Recipe For Sloe Gin Wedding Favours

Are you thinking of making your own sloe gin for your wedding favours? We think drinkable wedding favours are a lovely touch but even more personal if you have made the sloe gin yourself. Below is a recipe for sloe gin which can then be poured into individual bottles with cork stoppers and given as wedding favours. A quick heads up, the sloe gin needs a minimum of 2 months to mature so Autumn is the time to start making it if you are having a Christmas wedding.

Recipe For Sloe Gin Wedding Favours – recipe from Jamie Oliver

First up, you need to find your sloes. Around end of October in the UK the wild blackthorn trees are aching with fruit. There’s lots of debate about when to pick them, but the simplest rule is that if you can pop the berries easily between your finger and thumb, they’re ripe.

For wedding favours you will need to work out quantities you will need, this will depend on the size bottle you present the slow gin in and how many guests you are having. The gin will be made in larger airtight bottles so try to determine how many of the larger bottles you will need to make.

Each airtight bottle needs be be half filled with sloes, so pick enough. It’s always better to pick way more than you need and make a bigger batch of them. The longer you leave your gin the better, so anything you don’t drink this year will be fantastic the next year, and even better the year after that. Drinking your sloe gin with friends and family  each year will be a lovely reminder of your wedding.
Start by sticking the sloes in the freezer overnight. This will simulate the first frost and split the skin on your berries, allowing them to release their natural sweetness.
After sterilising your airtight bottles, half fill each one with the frozen fruit and top up with gin.  Add two big spoonfuls of caster sugar and shake for a minute. Lay on its side out of direct sunlight and twist it 180 degrees every other day for two months.

A few days before you decant it into the individual bottles, give it a taste. If you think you need it sweeter then make a simple sugar syrup. Do this by dissolving equal parts water and sugar in a saucepan over a low heat. Let it cool then add to taste.

Once your gin is made pour it into individual bottles with cork stoppers for each guest, you can also add a ‘drink me’ tag if you want.