Their presence in wild areas around roadsides, hedges, and slopes may make you wonder if sloes are edible. Sloes are delicious and highly beneficial for human consumption. So, yes, you can eat sloe berries. Check also our article about how much water sunflowers need.
However, the likeliness for taste can vary depending on whether you eat fully ripened or unripe sloe. You can even cook sloes to get a better flavor compared to eating uncooked or raw sloes. In this article, we have elaborated on different ways to consume sloe berries to enjoy their best taste.
Can You Eat Sloe Berries? - Worth Tasting
Not just birds, but you can also eat sloe berries and even get so many health benefits from them. There is no doubt in the versatility of sloe recipes by which you can make sloe gin, jam, and jelly.
Hanging on Blackthorn bushes is one unique aspect that helps differentiate sloes from other edible berries.
Can You Eat Raw Sloe Berries?
You will find plenty of rumors which may compel you to avoid eating sloes, such as they are poisonous when unripe or raw. Though raw sloes taste bitter, you can still eat them without worrying if you can bear the taste.
The sloe kernels have amygdalin which converts into Hydrogen Cyanide after eating. Hydrogen Cyanide is highly toxic to the human body, but the kernels have only minute amounts that aren’t harmful. However, you may poison yourself if you eat sloes in large quantities.
Can You Eat Cooked Sloe Berries?
What could be tastier than cooked sloes? Yes, you can eat cooked sloe berries as it is the best way to eat them. Cooking helps improve the taste from extremely bitter to deliciously sweet. Most people eat sloes when they are fully ripened, but many prefer cooking them before eating to enjoy the plum-like flavor.
Sloes are filled with natural pectin, which makes them healthy.
How to Use Sloe Berries?
You can simply eat berries or use them as an ingredient in many recipes. Most of us are unaware of the culinary potential of sloes due to their rarity, but you can get the best flavor in the form of different beverages and food items.
Sloes Berry Gin
Usually, foraged sloes are consumed as sloe gin, a simple drink prepared with sugar, gin, and sloe berries. You get the true flavor of sloes and gin by mixing them with some sugar. However, you must be a little patient for almost three months to allow flavors to infuse properly.
Sloe Berry Recipes
You can make jams and jellies with sloe berries. Even sloe flowers are used for decorating cakes and leaves for making tea. Other food items are sloe gin made with cranberry sauce and sloe sponge puddings. You will find sloes in flavorful cheeses and balsamic vinegar.
Zoe Harvey
How Do Sloe Berries Taste?
The taste of sloes completely depends on their growth stage. During the unripe stage, sloes have an extremely sour taste that is unbearable for taste buds. After ripening, the bitterness and astringency reduce to some extent. The berries taste sweeter and well-flavored like plums.
As soon as the winter frost hits, the sharpness in taste falls to a significant level. Once cooked, they taste best. Their sweet taste and juicy plum make you forget if it has ever been bitter.
Where to Find Sloe Berries?
Sloes grow on Blackthorn bushes which you can find in terrains, woodlands, hedgerows, scrubs, or soils with more acidity. The flowering starts between March and May. However, they usually start to ripen fruit in late autumn or early winter when the frost hits.
When to Pick Sloe Berries?
The best time to pick sloes is right after the berry turns its color to purplish-black and feels soft to the touch. You can pick sloe berries from mid to late autumn or after the first winter frost.
How to Identify Sloe Berries?
To identify sloes, you must know about the plant (Blackthorn Bush) on which they grow. These small trees or bushes can hardly reach 4 m in height and are filled with sharp needle-like thorns.
The bark of these plants is blacking and has oval leaves, wrinkled at the edges. The white flowers have five petals that bloom between March and April.
The berries start ripening in Autumn and turn dark purple when they are fully ripe, bearing a hard stone inside. There is only 25% juicy flesh in the berry, while 75% consists of stone.
Zoe Harvey
Are Sloe Berries Poisonous?
Due to the formation of Hydrogen Cyanide inside the body, raw Sloes are considered poisonous, but they are not. You can safely eat raw sloes, but the sour taste might not please your taste buds. But these aren’t safe for children due to inefficiency in the excretion of Hydrogen Cyanide which builds up to cause nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea.
Berries are fully ripe after passing the first winter frost; you should wait until that period. But overall, eating sloes is healthy for adults due to its anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, stomach-relieving, and gastrointestinal-improving properties.
Wrapping Up
Fresh sloe berries are highly nutritious and completely safe to eat. It provides pleasure to taste buds and adds rich nutrients such as potassium, calcium, and magnesium to your body.
Be aware of its bitter taste, which diminishes when berries are ripened. You can eat them raw or make delicious dishes to satisfy your appetite.
