This is the title of one of my favourite books. It's a charity shop treasure; pack-rat written pages of pure delight. Save old jars! Hoard happily corks and string and sealing wax! These are things with character, that give richness to life.
There is a wholesome pleasure to be had from trimming candles properly, melting and pouring beeswax, pricking sloes. Perhaps for me it is because it is an escape from modern life. It's a way to create an idyll, and to forget for a moment all the things I dislike about the world - fashion, consumerism, smug temporary environmental envangelism. On the contrary, these skills are timeless, and satisfying.
I have been enjoying the seasonal markets. Wandering round Covent Garden in the bitter cold, fingers blackened from eating charcoal-roasted chestnuts. It feels very wholesome. I have drunk spiced ale and cider, smelled mulled wine and spit-roasting meat. It is almost Dickensian and I am loving it.
Sloe Gin
900g (2lbs) Sloes
1.2Litres (42fl. oz) Gin
200g (8oz) White Sugar
Prick each sloe with its own thorn (traditional) or with a needle to pierce the skin several times. Pack into a wide-necked jar. Pour on sugar and cover with gin. Leave in a dark place, shaking occasionally, for 4 months. After 4 months strain off the liquid and bottle. Add extra sugar to taste. Lay up until next winter.
That recipe is from my favourite book, but while wombling on the web for a picture of some sloes I came across this website. I'm quite intrigued by his recipe for sloejacks using the spent sloes, and even a microwaveable warming pillow that can be made from the sloe stones. Past meets present, perhaps?
