Still life in Alcohol

With a renewed interest in cocktails, I have been reading about various infusions, syrups, liqueurs and digestifs that add different flavour profiles to cocktails.  After a little bit of research, I am finding that many of them are not too difficult to make, really requiring time and good quality produce as a starting point.

It all started with a blog entry from David Lebovitz about making liqueur de noix, a mid-summers activity for many French people.   It got me thinking of new ways to use the many walnuts growing on our walnut tree.  Turns out the Italians also make basically the same liqueur, only they call it Nocino.   I blogged about making it last month, and the jars have been sitting, marinating for about a month now!  The sugar has completely dissovled, and the colour is pretty dark — one more month to go!

After this, I turned my attention to the proliferation of leafy herbs growing in the garden, and made some tarragon and basil digestifs.  Its pretty easy to do, you just submerge unblemished leaves in overproof vodka, and let steep for 5-7 days, strain out the leaves and mix with simple syrup.

Here’s the tarragon leaves “steeping”

And here’s the final basil digestif.  I added basil syrup to this one, to amplify the basil flavour.  It smells fabulous, and I love how clear and jewel-like the digestifs look in the sun!

For now, the last one I have played around with is damson plums.  This has been something the English like to do with damson plums.  They are smaller than the prune plums, and very flavourful.   Again, this is pretty easy to do:  unblemished plums + sugar + vodka + 2 months = YUM!

This will get lovely and ruby coloured after about 2 months, and the sugar will dissolve,  just like with the Nocino.

Oh, and in case you didn’t notice, I love using Mason Jars!!! So practical, completely non-reactive, and easy to sterilize!

Good thing the growing season is winding down! I’m running out of space!!