Pear Liqueur

As promised.

pear liqueur

The strawberry liqueur I made a few days back is coming along fine ( right), so as I had a glut of pears I have made some pear as well. Its interesting that both the kilner jars hold approximately the same amount of liquid, it doesn’t look as though they do, does it? This is another recipe from Jean Dixons book.

2 cm piece of peeled ginger root.

500 g sugar

500 ml dry white wine

500 ml gin

500 g fresh table pears

5 whole cloves

Halve, seed and slice the pears

Place the pears, cloves, ginger and sugar in a heavy bottomed pot. Add the wine. Heat over a low heat and stir until the sugar has dissolved. Bring to the boil.Remove the syrup from the stove and leave to cool.

Add the gin to the cold syrup. Pour the mixture into a clean glass or earthenware container, close tightly and leave to stand for a week in a warm spot . Shake every morning and evening.

Strain the mixture through two layers of cheesecloth, repeating if necessary.

Pour the liqueur into a dry sterilised bottle. Store for a month before use.

Strawberry liqueur

I am told Strawberry Liqueur is rather sweeter than the other fruit liqueurs, because strawberries are naturally a sweeter fruit. It is recommended  poured over pancakes, or over the sponge in a trifle, and if you take a galia melon, cut it in half, and fill the middles with strawberry liqueur and perhaps a little sugar, with a garnish of rose petals or mint leaves, I gather you have a very impressive pud for very little effort! I will try it with pancakes for sure!

Strawberry liqueur

Blackberry whisky, strawberry liqueur, pickled pears.

I recently discovered some blackberry whisky I had forgotten about, it was great! It must have been a good 18 months old and had definitely improved with age. This has put me back onto a liqueur making phase, although it does get a bit expensive and I have to watch the units I am drinking because some of these are SO nice.

I got some strawberries today so will try strawberry liqueur, I have never made it before. Here’s the recipe from a book called Make your own liqueurs (unsurprisingly) by Jean Dickson. I got it from a car boot and thought it was Australian, turns out it was South African, so I have to take account of some strange ingredients I cant seem to get my hands on easily, like whitblits. If ever I know anyone going to South Africa I will get them to bring some back..

Strawberry Liqueur

500 g fresh strawberries

750 ml of gin

200 g sugar

250 mls dry white wine

1 ml of black pepper -a pinch I assume.

Wash and cut strawberries into quarters

Place strawberries and pepper into a clean dry glass or earthenware container with a lid and add the gin.

Mix the sugar and wine in a heavy bottomed pot and stir over a low temp until dissolved. Bring to the boil and boil for 7 minutes.

Remove the syrup from the stove and leave to cool. Add the cold syrup to the mixture and close tightly. leave to stand for a fortnight in a warm spot shake every morning and evening.

Pour the mixture through several layers of clean dry cheesecloth.

Pour into a clean dry sterilised bottle, cork, seal and store for at least a month before use.

Having said that I simply put my home made liqueurs straight into a sterilised spirits bottle. It has never started fermenting!

Technically anything made now should be ready for Xmas, although as I have discovered, they improve with time.