Blackthorn

Description

Blossom here(Isle of Wight) in early April.

Blackthorn is one of the great characters of the British hedgerow: dark, densely tangled and armed with formidable thorns. Its delicate white flowers appear before the leaves in early spring, making the otherwise rather forbidding shrub briefly look as though it has been dusted with snow.

In autumn it produces sloes—small, blue-black fruits with an impressively sharp, mouth-drying taste when eaten raw. They are traditionally used for jellies, syrups and, most famously, sloe gin.

The gin angle certainly intrigues me, although my doctor has suggested that I give up drinking and never do it again. This remains a work in progress—by which I mean I have not actually stopped at all. A sloe-gin recipe may nevertheless belong here, even if only for botanical and historical purposes.