Keeping the spirits up during the long grey months of winter
Hello! Yes, it's been quite a while, I've been in hibernation. The winter is never my favourite time of year and now Punxsutawney Phil has predicted another six weeks of winter I may crawl back into my den and wait for Spring. In all seriousness, I do find the dark days a struggle, its the absence of light and not the cold that is hard to bear. Still, I have remedies on hand to sip in front of the fire and others on the go in preparation for summer nights.
Following on from my post back in October, I have finally strained and bottled my winter fruit liqueurs. As well as the usual bottles of sloe gin I tried a few new ones too. Using the crab apples picked on autumn walks and a recipe adapted from one in The Simple Things magazine for crab apple whiskey I made a similar version using rum. The original recipe suggests that after 5 years of infusing the resulting drink begins to taste like Calvados but you'd have to be a veritable saint to wait that long, it's really delicious!
Crab apple, ginger and honey rum
1 bottle of dark rum
750g crab apples, washed and halved
1 large thumb ginger, peeled and sliced
6 tbsp runny honey
Sterilise a large swing top preserving jar that's big enough to contain the liquid and apples. Put all the ingredients in the cooled jar and secure the lid. Shake gently to mix the honey and rum and leave in a cool dark place for a couple of months, shaking gently now and then. You'll find that the apples want to float and its important that you keep them submerged so either use a small plate or (sterilised) jar to keep them weighted down. After a few months, decant the liquid through a coffee filter into a bottle, although to be perfectly honest I didn't bother with this step until most had been drunk. This was exceptionally good and I will make this again (and perhaps hide a bottle away for a few more years to see if it does taste like Calvados!).
Along with the rum, I also bottled up my Spiced Plum Liqueur, using a recipe from Kylee Newton's fantastic book, The Modern Preserver. Instead of cinnamon, I used cardamom and star anise and the resulting liquid is rich and fragrant with aniseed. I can't recommend this book enough, it's an absolute treasure trove of different preserves, jam, cordials, tinctures and chutneys. This book needs to be in every larder lover's home.
As well as bottling the liqueurs above I started another slightly different version for the summer months, Vin d' Orange. Rather than a liqueur this is more a bitter vermouth style drink and one I've been meaning to make for ages, it's delicious as an aperitif over ice. I searched online for a recipe to use and found this one, from thekitchn.com which was perfect, although again, I've adapted it to suit what I had in the house. Seville oranges are the main ingredient so you need to start now as their season is almost at an end and its important to use organic unwaxed fruit, you don't want an infusion tainted with something artificial. I'm looking forward to sampling this, a taste of liquid Mediterranean gold, oranges are by far the best thing of this time of year.
Vin d' Orange
1 bottle dry rosé wine
650ml vodka
400g white sugar
5 Seville oranges, organic, cut into quarters
1 blood orange, organic, cut into quarters
1 lime, organic, cut into quarters
1 vanilla pod
Sterilise a large Kilner of other preserving jar and add the quartered fruit. Stir the wine, vodka and sugar together until the sugar dissolves and pour over the fruit. Tuck in a vanilla pod. As before, you will probably need to weight the fruit down with a saucer or small jar. Leave somewhere cool and dark for 30-40 days, shaking occasionally before straining the liquid through a coffee filter into bottles.
I'll let you know how this one works out in a few months time but for now, I'm curling up in front of the fire with a glass of sloe gin.
Salud! x
Following on from my post back in October, I have finally strained and bottled my winter fruit liqueurs. As well as the usual bottles of sloe gin I tried a few new ones too. Using the crab apples picked on autumn walks and a recipe adapted from one in The Simple Things magazine for crab apple whiskey I made a similar version using rum. The original recipe suggests that after 5 years of infusing the resulting drink begins to taste like Calvados but you'd have to be a veritable saint to wait that long, it's really delicious!
Crab apple, ginger and honey rum
1 bottle of dark rum
750g crab apples, washed and halved
1 large thumb ginger, peeled and sliced
6 tbsp runny honey
Sterilise a large swing top preserving jar that's big enough to contain the liquid and apples. Put all the ingredients in the cooled jar and secure the lid. Shake gently to mix the honey and rum and leave in a cool dark place for a couple of months, shaking gently now and then. You'll find that the apples want to float and its important that you keep them submerged so either use a small plate or (sterilised) jar to keep them weighted down. After a few months, decant the liquid through a coffee filter into a bottle, although to be perfectly honest I didn't bother with this step until most had been drunk. This was exceptionally good and I will make this again (and perhaps hide a bottle away for a few more years to see if it does taste like Calvados!).
Along with the rum, I also bottled up my Spiced Plum Liqueur, using a recipe from Kylee Newton's fantastic book, The Modern Preserver. Instead of cinnamon, I used cardamom and star anise and the resulting liquid is rich and fragrant with aniseed. I can't recommend this book enough, it's an absolute treasure trove of different preserves, jam, cordials, tinctures and chutneys. This book needs to be in every larder lover's home.
As well as bottling the liqueurs above I started another slightly different version for the summer months, Vin d' Orange. Rather than a liqueur this is more a bitter vermouth style drink and one I've been meaning to make for ages, it's delicious as an aperitif over ice. I searched online for a recipe to use and found this one, from thekitchn.com which was perfect, although again, I've adapted it to suit what I had in the house. Seville oranges are the main ingredient so you need to start now as their season is almost at an end and its important to use organic unwaxed fruit, you don't want an infusion tainted with something artificial. I'm looking forward to sampling this, a taste of liquid Mediterranean gold, oranges are by far the best thing of this time of year.
1 bottle dry rosé wine
650ml vodka
400g white sugar
5 Seville oranges, organic, cut into quarters
1 blood orange, organic, cut into quarters
1 lime, organic, cut into quarters
1 vanilla pod
Sterilise a large Kilner of other preserving jar and add the quartered fruit. Stir the wine, vodka and sugar together until the sugar dissolves and pour over the fruit. Tuck in a vanilla pod. As before, you will probably need to weight the fruit down with a saucer or small jar. Leave somewhere cool and dark for 30-40 days, shaking occasionally before straining the liquid through a coffee filter into bottles.
I'll let you know how this one works out in a few months time but for now, I'm curling up in front of the fire with a glass of sloe gin.
Salud! x
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