…but not together!
It was a morning for more preserving. The sloes have been in the freezer since Saturday. I’m told it improves the flavour, but I did it because I didn’t have a suitable jar or gin. Having remedied both of those defects, I spent a happy time this morning making the sloe gin ready for Christmas. Well, possibly ready for Christmas. I’m told it improves with keeping. I’m also told it is usually so good there isn’t any left for keeping.
I used the recipe on the Cottage Smallholder website. There are plenty of interesting things to browse there, but not a red tomato chutney recipe. That is the next project now the tomatoes are finally ripening slightly faster than the slugs can eat them.
And whilst we are on the subject of slugs, we found this little slug muncher on Saturday.
It is a baby slow worm (Anguis fragilis) found whilst we (no, He) were strimming the allotment as part of autumn clearing.
About 10 cm long -that’s 4 inches in old money-it was lucky to survive the strimming and it means there must be parents and probably siblings about too. I read that the young take 4-5 months to develop and are born at the end of August and early September. So happy birthday for recently little chap.
Slow worms are a protected species, as are all English reptiles. This little fellow is neither slow nor a worm nor a snake, but a legless lizard. And I have never got this close to one before. I was so excited I was (almost) glad there are oodles of slugs on the allotment.
Wow, you said tiny, but that is extreme! Awesome shot and awesome event.
Re. the tomato chutney, I really don’t wanna bully you into making any – only know that if you do feel like it, there would be a receptive audience over here in the Fenland
I’m already on the case Laura! I love preserving. Radio on, coffee on and lovely smells to accompany the cooking. Perfect.
We made some of this last year, and I still have quite a lot actually, but the first/last time we sampled it we ended up with a very slow (to recover from) hangover!
So I’m not sure if we did something wrong, or if we just drank too much!
this is a delightful and informative post – and the slow worm image is just gorgeous. Enjoy your gin
Laura
p.s. funnily enough have just done a post on slugs!
Legless lizard? Must be the sloe gin…
He he! Wish I had been sharp enough to have beaten you to that crack Max!
oh a slow worm. aren’t they all slow?
All but the quick ones!
My Dad used to make sloe gin every year. There are sloes growing on the farm. My sister-in-law Julie would take most of it and drink some to help her through very large batches of ironing.
Hi Judith-lovely to see you here. I have to say I like the idea of drinking sloe gin to ease the ironing.
Fab post title! Aw, the little slow worm is lovely, I used to have a colony in my old garden and it was so nice to watch them basking in the sun. I hope you get loads more to munch all your slugs!