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Linda
Linda
8 years ago

I can’t believe no one else has yet commented on this delightful episode to share their own favorites!
Here are some links for a different approach: without sugar.
http://www.danish-schnapps-recipes.com
http://www.cottagesmallholder.com
The Danish site suggests how to use these different flavors to accompany food.
On the Cottage Smallholder site, scroll down for favorite recipes. Of course, you could sweeten any of them if you wanted, but if it’s more one’s habit to have a drink before dinner with a mixer, sugar isn’t really necessary.
Now for a sweet one with historic credentials, there’s Cherry Bounce:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/recipes/cherry-bounce/14732/?utm_term=.5a04e21186fa
http://www.mountvernon.org/recipes/cherry-bounce/
This was a big hit with my friends this year. It also gives a perspective on “to squeeze or not to squeeze”. In general I agree with you: get all the goodie out, unless it might be bitter like citrus pith. But in the case of some fruits, such as the cherries, brandied cherries are just as good a thing to have as cherry brandy, so squeeze them only a little if at all. So far, I’ve used the brandied cherries to bake with pears and (chopped) in honey bread. Function stacking! ?

Michael Jordan
8 years ago

loved it Jack
just loved it.

Sir Lord Baltimore
Sir Lord Baltimore
8 years ago

Jack,

As a bartender for far longer than I would like to admit this show really was a hit. Being of Ukrainian extraction, and a beekeeper. I think that you’ll dig this recipe:

https://thehairpin.com/how-to-make-krupnik-an-old-timey-polish-honey-spice-cordial-50f2f36ed02d#.yea4s1waa

A recipe for krupnik (or if you are Lithuanian, “vyrta”). A honey and spiced liqueur that is popular in my hometown of Baltimore. The linked recipe is pretty decent it can be fudged a little bit. Proportions can be played with. The final product is wonderful for the winter. A word of warning…this stuff sells at one bar under the moniker “evil”. Very apt. The base alcohol in this is grain alcohol (people have been known to use rye whiskey too). The longer it ages the more mellow it becomes….However, its grain so don’t drink too much (ask me how I know).

Sir Lord Baltimore
Sir Lord Baltimore
8 years ago

Jack,

120ish seems about right. The versions made with rye whiskey are also pretty good stuff and decidedly lower proof. Personally I like the punch in the gullet every once in awhile. Gets the cobwebs out and occasionally lifts the fog during the dreary month of March here in the Northeast.

A lot of the ingredients in this recipe are also used in a crockpot (it will certainly get ya crocked) party cocktail that I am told is a favorite in the PA Coal region “Boil-o”. My lady who is a Lancaster County native got turned onto it years ago by a friend from Shamokin…We make it in the winter occasionally for parties and such…(the version we make omits the raisins…The base whiskey that we use in this is Old Grandad…High Proof and reasonably priced)

http://www.coalregion.com/recipes/boilo.php

James
James
8 years ago

My little story from making liqeur:

One year while I was in college I decided to make some cordials using the fruit from our brambles. I did, and got pretty good batches of raspberry cordial and blackberry cordial.

The “interesting” part came when I explained the whole infusing process to one of my apartment-mates, and he was taken by it enough that he decided to try his hand at infusing a vodka.

He decided to use the fruits from the habanero plant he was growing on our deck.

He did not deseed the peppers before infusing.

(4 months later, cue a half-dozen people desperately guzzling water and shoving wonderbread into their mouths…)