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My friends and I often like to arrange men’s barbecue gatherings in the garage. Often we gather in a small group of about five people. So we at least briefly run away from our wives to discuss our affairs.
At one of these moments, my friend brought moonshine to try and did not immediately admit what he insisted on. Everyone liked the taste, but no one guessed the secret ingredient. As it turned out, this is an anise. I immediately asked him for the recipe and began to prepare the same moonshine at home.
The story was sent by blog subscriber Oleg.
What ingredients and equipment will be needed
In fact, this kind of moonshine will not require special costs. Naturally, you need to find the moonshine itself. You can either exchange it for something in the village with a neighbor, or make it yourself. I have all the necessary equipment, including straight arms, so I drove out the right amount without any problems.
Star anise from the store.
The second most important ingredient is star anise itself. You can buy it in any supermarket. It is sold in two types: ground or whole. As far as I understand, you can make from both, but as for ground, I do not know the dosages. I bought an ordinary star anise in the form of dried fruits in the form of stars, in the petals of which the necessary seeds are located.
That’s basically all, if we talk about the classic recipe. You can also use some sugar or honey. And, of course, I found a suitable glassware in which I was going to infuse moonshine. This set is enough.
Important! Star anise can be found in the spice section.
The cooking process
Probably everyone can do it here. There is nothing difficult. The first thing I did was take out the star anise seeds from these stars. I expected to use one asterisk for 0,5 liters of moonshine. These seeds are then crushed in a mortar.
As you know, spices give off their smells and aromas better when they have just been ground. This is another plus of choosing dry fruits, and not immediately ground star anise.
Crushed star anise in a mortar.
The resulting powder was poured into a glass container. Then he poured moonshine there and tightly closed the lid. That’s basically all, it remains only to put the moonshine in a dark place (not cold).
It should stay like this for at least 15 days. I waited 20. Still following the advice of a friend, I periodically shook the whole mixture, about every three days.
At the end of 20 days, the moonshine was filtered through a piece of cotton inserted into the funnel. I just poured the resulting liquid there, which itself little by little, in a small stream, flows through a homemade filter.
At this stage, you can add a teaspoon of sugar or honey per 0,5 liters. After that, wait another week.
What will be the result
Since I used a friend’s recipe unchanged, I ended up with almost the same tincture that he treated us to in the garage. Looking ahead, I want to say that I was completely satisfied with the result. If we talk about the aroma, then you feel it as soon as you open the bottle.
Final result.
And no wonder, because star anise is a spice, and they all have a pungent smell. I used 1 star per bottle so the flavor wasn’t too sugary or oily. To whom this is not enough, you can put 1,5-2 stars. The added sugar slightly emphasized the natural sweetness of the spices used.
It is difficult to say more specifically, since the aroma and taste of star anise are something special and unique. Many compare it to anise. The color is similar to tea, only a little lighter. But you can be sure that it is worth it.
As you understand, I did not finish experimenting on this. After surfing the Internet, I learned about other ingredients that can also be added to the tincture with star anise. First of all, this concerns cumin. These two spices are even somewhat similar to each other and complement each other.
There is also an option with the addition of walnut partitions (walnut). They will bring a pleasant bitterness. In this case, you can refuse to use sugar and honey. To make the taste more spicy, someone adds a little cinnamon.
I read that they add anise seeds (ground). I don’t quite understand why this should be done. After all, star anise is practically the same thing. I have not tried such a recipe, perhaps I am mistaken in my reasoning. But you can take note of this.
How to serve and with what to use
I don’t think that star anise moonshine has any special drinking rituals. It is actually quite versatile in this regard. Naturally, you need to drink it, like regular moonshine. It means a small amount of glasses.
This is not a cocktail or wine, so you won’t be able to drink in small sips, even though it tastes good. This is a great alcohol for the holiday table. You can eat it however you want. I prefer a small slice of juicy apple, especially if I added cinnamon to the moonshine.
Now I have a question. What happens if you add star anise to homemade cognac? At the same time I want to try and I’m afraid to spoil the cognac. After all, the latter is infused for several months, and therefore is especially valuable. Maybe one of the readers tried it and is ready to share their observations?
*Alcohol abuse is bad for your health!