Sloes, bullaces or damsons?

[annew]

Does anyone know of a reasonably accurate definition of the difference between these forms of wild plum? We would like to be able to ID the different plants that occur locally for a survey of the local hedgerows.

[Maggi Young]

Good luck, Anne.... I think it's easier said than done.... I'd throw Mirabelles into the mix too......


picture from:
http://www.britishlarder.co.uk/healthy-bran-conference-pear-and-bullace-breakfast-muffins/#axzz1XM85CVGU .... where there is a tasty recipe!

[arisaema]

Aren't both bullaces and damsons Prunus domestica ssp. insititia while sloes are P. spinosa? I thought only the latter had spines?

[mark smyth]

Sloes you will spit out but make brilliant sloe gin

Damsons lovely and sweet but the skins will make you shudder

http://www.sloe.biz/pip/viewtopic.php?p=1398

[mark smyth]

I have never seen or heard of Mirabelles

While on wild fruit my local council has removed all the Rubus spectabilis, salmon berry, bushes along the river because they are not native

[mark smyth]

Mirabelle Prunus x domestica ssp. syriaca
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirabelle_plum

Damson Prunus domestica subsp. insititia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damson

Sloe Prunus spinosa
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sloe

Bullace = Damson

[gote]

I have never seen or heard of Mirabelles

While on wild fruit my local council has removed all the Rubus spectabilis, salmon berry, bushes along the river because they are not native

Will they remove all specimen of Homo sapiens as well? They are also invaders from somewhere.
(I am nearly serious )
Göte

[gote]

Sloes you will spit out but make brilliant sloe gin

Sloe liqueur is quite good too - and perhaps easier to make
Göte

[Brian Ellis]

Damson Gin is very acceptable too!

[annew]

I just knew it would end up in a discussion of alcoholic beverages! I've googled till I've dropped and the various references all seem to contradict each other. Also we seem to have everything from a true sloe to small spherical dark purple sweet plums and (I suspect) a hybrid swarm in between. We're going to need a lot of gin..

[mark smyth]

By coincidence the girls at the garden centre where I bought my Frits asked if I knew how to make sloe gin or damson vodka.

We also discussed planting of the Frits. They had seen Gardener's World last Friday and told me to plant them on their sides .... they are now educated

[David Nicholson]

Sloe Gin

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/sloegin_7722

Damson Gin

http://www.waitrose.com/home/recipes/recipe_directory/d/damson_gin_with_orange.html

[Richard Green]

I have just returned from visiting my parents in Norfolk, and enjoyed both stewed damsons and bullaces from my mother's garden last week.  They need plenty of added sugar when cooked.  Her sloes are too bitter to stew, but they can be made into good gin as per the recipe links above.

Anne, Here is my identification key:
1.  If the fruit is yellow or greenish-yellow then it is certainly a bullace - usually between 1cm-2cm in diameter.
2.  Damsons and sloes are both deep blue, almost black, with a whitish bloom.
3.  Damsons are the same size as bullaces, and generally soft when squeezed at this time of year.
4.  If smaller (rarely more than 1cm in diameter) and almost rock hard then they are sloes.
5.  Sloes usually have smaller boat-shaped leaves, leaves of damsons are are more pear-shaped.

I make Damson Gin, and find that it is much better the second Christmas than the first.  If you can wait that long......

Dont try to take any fruit or jam through airport security in hand baggage.  We tried (by accident) this time last year and had a hard job persuading a very nice security lady that they were not potentially dangerous and explosive "gels"!

[David Nicholson]

We never see Damsons in the shops around us. My old Dad used to do a longish detour, on his return journey back to Huddersfield after trips to Lancaster, via the southern Lake District just to buy them where at this time of the year there were lots. Being TT jam was Dad's forte.

[Gerry Webster]

Damsons are on sale in my local supermarket (Waitrose) at the moment. One thing I miss in the S of England are wild bilberries which were sold in Leeds market when I was a kid. Cultivated blueberries are a very poor substitute.