What are capers, anyway? Learn all about the briny ingredient that will transform your favorite dishes Alcohol - any pure spirit is perfect for liqueurs. Here I like to use either rum or vodka. Vodka is neutral, so it's usually the first option to go for. But whiskey is a nice touch that also works well with plums! The distillation and fermentation processes used for preparing liquors are fine-tuned to keep the ABV (alcohol by volume) at least 20%. In some varieties of liquors like vodka, the alcoholic content is 40% ABV. Liqueurs, on the other hand tend to be sweeter with a lower alcohol content (varies between 15-30%) and are usually flavored with nuts, flowers, fruits, spices or herbs. Herbal liqueurs, as the expression clearly signifies are sweetened spirits that are spiced with herbs including anise, fennel, licorice, and ginger. Interesting Facts about Herbal Liqueurs One of the culinary treats that is most famous from the area where we live is limoncello, a lemon liqueur, but what many people not from this area don’t realize is that there is a plethora of different types of liquers that you can find, and most families have their own traditional versions to make them at home. And my absolute favorite of these is finocchietto, wild fennel liqueur. We like infusing our own Gin and have a growing number of flavours. Fennel Gin is a bit of a surprise – I wasn’t sure how it would turn out – it’s real good, it’s vegan and is a subtle version of Sambuca.

Wild Fennel Liqueur: Fragrant and Digestif - La Cucina Italiana

One of the best vegetables to go with anise-based liqueurs is fennel whose intense flavour brings out the fennel in the liqueur itself. And if you want a classic French recipe for your pastis, make the Marseille signature dish – bouillabaisse, one of whose vital ingredients is a generous glug of anise-based liqueur. Great tip, Matthew! I live in Italy, and this type of alcohol is used regularly for making liqueurs. I was under the impression that in the States at least, there isn’t that type of alcohol and so vodka is used. So, I haven’t tried Everclear myself, but it looks like just the perfect product! Thanks! Reply Infuse the alcohol with the wild fennel leaves and its seeds crushed in a mortar and leave for at least 10 days in a hermetically sealed container.Start by adding sliced plums to a clean glass jar with a tight lid. Cover the plums with sugar, then pour vodka over until it covers all the plums. Do this in two turns, so that it will be two layers of plums, two of sugar, and two of vodka. Make sure you completely fill the glass jar. A fresh-tasting liqueur and smell of freshly chopped herbs which also helps digestion exits. Not everyone knows it perhaps because it’s prepared with an unusual ingredient, wild fennel. Homemade sweet liqueurs like this plum liqueur, are more roughly around 25% ABV or 50 proof. The calculation will depend on how much juice is extracted from the plums and how much sugar you end up using. One thing to remember is that this is an old-fashioned and natural procedure using fresh products. Therefore there is no avoiding sediment buildup. Fennel liqueur sediment floats to the top of the bottle over time.

Anise flavoured drinks | French liqueurs | French Waterways

Burnt ends are all the rage right now, and honestly, we can't believe this hasn't always been the case. What started out as a "family meal" (the meal served to the restaurant staff, typically made up of leftovers and scraps) has become one of the most coveted menu items at any barbecue joint worth its salt. For years, whenever I ate out at an Indian Restaurant, I somehow overlooked the self serve bowl of seedy bits by the cash registers. Maybe I did notice, but not having a clue as to what it was (or thinking to even ask), it fell off my radar. And then I met my husband, who is half Indian, and going out to Indian restaurants with his mom became a whole new experience. Besides getting stuff not on the menu, or having food cooked a particular way (hello extra spicy!), I began to notice the unspoken ritual at the end of the meal. A small spoonful of those seedy bits, poured into a palm, and eaten, or rather, crunched on. Method: Add all ingredients, save for the soda and garnish, to a shaker tin with ice. Shake and strain into a Highball glass. Top with club soda and garnish with shaved fennel slices. Oooh, For Me??? Minnow Bar If you like sweet and fruity, i.e. the flavor of plums and sugar - I think you'll love this recipe. The origin of the limoncello is muddled. The most common story, though, is that Maria Antonia Farace made the original limoncello using lemons and oranges from her garden and served it at a small Inn in Capri at the beginning of the 20th century. After World War II, her grandson opened a restaurant where the draw was his homemade limoncello using his nonna’s recipe. There are other origin legends, too, including one which claims monks were the first to drink limoncello as a simple pleasure between prayers.For the base liquor I’m turning to Everclear, one of my favorites for infusions and when I’ll be cutting the strength of the ABV down. Everclear has a clean, neutral taste so there aren’t any surprise flavors when I’m making an infusion. With the higher ABV, it also means that after cutting the infused liquid I will not end up with a watered down liqueur. Close the container and allow everything to marinate for 30 days and 30 nights in a cool, dark area. Give it a light shake every day. As thanks, you will receive a free e-cookbook Travels Through the Seasons, with many delicious recipes from around the world that suit different seasons of the year. The liqueur is just sweet enough, as the fennel itself has its own sort of sweetness along with that slightly numbing anise flavor. The aroma is exactly as you’d expect: strongly fennel. After a few sips I do feel like it’s helping move the meal along, as a proper digestif should.

Wild Fennel Liqueur| Typical Liqueurs from Amalfi Coast

Although it is consumed throughout France, especially in the summer, pastis is generally associated with southeastern France, especially with the city of Marseilles, and with the clichés of the Provençal lifestyle, like pétanque.Patxaran, ('patcharan' in Spanish), is created in Navarre where an anisette liqueur is flavored mainly with sloe berries as well as coffee beans and vanilla pods. Meanwhile, filter the fennel from the alcohol. You can use a coffee filter for this and you may need to do it a few times until all the residue is removed. If you’re going traditional you need an absinthe fountain – look for vintage designs in antique shops in France – or you use a jug. Fill your glass with one part absinthe, place a slotted spoon with a sugar cube over the glass and slowly drip chilled water into the glass (about four times as much water to absinthe). Watch the green ‘smoke’ rise from the glass as the water mixes with the liqueur. Pernod and Pastis Ciao Betsy, I’m a Neapolitan AmerIcan, Culinary Instructor in ATLANTA, and the American Rep for one of the Top Culinary historians and Slow Food Advocates on the Amalfi Coast, based in Furore. Giocondo Cavaliere. We think the finest small batch producer of liquors is Carlo Mansi of Atrani. Reply Those seedy bits were usually fennel seeds, plain, sometimes with brightly sugar coated seeds, other times a mix of those and aniseed. Each restaurant had its own mix. It was not usually presented to the diner. It would sit quietly at the register, or sometimes at the end of a buffet. It was a ritual that didn’t need to be spoken of, one just consumed it. I learned it was to help digestion, fennel seed naturally helping in that department, with the potential to cleanse one’s breath after a meal.