Years ago we came back from the Isle of Wight with carrier bags full of sloes. This created several Demi johns full of sloe gin, which didn’t taste like plum juice - it has a more bitter taste. Once the gin was poured off, sherry was added to create sloe sherry over a few months. Finally, the alcohol impregnated sloes were added to molten chocolate. There is so much flavour and colour packed into a sloe, that it is a shame not to extract as much as possible. Since we moved to Aberdeenshire I haven’t seen many blackthorns.