Guys. I need a drink.
The last month has been a whirlwind of incredibly rewarding work for Taste of the Nation: Los Angeles. I’ve been working harder and harder to pull together the restaurant participants for this amazing event, and in the last couple of weeks I’ve become the official Restaurant Co-Chair for this year’s event. It’s been hours upon hours of work with 40 of the city’s very best chefs to ensure we have an amazing event on June 6, which is (holycrap) less than 1 week away. If you’d like to see the killer list of restaurants in person this Sunday, go buy some freaking tickets! And hey, I’ll even give you a secret discount code: F&F2010. Beware, it expires on Saturday at 12pm, and then, at the door, all the prices jump another $25. So. All the cooking I’ve had time to do in the last few weeks is well, none, since every night is either a meeting or an evening full of phone calls, emails, layouts and spreadsheets. So instead, I’ve been watching a jar of gorgeous early summer raspberries ferment with sugar in a jar on my counter, and watching the days fly by while it turns into rich, delicious liqueur courtesy of the natural yeast on the raspberries’ skin.
Raspberry Liqueur
Adapted from Anne Willan’s From My Chateau Kitchen
The original recipe gives an amount twice what I used below. This quantity is convenient, since I always seem to have a pint-sized mason jar around. But next time, I’m doubling, no! tripling the quantities!
- 8 oz raspberries
- 8 oz sugar
1 pint-sized mason jar
Pack the raspberries in the canning jar, layering them with the sugar. Screw the outside ring of the jar over a double thickness of cheesecloth, and leave the center of the lid off. The sugar will begin to streak with pink juice that day, and gradually bubble and ferment as the days pass. Stir every couple of weeks. When the bubbling stops, the liqueur is ready to drink. This sometimes takes as long as 6 months, but can be as few as 6 weeks. It will mellow and improve upon keeping. Drink as a special reward for a large achievement.
6.1.2010
After it’s done fermenting, how do you keep it? Do you move it a different container? How long can you keep it? Does it go in the refrigerator?
Do you wash the fruit first, or is it best to keep them dirty, for the yeast? Can you do with with other berries?
I am clearly very excited about his recipe and want to try it very soon. Good one CK!
6.1.2010
I’m going to keep it in a recycled liqueur bottle with a cork or cap, but just putting the lid properly on the jar would do the trick. You can keep it in the fridge if you want, but the flavor will mellow out nicely if just kept in the liquor cabinet with its friends.
Don’t wash the fruit first, you want to hang onto the yeasties. If you have berries with actual mud on them, well, I guess rinse them off, but I’d wonder why your raspberries are so dirty.
It doesn’t really work with other berries, for whatever reason. But the raspberries are pretty darn good! And as a bonus, you can lift out the raspberry pulp (it’ll float on top) and mush it up for slightly boozy raspberry sauce on your creme brulee or ice cream. Yumm.
6.2.2010
[...] Hello, Raspberry Liqueur… – Lilikoi & Thyme [...]
6.2.2010
You totally deserve a nice drink. I’m really excited for TOTNLA, and so sad I can’t be there with you simultaneously stressing and enjoying. Since I am pretty sure you’re an absolute nutter right now, I’ll just plan to give you a call next week. Good?
6.8.2010
Hey Christine! Congratulations on a wonderful, successful TOTNLA! You deserve a drink AND a vacation…maybe with Katy and Lauren! (:^>
I really love the photo for this post. I’m curious about your thought process on this one, and I can’t figure out where you took the picture…but it is really lovely, especially the color. But I love the composition as well. So…I hope we can talk about it sometime.
For whatever it’s worth, Jim Lucas, one of my high school buddies, used to make a tasty concoction out of strawberry guavas on the Big Island…if you’re interested, I’ll see if I can find him, the recipe, etc.
Hi Lauren!