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Can anybody tell me how to tell the difference between sloes and damsons? Is there a way of telling ? There is a large tree overhanging my garden which is full of fruit and I want to either make them into a jam or make slow gin. It would be nice to know the difference.

Looking at wiki, they could be either

Well, I've sort of worked out that damsons are generally bigger than sloes and grow on a tree rather than a bush. The bush that the sloes grow on is thorny (blackthorn) and to taste, sloes are very sour and feel like your mouth is drying out. Damsons are juicy and pleasant to eat.

Looks like I have damsons.

Off to make damson chutney

Picked enough to make 2 large jars of damson jam. Stored one and tasted the other.

Fantastic

Too bad the shipping costs would be so prohibitive,

that extra jar could come here!

Signed,

A Damsel, not a damson...

:yh_battin

Mmmm ! Damsel jam:yh_think

Ha ha ha ha that's the way I was thinking "damson in distress" but it's "damsel" isn't it. I've never heard of that fruit before.

hmmmm ..I have nothing more to say in this thread so I shall take my leave .

Snowfire;1333700 wrote: Can anybody tell me how to tell the difference between sloes and damsons? Is there a way of telling ? There is a large tree overhanging my garden which is full of fruit and I want to either make them into a jam or make slow gin. It would be nice to know the difference.

Looking at wiki, they could be either


Easy, put one in your moth and chew - if it feels like all the moisture has disappeared into the void it's a sloe.

The easier way is to look at the tree - sloes are the fruit of the blackthorn and the bush lives up to its name - the thorns a long black and very sharp.

Bryn Mawr;1333786 wrote: Easy, put one in your moth and chew - if it feels like all the moisture has disappeared into the void it's a sloe.

The easier way is to look at the tree - sloes are the fruit of the blackthorn and the bush lives up to its name - the thorns a long black and very sharp.


Yep did that. Figured that and made the jam

Snowfire;1333793 wrote: Yep did that. Figured that and made the jam


I'm not a jam person but have been known to go huning the odd sloe.

Cannot drink Gin but love the sloe variety

Bryn Mawr;1333786 wrote: Easy, put one in your moth and chew - if it feels like all the moisture has disappeared into the void it's a sloe.

The easier way is to look at the tree - sloes are the fruit of the blackthorn and the bush lives up to its name - the thorns a long black and very sharp.


Is the sloe not a rose hip or similar Bryn? I have rose hip In the garden but I must add, not by choice. Where as the Damson Is a variety of plum.

I am sure I can remember my Father making sloe gin cocktails years ago.

oscar;1333806 wrote: Is the sloe not a rose hip or similar Bryn? I have rose hip In the garden but I must add, not by choice. Where as the Damson Is a variety of plum.

I am sure I can remember my Father making sloe gin cocktails years ago.


Nooooo - sloes are small spherical dark purple berries with a pale blue bloom on the skin. No resemblance to a rose hip that's red and full of itchy buds.

Bryn Mawr;1333813 wrote: Nooooo - sloes are small spherical dark purple berries with a pale blue bloom on the skin. No resemblance to a rose hip that's red and full of itchy buds.
Ahhh In which case I am wrong. Yes, the one's In my garden are rose hip and red and not dark purple. Thanks.

Could someone post a pic of this tree I want to see one.

fuzzywuzzy;1333823 wrote: Could someone post a pic of this tree I want to see one.


Here :-

Attached files

thankyou Bryn. I shall look into that plant. It sort of looks like a piccalilly but much darker

I always thought that damsons were a bit quicker !

I ate a sloe once outside Liskeard in the 1980s to see whether it was a sloe. It was a sloe. I have to drink a glass of water every time I remember doing it.

I drank a Sloe Gin Fizz, once. Wasn't at all impressed.