Recipes


	Mike Pemberton's Gin Mix


	To start the ball rolling, here is a recipe from Mike Pemberton in New Zealand, who has developed an excellent gin essence that rivals some of the best flavors on the commercial market. The basic ingredients are:

Angelica	20ml
Cassia	5ml
Coriander	5ml
Juniper	20ml
Liquorice	20ml
Oris root	5ml
Sichuan pepper	10ml

All of the ingredients above are liquid extracts taken from the raw material by taking them one at a time and boiling them in a coffee pot. Mike fitted a large cork to the top of the pot, and led the steam to a simple Liebig condenser to collect the hydrosol essences. Nothing could be simpler! The amounts he used for each ingredient are shown below. Note that Mike, who lives in New Zealand, had no qualms about adding 50ml of 96% alcohol (Everclear) to each of his mixes to improve the extraction, but he has assured us that using just water is fine.

Angelica	75gm Angelica (not the sweet crystallized type!) and 350ml water
Cassia	50gm Cassia (Cinnamon) in 250ml water. Cassia, or Chinese Cinnamon, is very similar in flavor and aroma to the more readily available Cinnamon which can be obtained in "sticks" or "quills" for cooking. We believe that Cinnamon is sold as "Cassia" in the States anyway, so just use whatever you can easily get, whatever the name used!
Coriander	1 tablespoon of Coriander seeds in 250 ml water
Juniper	50gm Juniper berries in 500ml of water
Liquorice	50gm Liquorice root powder and 250ml water
Oris root	1 tablespoon of Oris root powder in 150ml water
Sichuan pepper	2 tablespoons Sichuan peppercorns and 350ml water

All of the materials above were boiled and the first 50ml condensate collected. The hydrosols obtained were then diluted with an equal amount of 96% alcohol in order to improve the shelf life of the essences. Mixing together these essences in the proportions shown in Mike's Gin Mix gave him the final result which he found to be excellent. However, as individual tastes vary, he recommended taking each of the ingredients in turn, starting with the Juniper, and adding them to the mix until you are satisfied with the result. Extracting each of the essences in turn enables you to do this, and is a much better method than putting different amounts of raw ingredients into one pot and extracting from that. This gives you much better control, as the concentrations of flavors you get from ingredients will vary from batch to batch.

Thanks Mike!

Just one word of advice ....

Be careful how much gin you add to the tonic!


	Brian Ross' Crabapple Liqueur

Brian Ross, of Willow Point Wines U Vin on Vancouver Island, Canada, has sent in this recipe for a delicious liqueur.

Brian writes:

Of all the liqueurs I have made, Crabapple has been everyone's favorite. I have been using the red variety that looks like a small Macintosh . The end result is wonderful. The first thing you notice is the rich blush of a sunset that was poured in your glass. Then, as you bring the glass up to your lips for the first sip, the full bouquet hits your nose totally unexpected. You have to try again , another sniff, is it spring blossoms , or warm summer breezes, or the ripe fruit of the fall or a little bit of them all rolled into one. One thing for sure, everyone agrees it smells like more. When the glass finally makes it to your lips and the first sip hits your tongue it's fruity, and sweet ,but tart too. What is that flavour? Tart enough that it is not too sweet and yet sweet enough that it is smooth , verrrry smoooooth. Torn between the satisfaction of guzzling it down or the pleasure of slowly sipping it away. ( How much of this is there anyway? )

Bottled Sunset!

You will need ;
a 4 liter glass jar with lid
enough RIPE Crabapples ( cut in half ) to fill jar packed tight
between 750 ml and 1.5 liters vodka ( Gin is also nice)
3-4 cups sugar
bentonite

First add 750 ml of vodka and 4 cups of sugar to jar. Then start cutting your apples in half and throw them in ( core stem and all ) . jiggle and jam them in until the liquid reaches the top ( one more and it will overflow) if you can't get any more in and there is still room for more vodka , top it up so that when you put the lid on there is as little air as possible.

For the next 10-20 days turn the jar once a day (one day right side up ,
next day up side down ) .

Pour the juice off and put in a fridge for 2 weeks to help with the clearing (I use a mini fruit press to get an extra 750 ml out of the pulp). When clouds have formed in the liqueur add a small amount of bentonite and let sit for a few days clear and let the sediment compact on the bottom. When you pour the juice off the fruit, it often looks clear but it will develop sediment . Even after 3 weeks in the fridge to clear and a careful run through a coffee filter I got a crystal clear liqueur that dropped more sediment after a few months. Adding the bentonite gives a longer clear shelf life.

ENJOY!