In the Limoncello thread on the Italy board, someone asked that I post my Cranberry/Orange Liqueur recipe. I decided to put it here as the first of a series of liqueur recipies others may want to share. Homemade Cranberry/Orange Liqueur 16 oz Fresh Cranberries 1 1/2 cups 100 proof Vodka 1 1/2 cups sugar 3/4 cup filtered or distilled water (not mineral) 1 orange (organic if possible but at least carefully scrubbed and dried) 1 stick cinnamon (optional) 5 whole cloves (optional)
*Wash and dry the cranberries. *Chop cranberries in a blender or food processor to the consistency of course ground black pepper (use lowest setting). *Pour chopped cranberries into a scrupulously clean and dry glass steeping jar with a tightly sealing lid (at least 1/2 gallon size) *To get all of the cranberries into the jar, use the vodka to rinse out the blender and pour into your steeping jar. *Using a potato peeler, carefully peel just the rind (no white pith) from the orange. *Add the peel to the steeping jar along with the cinnamon stick and cloves. *Put in a cool dark place for four weeks to steep. Shake the jar lightly every day to keep the fruit distributed throughout the vodka. *After steeping is complete, strain out fruit and spices by using moistened coffee filters in a funnel. (you may have to do this several times to get all the particles possible out.) *You should be straining into another large clean jar that seals tightly. Set aside. *Boil water and sugar until clear. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature. *After syrup is cool, add to alcohol mixture. *Bottle in your chosen containers and seal tightly. *Return to cool dry place and allow to mellow. *Should be drinkable in just a few days, but the longer you let it sit the more mellow it becomes.
Deborah Horn
In a previous life I was an Umbrian sunflower farmer. I'd like to do a past life regression and stay there. ----------------------------------- www.petsburg.com
Posts: 5105 | Location: St. Louis, MO | Registered: 04 September 2001
Sounds wonderful. Thanks for sharing that Deborah. I'm definitely going to try it for Thanksgiving. (Okay, it's a chicken but it's as close to a turkey as we have on here!)
I have my limoncello (recipe from another thread) steeping in the garage right now. I am definitely going to try the cranberry orange recipe. Thank you for starting this great thread!
Posts: 982 | Location: San Francisco bay area | Registered: 12 May 2003
I like Valerie's idea of serving this around Thanksgiving time (LOL, Val!) but I don't recall seeing fresh cranberries in my local grocery store until just a couple weeks before T-Day. That wouldn't allow enough time for the steeping process.
Any suggestions? Are there such things as frozen cranberries?
Posts: 14516 | Location: The Beautiful San Francisco Bay Area | Registered: 06 August 2001
Colleen you might try Whole Foods or a few health food stores looking for pure concentrated cranberry juice to substitute. I think "Tree of Life" used to make it. Anyway, if you did that, you could cut your infusion time down to about a week just to get the orange oil out of the peel. Haven't tried the juice concentrate method, so you would have to experiment with proportions. If you perfect a recipe, share it with us. It would be a great shortcut.
Deborah Horn
In a previous life I was an Umbrian sunflower farmer. I'd like to do a past life regression and stay there. ----------------------------------- www.petsburg.com
Posts: 5105 | Location: St. Louis, MO | Registered: 04 September 2001
8 large oranges (just picked)skinned (no white parts) 1 bottle of 95 +proof alcohol 500 gm of sugar 1 1/2 liters water
Skin oranges and put into glass bottle with 1 liter of alcohol. Let stand in dark place for a week , stirring daily. Warm water with sugar til melted and add to orange mix. Refrigerate and let stand at least 3-4 days. Pour through a filter into sterile bottles and refrigerate. Makes about 3 liters.
(I bought a bunch of very small bottles and gave samples as hostess gifts or other occasions.)
quote:Originally posted by Livinwell: ...you might try Whole Foods or a few health food stores looking for pure concentrated cranberry juice to substitute. .....
Thanks, Deborah - First I have to find a Whole Foods ... then I'll look for the concentrate! Thanks for the ideas, and I will definitely post details about the results.
Posts: 14516 | Location: The Beautiful San Francisco Bay Area | Registered: 06 August 2001
FOr a treat on limoncello, arancino or any other citrus flavored vodka, after the first steeping period (I have heard anwhere from a week to 4 weeks), fill a second bottle with the peel and strain the already infused vodka onto the fresh peelings.
You can also spice the liqueur. Corriander seed or vanilla bean with orange, black pepper with tangerine, clove with orange or lemon, ginger with lime etc.
When I worked for a restaurant famous for making drinks out of unfused vodka, we made sure to shake the infusion daily.
quote:Originally posted by Gavin Crawford: Rebecca makes her own liqueurs, which she puts out in the courtyard for guests. It would be most unfair to expect her to share her recipies here
Nobody is "expected" to share a recipe on the Food/Drink/RECIPIES board unless they want to.
Deborah Horn
In a previous life I was an Umbrian sunflower farmer. I'd like to do a past life regression and stay there. ----------------------------------- www.petsburg.com
Posts: 5105 | Location: St. Louis, MO | Registered: 04 September 2001
Gavin, were you also teasing us with the comment about the fennel liqueur? Is that your recipe? If so, are you going to post it? Or if this is the one you want Rebecca to share, I'll help you tease her for it! My questions are: Are the seeds or the bulb used? If the seeds are used, are they raw or toasted?
Deborah Horn
In a previous life I was an Umbrian sunflower farmer. I'd like to do a past life regression and stay there. ----------------------------------- www.petsburg.com
Posts: 5105 | Location: St. Louis, MO | Registered: 04 September 2001
Oh, for heaven's sake, Gavin. Quit twisting my arm.
