burying it in a dung heap or smearing it with butter, then placing it in the chimney.

Blackthorn can be used in spells of protection as well. In Irish tales, heroes were aided by the Blackthorn tree - if they threw a twig of Blackthorn after them, it would take root and form an impenetrable hedge or woods, thwarting the pursuing giant. In England Witches would carve the Norse rune thorn on a Blackthorn stave for protection.

Often in fairytales, such as “Sleeping Beauty”, Blackthorn forms the thick, impenetrable thorn bramble that hides the magic castle from intruders and princes alike! In order to prove worthy, the prince must cut through this thorn forest to rescue the princess.

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My Princess the Porkessa de Poop

Blackthorn is said to bloom on Christmas Eve, as is the holy thorn at Glastonbury. It is one of the trees, which were reputed to form the thorny crown of Christ at His crucifixion.

Where Blackthorn grows near its sister plant, Hawthorn, the site is especially magical. Blackthorn often topped the Maypole entwined with Hawthorn, and is called “Mother of the Woods”. At New Year, celebrants made Blackthorn crowns, which they burned in the New Year’s fire. The ashes were used to fertilize the fields. Blackthorn was sometimes woven into wreaths with Mistletoe to bring luck in the coming year, and the garlands used to wassail the Apple trees.

Spooky!

Porkers

Snort!
 
As ever I forgot to mention something! I added a kilo of whizzed up sultanas to the fruit at the start as well.

Apologies....

Porkers

Snurt!
 
Porkbeast said:
Once i got them home I cleaned and rinsed them before mashing them with the end of a rolling pin in my fermentation bucket.

Aren't you worried about splitting the stones by doing that - all plums (sloes are a plum) contain a nasty, bitter tasting substance in the kernel, which ruins your wine if released into it, and no amount of added sugar will mask it?
 
Porkbeast said:
Where Blackthorn grows near its sister plant, Hawthorn, the site is especially magical.
I planted a new hedge at the front of the house last year. It consists of Blackthorn, Hawthorn and Dog Rose amongst other things. Does that make my front garden a magical place? :grin:

Already had fruit off the dogrose which went into a hedgerow wine, no fruit as yet off the others though :thumb: :thumb:

Does anybody know where there's sloes to be picked around the Swansea/Neath area, I haven't stumbled across any as yet :hmm:
:cheers:
 
Moley said:
David said:
Aren't you worried about splitting the stones by (mashing them with the end of a rolling pin)?
I have never split a stone from a sloe or damson by mashing with a baulk of wood, have you?.

No, nor have I split my head by hitting it with a baulk of wood, but having had wine ruined by split plum stones in the past, I would try neither.
 
Thank you for all your comments.

The stone issue is correct i think, but I was careful and a rounded wood rolling pin against plastic is unlikely to smash a sloe stone. I can't think of a better way of doing it other than removing each stone individually which would be very time consuming.

I tasted it when I racked it and it is the nicest of all my brews that I have put on recently although only half done. Lovely rich taste. This is always a good sign i think.

Currently going like a song.

Yes, Hawthorn, Blackthorn and Dog Rose (Eglantine) are magical....especially for wild life and brewers. Try to fit an Elder in and you will have a set (oh Rowen, Hawthorn and Birch would help as well). The only one I'm missing in my garden is the Blackthorn.

Porky

Snort!
 
Damsons are a cultivated variety of plum. Very sweet.
Sloes are wild plums and bitter.

Porky

Snort!
 
Just done some sloe wine from the sloes out of my sloe gin !!!!! double trouble I recon
 
there are hundreds of sloe berries around here this year,
will be having a go at this wine and a gin and vodka, in a month or so,apparently if they frozen they are much better to brew with,
 
Porkbeast said:
Damsons are a cultivated variety of plum. Very sweet.
I think damsons are quite tart. I live near an area famous for growing damsons (Lyth Valley Cumbria) There are damson trees everywhere!
 
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