Are these sloes?

[Jules]

Hi guys.

I saw these two bushes out on a walk. Could you please tell me if either could be Blackthorns? The one with fruit is outside ny friend's house in a new built so I have high hopes for that. It seems to be where they end up down south.

Thank you

[DorsetScott]

Hi Jules

Unfortunately not. I can't see the leaf well enough in the first picture to id but doesn't look like blackthorn.

The second picture looks to be mahonia aquifolium, commonly called oregon grape. The fruit is edible, though very tart. Makes a nice jam.

If you're after sloes, the branches will make it a lot easier to identify, you'll see where the thorn part of the name comes from

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=htt ... AdAAAAABAI

[Icefever]

Same here on a close up of the flower...I would say it's Hawthorn??
https://plantlife.love-wildflowers.org. ... n/hawthorn

Ice.

[DorsetScott]

Leaves look totally wrong for hawthorn for me.

Seems to be some sort of a shrub rather than a tree?

[Icefever]

I was going by the blossom ????

Ice.

[Jules]

Aww bummer. Thanks for the replies boys. I have another picture of the flowering one. Definitely has thorns and the leaves look like Blackthorn pics I've seen online but other than roses, I don't really know shrubbery. I should make more of an effort to learn I think

[Jules]

Btw I decided to live dangerously and bit in one of the berries on the 2nd photo. It was really juicy, had a stone inside and tasted more sweet than tart

[myles]

Not likely to be a sloe then.
Sloes have 2 or 3 inch long thorns with a very thin layer of fruit over the stone. They are really "tart", not sweet at all - even when fully ripe. Probably 90% stone to 10% flesh.
Fabulous though - I can always use more than I can harvest.

[Elecrafter]

Sloes are a Native to the UK "plum" not sweet at all. Best to harvest the Sloes late autumn AFTER the first frost. Or you can cheat and put them in the freezer for a few days, then thaw and use. The frost / freezing helps break some of the cell structure, making them easier to use.

How I make Sloe Gin:
Pick sloes, after a frost, or use freeze method.
Prick the skins of the sloes. A tiresome job, but I use an old lemon zest grater that looks like a flat plate that someone has banged nail holes in!
Then just roll the sloes on the prickly side, this is an easy method!
The Place a one inch layer of sloes in an old school sweet jar (the ones you used to get in old sweet shops), then a layer of sugar, and a layer of sloes, etc until the jar is almost full.
Then pour in a bottle of half decent plain Gin.
Leave for some months.
Drain, remove sloe pieces and pips etc.
Bottle and store in a cool dark place for a few months, certainly drinkable by Xmas, but better next year.

I did some every year, so I have some "vintage" Sloe Gin every year.
I have been making Sloe Gin for nearly 60 years (Mum taught me as a kid) and its a fair tipple.
I don't drink much of it now as I am diabetic. But I have a couple of bottles that are 20+ years old, and the contents are superb, even if I only have a very small glass-full every now and then.

Just my 2d's worth

Ele.

[Easydrinker]

I thought the first pic. may be Rowan, but the leaf is wrong.

If freezing sloes, you can forget the pricking palaver, as they defrost they mush beautifully.

Robert.

[phantom]

Black thorn puts out it's flowers first in spring, then as they go the plant produces it's leaf coverage.

Haw thorn has greenery on the plant first, then flowers.

It's why I note the locations from early march onward, because the bushes that seem to be just lumps of flowers are often Blackthorn.......

[Jules]

Thank you so much everyone that's really helpful. I might just have to wait til March to scope out some places and in the meantime, get this guy to pick them for me. I don't fancy poisoning myself just yet

https://www.sloeberries.org.uk/

[Icefever]

Thank you so much everyone that's really helpful. I might just have to wait til March to scope out some places and in the meantime, get this guy to pick them for me. I don't fancy poisoning myself just yet

https://www.sloeberries.org.uk/

Jeez..........£8 per lb??? I'm in the wrong job...we have a tractor road back of the farm and the hedge on one side is full of sloes. How many do you want Jules??

Ice.

[Jennysgin]

Maybe that includes danger money!
They are pretty spiky.

[Icefever]

Maybe that includes danger money!
They are pretty spiky.

just pick slowly...


Ice.

[DorsetScott]

Thank you so much everyone that's really helpful. I might just have to wait til March to scope out some places and in the meantime, get this guy to pick them for me. I don't fancy poisoning myself just yet

https://www.sloeberries.org.uk/

Nah, don't do that!!! There are many things I wouldn't try to ID from pictures on the internet. Sloes are not one of those things, I think there are a few people here who can help you.
So go out looking, take pictures and bring them back here, we'll confirm it.

If you are looking in town, you are in the wrong place. You want hedgerows ideally, nice country walks, that type of location.

Where abouts in the sarf are you? Close enough to Dorset that I could give you some locations?
It may also be worth asking friends? When I went crazy last year making sloe gin to lay some down to sit for a few years it's amazing how many people knew of spots.

[Easydrinker]

Many years ago, when I lived in Kent, I was sloe picking,
Two farmer lads drove their tractors into the field to do some farmer stuff.
"Just picking Sloes says I, that alright?"
"They be £8 a bushel says one."
"If I find a bushel, I'll pay you says I."
And wandered off down the hedgerow....

[gaza the instructor]

Poor old farmers er. They may not be able to buy a new Range Rover next year!

[phantom]

well just had another read of this thread, and of Jules pics? not sure about the first one but with flower and leaf at the same time that could be hawthorn (certainly isn't blackthorn, because with blackthorn and sloes etc, the flowers appear first, then when they start to drop, only then do you see the start of the leaf coverage.

The second pic with the fruit (and the description of "juicy but very tart"), the leaves are rather "holly" looking, but the fruit gives it away as a mahonia.

Not commonly used here, but the fruit is edible and parts of Europe do use it in a jam or fruit sauce - obviously, being very sharp tasting, it does need some sweetness to mask the tart/acidic flavour.

Could easily be used for steeping then sweetening for a flavoured vodka/neutral, or I suppose as a wine that's then distilled to a sort of fruit brandy.

[Icefever]

Phantom....well just had another read of this thread, and of Jules pics? not sure about the first one but with flower and leaf at the same time that could be hawthorn

That was where my money would have gone...but I ain't no Percy Thrower
I did pop up the lane where there are sloes....took this photo of them.



The right-hand side is where all the blackthorn is...



This is a small paddock that has 3 crabapple trees, and they are loaded.




Ice.

[Mash]

I am sure in Percy's day they were black and a winter harvest? Just sayin'

[Easydrinker]

Harvest before the other folk is my motto.
One day the trees can be laden, the next bare.
Any time from the end of October round my way, get a jump on the buggers that wait for a November frost, just stick them in the freezer.

Robert.

[DorsetScott]

The first picture isn't hawthorn, the leaves are completely different.
There are no lobes on the ones in the picture

I'm fairly certain there is an example of it down the road from work here, I'll see if I can get in close for a proper ID

[Mash]

Use plantnet.. Brilliant app.

[gaza the instructor]

How big is this Plant net Mash. They are easy to catch, just blown by the wind.