The Bride, following in Vivi's footsteps, has made two kinds of walnut liqueur. (Thanks for sending me the walnuts, Vivi and Girl child). The middle jar and the righthand jar are Vin de Noix and Nocino, respectively. I actually used the other recipe for the Vin de Noix, the one Vivi didn't use. It calls for 'bitter orange peel'. I'm working on getting it, but I just went ahead and made it without. And the Nocino on the far right - look how dark it has gotten. It started out clear with lovely green walnut quarters floating in it. I only made 1/2 recipe of each, because that's how many walnuts I had. If it's good, I'll have to get Vivi to send me more next summer.
The 2 gallon jar on the far left is Vin de Cerise, made from a recipe in the same French cookbook as the Vin de Noix recipe I used. This one we've made before and I love it. I highly recommend trying this while the cherries are available. I made the full 3 liters, but you could make less.
Vin de Cerise
3 liters of red or rose wine
1 kilo of black cherries
1/2 litre of vodka or eau de vie
500 grams of sugar
Crush the cherries (I put them in a strong plastic zip lock bag and smashed them with a flat meat tenderizer.) Leave the pits in place - much of the flavor comes from the pits. Put everything in a large jar. Mine is 2 gallons. Swirl the contents around every day for 15 days of maceration. After that, filter and put in bottles and let sit a little longer. The cherries that you filter out are really good with ice cream, once you pick the pits out.
2 comments:
Oregon is a major cherry state, of course, but I think we're now past prime season. Do you think this could be made with blackberries, same recipe, just substituting...?
The local paper had an article about preserving pears in Madiera with Bay Leaves (or in Port with I can't remember the herb) that looked absolutely scrumptious. I'm just waiting for pear season to hit.
I should do some peaches, too -- they are in good form this summer.
Ikea, by the way, has some lovely canning jars, for a couple dollars cheaper than similar stuff at other places.
I have avoided alchohol for 8 months. I know it is probably safe for me to have a small glass now. But it is easier for me to go cold turkey. My mouth sort of forgets the flavor so it does not want it. But this conversation makes me drool. Slurp!
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