Wild Fennel Liqueur
25 wild fennel flowers (Wild fennel flowers look kind of like yellow Queen Anne's Lace, so by flower I don't mean one of the little microscopic blossoms, but one bunch of the hundreds of little blossoms that form the big round flower. And it's best to use them when the flower is still in bloom and bright yellow (mid summer here) 1 liter alcohol 1.5 liters water 700 g. sugar
Mix the flowers and the alcohol and let rest for 28 days. Not 27, not 29.
On the 28th day, make a sugar syrup, mix it with the alcohol and flowers, shake and filter.
This is an easy liqueur to make, has a nice light flavor, is a good digestivo, and can be consumed almost immediately after filtering.
Rebecca, I make liqueurs with an Italian friend here in my town and we use her family recipes (she is 72 and from Torino). We made a bay liqueur last autumn and used the leaves from a friend's tree. My friend Carmen made the comment that her mother sometimes used the berries rather than the leaves. What does your recipe call for, if you don't mind saying?
Posts: 1468 | Location: on the Alabama River | Registered: 22 July 2002
There is a restaurant in Sorrento, where the owner, if he likes you, will serve you some of his homemade liqueurs after dinner. His most prized liqueur was made with basil and chamomile. It was wonderful, and now I'm trying to figure out my own recipe. So if any of you have suggestions....
Deborah Horn
In a previous life I was an Umbrian sunflower farmer. I'd like to do a past life regression and stay there. ----------------------------------- www.petsburg.com
Posts: 5105 | Location: St. Louis, MO | Registered: 04 September 2001
Deborah, my friend has her mother's book of handwritten recipes. Actually it is here at my home because we cook together often and have spent many days of late cooking, canning and freezing the last of the summer vegetables and herbs.
She has a recipe for chamomile liqueur, but not basil and chamomile. Basically it is 50g of dried chamomile flowers steeped in 1 liter of 90 proof alcohol for 2 weeks, then filtered and mixed with a syrup made from 800g of sugar and 1 liter of water. It is left to age for 3 months.
There is also a recipe which looks intriguing, Liquore di Erbe.It calls for bay leaves, rosemary, mint leaves, lemon, sage, cloves, saffron, basil and chamomile. Preparation is much the same, but can be consumed after 2 weeks aging.
We are going to make your Cranberry Liqueur - sounds great.
Posts: 1468 | Location: on the Alabama River | Registered: 22 July 2002
There are always questions about what to bring Italians on a trip there... what could be better than a bottle of homemade cranberry liqueur? Homemade, and North American, perfect. Thanks for the recipe Deborah.
Shannon, I did that last October, I took about a dozen 250ml bottles of my GreenTea/Jasmine liqueur to friends. They loved them. But I like your idea better! Green Tea and Jasmine are easy to get in Italy. Cranberries are a different matter. Next year it will be the Cranberry/Orange. And perhaps a couple of bottles of the Sassafras. However, I hear that most Italians are not wild about the rootbeer like taste of sassafras.
Deborah Horn
In a previous life I was an Umbrian sunflower farmer. I'd like to do a past life regression and stay there. ----------------------------------- www.petsburg.com
Posts: 5105 | Location: St. Louis, MO | Registered: 04 September 2001
quote: Are there such things as frozen cranberries?
Colleen, I saw two brands of frozen cranberries in my local Sunflower Market today (it's sort of like a down-market Wild Oats, so if you have one of these nearby you should find one of these brands there). They were Stahlbush and Snopak. I'm going to see in the next month if my market gets fresh cranberries in, if not I'll resort to trying the frozen.
quote:Originally posted by Bags packed: There is also a recipe which looks intriguing, Liquore di Erbe.It calls for bay leaves, rosemary, mint leaves, lemon, sage, cloves, saffron, basil and chamomile.
This is an interesting one. Kind of the Ribolitta of liqueurs. I would like to try it. When you have time, could you post the measurements? Thanks!
Deborah Horn
In a previous life I was an Umbrian sunflower farmer. I'd like to do a past life regression and stay there. ----------------------------------- www.petsburg.com
Posts: 5105 | Location: St. Louis, MO | Registered: 04 September 2001
Val, thanks for the tip on the frozen cranberries. I'll check around for them. (I was just looking at Deborah's recipe today and trying to calculate how much liquid 16 oz. of fresh cranberries would make!)
Posts: 14516 | Location: The Beautiful San Francisco Bay Area | Registered: 06 August 2001
Here is the recipe (I hope I translated correctly) for Liquore di Erbe. It might be wonderful or just plain strange, I offer no personal recommendation.
Kudzu grows (that really is not what it does - it is on a stealth mission to acquire all the territory) well here and flowers in the summer. The flower is purple and sweetly perfumed. "Southern Living" magazine published a recipe for Kudzu Jelly, which I found intriguing and thought would make fine gifts for friends. The jelly was vile. More to the point, I will let Deborah make this recipe for Liquore di Erbe first.
Liquore di Erbe Steep the following herbs in the alcohol for 20 days: Bay-4 Rosemary-1 (1 sprig I think) Mint leaves-12 Chamomile-10 Basil-10 Leaves of lemon-10 Sage-12 Cloves-3 Saffron-3 200 ml alcohol
Strain very well and add syrup made from 500 ml water and 400 g sugar. Bottle and age 28 days.
Posts: 1468 | Location: on the Alabama River | Registered: 22 July 2002
Topic Closed
(Okay, it's a chicken but it's as close to a turkey as we have on here!)
Is that your recipe? If so, are you going to post it? Or if this is the one you want Rebecca to share, I'll help you tease her for it! 
Good one, Deborah!