Sloe gin is a traditional English drink made by infusing sloe berries into gin. This method normally takes up to a year to properly infuse but with the help of sous vide, this process can be speeded up to less than a day. Making it sous vide means you can heat the alcohol enough so that the berries infuse but not high enough to diminish the alcohol.

The gin can be drunk straight away but it gets better with time – it’s best to forget about it for a year or so!

This method will work for most fruits and berries; try blackberries, raspberries, damsons or blackcurrants.

For extra flavour you could also add herbs to the sloes such as rosemary or thyme.

Sloe gin is wonderful by itself just served over ice but is also great in cocktails. Vivek Singh’s Blackthorn sour mixes sloe gin with pineapple compote for a tropical flavour. James MacKenzie uses sloe gin as part of his tempting Chocolate, juniper and sloe gin pudding with damson ripple ice cream and Emily Watkins uses it for a red onion and sloe gin marmalade.