Sloes can be over-bearing in their tartness, which always needs to be balanced by something sweet. In this case, our chef uses a healthy amount of caster sugar and redcurrant jelly. You can substitute the redcurrant with any other fruit jelly – crab apple, for example, would work well. This works perfectly with hot apple pie and vanilla ice cream, or, even better, clotted cream. An accompanying glass of sloe gin wouldn’t be a bad idea either…

Ingredients: (to serve 8)

• 1kg fresh sloes, washed and pricked
• 200g redcurrant jelly
• the juice and peel of ½ lemon
• 225g caster sugar

Method:

Put all the ingredients in a pan, place over a low heat and leave to stew until the fruits break down.

Remove and discard the lemon peel, then pass the mixture through a fine sieve (press it through, using something like the back of a ladle) into a bowl or jug.

Give the mixture a little whisk, and pour, still warm or at room temperature, over your pudding of choice.