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Pistachios are a truly amazing product: with a wonderful aroma, original taste, unlike any other nuts. If you, like me, love this delicacy, you will certainly be interested in recipes for alcoholic drinks from it – both sweet liqueurs from the kernels themselves, which are popular in Italy and the USA, and domestic bitters “a la cognac” from pistachio shells. Both are very tasty, albeit completely different!
We already have several articles on the site devoted to various nut alcohols – hazelnut and walnut liqueurs, pine nut tinctures (although the latter are not nuts in general), walnut membranes, macadamia nuts and so on. But the pistachios were somehow deprived of attention.
But in vain! Tinctures and liqueurs from them are incredibly tasty, rich, beautiful – it feels like eating pistachio ice cream and getting drunk at the same time. Pistachios go well with spices, coffee, citrus fruits and even milk, you can prepare tinctures with vodka, moonshine, grappa, bourbon – in general, the scope for imagination is vast!
Pistachio shell tincture
Do you like to chew delicious nuts with beer? Don’t throw away the shell! It contains a lot of tannic, flavoring and coloring substances that will help turn ordinary homemade moonshine into a kind of cognac analogue, with a deep amber-brown color, a characteristic “woody” flavor and light notes of prunes, vanilla, caramel. All we need is a 3-liter can of good moonshine, preferably grain or fruit, and half a glass of these same shells.
How to cook:
It’s not hard to make a drink. To begin with, the shell must be fried. This can be done in two ways – either simmer it in the oven, like oak chips, for a couple of hours at a low temperature, or directly in a frying pan, continuing to heat until the raw material becomes dark brown. The first option is preferable, it gives a more subtle and delicate taste, but the second one is many times faster. Yes, if you bought salted pistachios, the lumps from under them must be washed from salt and lightly boiled in boiling water, since such nuts are usually soaked in saline for better preservation.
So, we pour the shell into the moonshine, set the jar in a dark, warm place and wait about two weeks. After that, we filter, sweeten if necessary, and that’s it – the tincture is ready! Despite the simplicity of the recipe, this drink really surprises with its rich creamy coffee aroma and taste with a slight note of vanilla and smoked meats, and a beautiful “cognac” color. The tincture actually does not have the taste of the feedstock – actually pistachios, but it has an extremely interesting flavor and aroma range – tasters recommend it!
Pistachio liqueur a la Dumante Verdenoce
Dumante Verdenoce is the most famous pistachio liqueur in the world, produced in Italy. A few decades ago, he had no analogues in the world at all. The raw materials for the production of the drink are exclusively Sicilian pistachios and local spices. We will try to repeat the pistachio liqueur recipe using the usual ingredients available in the store.
- pistachio kernels – about 80-100 ml
- cinnamon – 1 cm sticks
- cloves – 1 small bud
- vodka (in the original – grape grappa) – 400 ml
- raisins – 12 pieces
- sugar – half a glass
- water – half a glass
Instructions:
Preparing a drink is very simple. Chop nuts, grind spices in a mortar, add raisins and pour vodka. Close the jar tightly and leave in a dark, warm place for 2 weeks. After that, drain the pistachio tincture and filter. Make a simple syrup of water and sugar and add it to your drink. Before tasting, it is advisable to let the liquor rest in a cool place for at least a couple of weeks.
Our friends from Dobrovar filmed the recipe for this amazing liqueur (they also took care of the shell). The result is noteworthy:
Bourbon pistachio liqueur with maple syrup
This is an American classic. The United States is the world’s second largest producer of pistachios, so these nuts are very popular here, as are liqueurs and other pistachio tinctures.
- fried peeled pistachios – 100 g
- any decent bourbon – 0.5 l
- maple syrup – 2 tbsp. l. (can be replaced with honey)
- brown sugar a la Demerrara – 1 tsp
How to do it:
Preparing a drink is as simple as the previous one. Grind pistachios and insist in whiskey for 2 weeks, after which we filter the tincture. Add maple syrup or honey, cane sugar, mix thoroughly and leave to rest for another 2-3 weeks. Everything, pistachio liqueur is completely ready!
Milk liqueur “Crema di pistacchio”
And again we are transported to the warm shores of the Mediterranean. Italian hostesses are very fond of preparing pistachio, vodka or other neutral alcohol and milk liquor at home, a kind of pistachio Baileys. The liqueur is quite easy to make, interesting in color and aroma, with a low alcohol content.
- pistachio kernels (not fried or salted) – 250 g
- vodka – 500 ml
- milk – 1 liters
- sugar – 450 grams (more if you like sweet)
- vanilla – 2-3 cm pod or a pinch of vanilla
How to cook:
To prepare the liquor, pistachios are crushed and infused in alcohol along with a chopped vanilla pod for 1 week. After that, the tincture is drained and carefully filtered. Next, take the milk, add sugar to it and cook for 10 minutes until the sugar is completely dissolved. The milk mixture must be cooled and thoroughly mixed with alcohol using a mixer. Ready!
The drink is stored in the refrigerator, served cold. Remember that, unlike pure pistachio tincture, this liqueur does not need aging, it needs to be drunk within a few days – however, such a yummy usually does not stagnate for a long time! Buon appetito!