Strawberry Cordial

[yellerpup]

The taste is sublime. Organic strawberries, fresh basil, Stoli vodka + three months of dark magic in the hall closet--OMG! So smooth you can't even taste the liquor. Here's the photo. That manly hand belongs to my jam-making buddy, Ben. I'm taking the photos.

The raw ingredients:



End product: Strawberry Cordial



Today I put up a pint of candied cherries and started the cherry cordial working. I'll let you know how it turns out in a couple of months! :hi:

[hippywife]

1. That looks yummy!

I'm trying to imagine the taste of the basil mixed in with the strawberries. I bet it was good.

It reminds me of a restaurant I used to go to in Columbus that made Pineapple Finlandias. They got these huge glass apothecary jars and cut pineapples into them and added Finlandia vodka. They only let it ferment for a week so it wasn't like a cordial but it was deeeeelicious! The vodka tasted like pineapple and the pineapple tasted like crap but were really, really strong. :9


I got your message and will answer soon. :loveya:

[yellerpup]

3. The basil flavor doesn't present. It does add a 'hint' of herbal

undertone, but mostly it enables the strawberry to stay fruity and not be overpowered by the sugar. The cordials take much less sugar than the jams I've been making.

I also candied cherries today and will store most of them until Christmas and then make cherry-chocolate candy out of them. I'm a little disappointed the the way they taste. They are cute as they can be but the recipe called for a half lemon to be simmered with them as they reduced and oddly--to me at least--they kind of taste like Smith Bros. Cough Drops. The cherry cordial has no lemon iin it and so I am hoping that it won't taste like medicine.... I get inspired by almost anything and will work my tush off for faint praise. This afternoon, I have a pint of candied cherries and a liter of cherry cordial. I bought a cherry-pitter yesterday.

Pineapple Finlandias sound intriguing and I'd try one on the spot but I'd pass on trying to choke down the fruit. For cordials, you squeeze every last drop out of the booze saturated fruit and throw the crap tasting part away. Hell, I'd go just for the company! :pals:

[hippywife]

5. Well, maybe they'll

taste better by Christmas? I dunno, I've never candied fruit before. :shrug:

And if you come along for the company, you'd be most welcome...as long as you manage to remain upright. :)

[yellerpup]

6. No guarantees, honey.

If the candied cherries still taste like cough drops at Christmas, I'm not wasting chocolate on them. My first time candying fruit, too. I've candied ginger, but that's a spice, isn't it?

I don't drink much any more. I have sweet little crystal glasses that hold about a thimbleful of the strawberry cordial. I might mix a tablespoon in with sparkling wine and garnish with a chocolate dipped strawberry for a special occasion--like our anniversary this Thursday--hard to believe it's been 31 years. That deserves a belt dud'n it? :crazy:

[beac]

2. Yum! Reminds me of an under-the-table strawberry liquor we were given at

our favorite restaurant in Italy. We lived there for a year and went often, so they trusted they could give us this forbidden exilir without us alerting the authorities.

A couple of questions:

What are the strawberry/basil/vodka amounts?

What's the average temp in that hall closet?

[yellerpup]

4. So simple. The hardest part is waiting for the flavor to distill.

And not chickening out when the berries lose their color to the spirits.

Leaves only from 2 large sprigs of basil
2 Qt. strawberries (8 cups) washed and trimmed
1-1/2 Cups granulated sugar


Get a wide mouthed jar (glass or ceramic) or canister and layer the basil leaves on the bottom.

Layer the berries over the basil leaves, alternating with sugar until all the fruit and sugar is gone.
Cover it all with

3-1/2+C. good quality vodka

Wrap it with plastic wrap and seal jar or jug with a lid.

Let steep for about 2 months, tilting the jar at least once a week so that the sugar will eventually dissolve. Our hall closet is in a mostly un-airconditioned part of our apartment and it has been a hot summer. I'd estimate about 80 in there because that is the only room where sunlight can be blocked out.

When the time is up (and your strawberries will be gray, but have faith!) line a strainer with a quadruple layer of damp cheesecloth set over a glass or ceramic bowl. Strain the mixture, then draw the corners of the cheesecloth up to make a bag and squeeze until you can't squeeze any more. Toss the pulp and the cheesecloth.

I funneled it into a wine bottle, let it sit over night, then strained it again through coffee filters. Now it's a beautiful red, clear, and smooth on the tongue. Good luck! :hi:

[beac]

7. Recipe copied (along w/ your pretty pics-- hope you don't mind) and plan

to make this a little later in early fall. In our unairconditioned house, even the closets are toasty this summer.

Thanks! :hi:

[yellerpup]

8. I don't mind at all!

We have two small window a/c units (one LR & one BR) that don't reach the kitchen or the hallway where our closet is. I just put up another container full of cherries, sugar, and vodka back in the closet for a cherry cordial that I'll open in October or November. Next, if I can find the right size jars I will preserve whole plums in vodka where the fruit will be edible and the liqueur it makes will be drinkable. I'm going a little mad this summer. Maybe it's this uncommon heat we've been experiencing on the East coast, but thinking of Christmas season when I'll be giving most of the jams and cordials away helps keep me cool. :hi: