Sloe

Prunus spinosa · Stone fruit

40 pairings

The sloe is the small, blue-black drupe of the blackthorn (Prunus spinosa), a thorny shrub of European hedgerows. Fiercely sour and mouth-drying with tannin, it is almost inedible raw but prized for flavouring sloe gin, country wines, jellies and preserves.

Picking a good onedrag

Green and stone-hardSplit and fermenting

Blue and hardColour without softness — a night in the freezer does what the frost would have.Pick, then freeze

SkinBlue-black and taut under heavy bloom

SqueezeFirm; a thumbnail barely marks it

StalkNeeds a firm tug off the spur

Crushed skinFaint plum skin under the green

Reading a just ripe one. Move the slider and the rest of this page — nutrition, pairings — re-scores with it.

What one gives you

2 g

Typical weight

one specimen

Keeping ittap a band

A domestic fridge holds it about 4× longer than the counter.

Humidity

90–95%

The waxy bloom slows water loss, but drier air still shrivels the skin and dulls the blue-black towards a dead grey.

Airflow

Gentle

Brown rot and grey mould run fast through a damp, still punnet; a little movement keeps the skins dry.

It goes on softening off the bush

No sloe-specific reading exists — its close relative the plum both makes ethylene and is damaged by it, so keep the basket clear of apples and bananas.

Preparing