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summer fruit liqueur
Dec. 31st, 2005 03:17 pmThis is an old request and wasn't on the original list of recipes people wanted. I am posting it because my nieces and I included some rather alcoholic cherries in some of the chocolates we made (we also created some rather nice chili chocolates, but alas, they have gone the way of all good things) and the other night I was faced with hints about how to make the cherries from the chocolates. I am sure I have told innumerable people this recipe, but here it is again.
Get some scrummy fruit. It should be perfect flavour-wise but looks don't matter; use under-ripe or poor quality fruit, though, and it will show in your end liqueur. Get a bunch of boring white sugar. Find spice to fit the fruit flavour (I use lemon myrtle for cumquat liqueur but no spice at all for dark cherry). Buy some decent brandy. Not the super-expensive stuff: the fruit will drown out the flavour.
Stone your cherries or chop your apricots or simply pick over and clean your berries. Pack the fruit tightly in jars with the spices. Add between 40-55% of the weight of the fruit in sugar. Shake everything down. Fill every single air pocket with brandy. Leave in a cool dark place for 6 months. If you can leave it in a dark place for 5 years you will have something special, but six months gives you a tolerable sauce for icecream.
Get some scrummy fruit. It should be perfect flavour-wise but looks don't matter; use under-ripe or poor quality fruit, though, and it will show in your end liqueur. Get a bunch of boring white sugar. Find spice to fit the fruit flavour (I use lemon myrtle for cumquat liqueur but no spice at all for dark cherry). Buy some decent brandy. Not the super-expensive stuff: the fruit will drown out the flavour.
Stone your cherries or chop your apricots or simply pick over and clean your berries. Pack the fruit tightly in jars with the spices. Add between 40-55% of the weight of the fruit in sugar. Shake everything down. Fill every single air pocket with brandy. Leave in a cool dark place for 6 months. If you can leave it in a dark place for 5 years you will have something special, but six months gives you a tolerable sauce for icecream.