While spring and summer harvests can be fleeting, sometimes only lasting for a couple of weeks, autumnal harvesting, for fruit especially, is a longer, slower affair. Fruits such as hawthorn and sloes often stay on the trees until the days are short.
Sloes grow on the blackthorn, which although often seen as a hedging plant, is actually a shrubby tree. If you don’t live near hedgerows, look for blackthorns on commons, in parks or wasteland. Hedge or tree, blackthorns are densely packed with thin branches and have very sharp thorns, which make the sloe harvest one to take care over, as a jab from one can cause inflammation and infection. In the early autumn, the purple fruit is often hidden amongst its small oval leaves; push the front foliage side and you’ll find an abundance of sloes waiting to be plucked.
Sloes are traditionally harvested after the first frost, when the cold softens and sweetens the fruit. But now, in our changing climate, frosts often don’t arrive until late in the winter if at all, so harvest your berries in the autumn, and put them in the freezer to replicate the effects of a chilly night.
Once your sloes are softened, put them in a jar and cover within, then leave to infuse for a few months before straining. To make sure the liqueur isn’t too sweet, add the sugar after straining: make a sugar syrup and stir it into the gin; add one part syrup to two parts gin, then sweeten more if needed.
Sloes aren’t just good in alcoholic drinks; they make vibrant cordials, fruit preserves and, if soaked in a salty brine, a wild autumnal alternative to olives (see recipe, right).
Rowan berries
After the frost In late spring, the rowan tree is covered with heady scented blossoms, that, once pollinated, grow into bright red berries that hang in bunches like baubles.
This story is from the October 2024 edition of BBC Countryfile Magazine.
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This story is from the October 2024 edition of BBC Countryfile Magazine.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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