Making some fruit liqueurs

[LDO]

A while back, I picked up a book about making your own liqueurs at Half Price Books. Since I had some spare time and 4 half gallon Mason jars, I decided to try it out.

From left to right; blackberry, blueberry, cherry, and raspberry.

 

I bought way too much fruit, but I'm out of big jars. I'll get more jars tomorrow and make more. One will be tutti frutti, then more blackberry and raspberry. I had to leave room in these jars for 3 cups of simple syrup,  which will be added in 2 weeks. I think that a shot of raspberry or blackberry would be perfect in a hot cup of Darjeeling tea on a cold morning. We'll see how it all works out.

 

 

[Jim N]

Very cool.  Keep us posted on how this turns out.

[10thumbs]

Cheers Lee!

I read about the egg deal, so I looked here too.

Again, this stuff is right along the lines of what the wife's family,  and most other Europeans have done as well for centuries.  Conserving foodstuffs before the days of electricity.  Reap the fruits of nature, and preserve these for the winter months and beyond.

Meantime, after living many decades in Old Europe, there are still great ways to preserve the good things nature brings us, and marvel these in the deep winter.  Cheap, and fun too.

I always wondered why lots of older type houses here have cellars that are not hermetically sealed from moisture.  The cellars are moist,  yep.  Make a pile of sand in a blocked off corner, cover up your glass jars of preserves with sand and occasionally some water spread over the top of the heap to keep the sand moist,  keeps stuff really cool and the goods last for years.

Lee,  just my question about the method you show is why the fruits are not kept out of daylight?  My experience, the fruits go into a glazed ceramic jar, being protected from light.  Please keep the stuff cool.

[LDO]

They are under a dark towel now. The instructions say to keep the jars in a cool, dry place. I wonder if wrapping them in cloth, and setting them in a tray of water with a fan blowing on them would keep them cooler. I read about doing that when brewing beer at home. The water will wick up and the fan will make it evaporate fairly quickly, lowering the temp. I should try that.

[von Zipper]

That's interesting , will you be distilling this  or is this a fermented wine type of drink ?

[LDO]

It's just infusing vodka with fruit and adding sugar. Good as a shot or in a cocktail. Mix with more alcohol or in something like tea or with ginger ale, lemon-lime soda...the possibilities are endless.

[espo]

You know some Chocolatiers sell infused candies like this. Good luck with your experiment.

[LDO]

Oh yeah. I spent 4 years serving in Germany. Oh my gosh I love those chocolate covered cherries with brandy inside. The type sold here in the US are just too sweet with that syrup that's almost as thick as paste. I can not eat those. 

[peteski]

On 5/22/2018 at 1:21 PM, LDO said:

Oh yeah. I spent 4 years serving in Germany. Oh my gosh I love those chocolate covered cherries with brandy inside. The type sold here in the US are just too sweet with that syrup that's almost as thick as paste. I can not eat those. 

Yeah, American chocolates don't compare to the European ones (where most have at least some alcohol). Fortunately there are many places in US where you can buy European chocolates. German Deli in Texas is one of them. They have online store. I always place a large order there around Christmas. Wake up your taste buds with these:  https://www.germandeli.com/Sweets/All_Liquor_filled_Chocolates I also have a small local store with Polish goodies (including chocolates).  Good stuff!

 

[LDO]

I find this liqueur thing really fascinating. I'm wondering about making a fruit and nut combo. Two candidates that sound good to me are cherries and black walnuts, maybe with a tiny bit of vanilla, and cranberry with almond. I think I'll experiment with very small test samples before committing to the half-gallon jars. 

I mentioned this on another site, which went somewhere else entirely. One guy said the best infused vodka he ever had was done with garlic. He said it should make a great Bloody Mary. That reminded me of my olive oil infused with dried garlic and red chili peppers. I use that to sautee bite-size pieces of chicken to go in pineapple sweet & sour chicken. Anyway- I'm now wondering about garlic and chili infused vodka, for a chicken marinade. Alcohol helps flavor soak in, and what a flavor combo for grilled or smoked chicken.

Edited May 24, 2018 by LDO
Grammar

[LDO]

I did make more liqueurs. Black walnut, more blackberry and raspberry, 2 other cherries (I now have tart, sweet, and mixed), tutti frutti, and cranberry. Two others that I will make soon are almond and  peach/ginger. Maybe that garlic idea as well. I think these would be great added to seltzer water for making hard sodas. Ok... maybe not a garlic soda. 

Anyway- I tried a couple of them today. Wow! They are great. It's a real fruit flavor, not like a mass-produced, overprocessed commercial product. I think they will be great, however they are served. I find this whole thing just fascinating. Now I need to find cool bottles for storing and serving. 

If you can find a copy of A.J. Rathbun's book "Luscious Liqueurs", pick one up. I got it for $6.48 at Half Price Books. A lot of recipes, along with serving suggestions. Also photos of the cool bottles he stores them in.