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Sambuca is, of course, good. But what if you don’t have a moonshine still, and you don’t feel like buying store-bought rubbish with chemical flavors? Make Anise Liqueur! This homemade drink is inferior to real sambuca in only one parameter – it burns worse. The taste and smell are the most real, anise, moreover, the liquor is much more economical than real homemade sambuca!
There are 2 main ways to make homemade liqueurs: insist-filter-distill or simply insist. Some ingredients during distillation greatly change the flavor, some remove excess bitterness or other unpleasant tastes. In fact, it turns out that juniper is not at all the same as homemade gin, and mint tincture is not at all like menthol liqueur. Fortunately, anise is an exception to this rule.
Anise liqueur – a little about the ingredients
Pure anise tinctures have a pleasant specific smell. But their taste is slightly poor – therefore, other ingredients should be added to anise liqueur recipes. They will not kill the aroma – try to kill it – but the organoleptic properties of the drink will become more interesting and richer. Anise is wonderfully combined with almost all umbrellas, to which he himself belongs (recall, we are not talking about star anise, but about classic anise in grains) – cumin, coriander, fennel, angelica, dill, and also – cloves, cinnamon, citrus zest, coffee.
Another difference between this homemade liquor and real homemade sambuca is the absence of black elderberry flowers. According to rumors, it was this plant that gave the name to the famous Italian swill. Elder contains glycosides dangerous to health. During distillation, they decompose, but in their pure form they are a natural poison, therefore, when making sambuca without distillation, this component should definitely be excluded!
In general, enough botany – to the recipes!
Anise liqueur “sambuca in a simple way”
This drink is more reminiscent of the “same” sambuca than others, since its recipe includes only anise, lemon and orange zest. The liquor will come out yellowish, brown sugar will help to slightly refine the color, it can be replaced with regular sugar + a little caramel.
- A liter of vodka or diluted alcohol;
- 2/3 cup anise;
- zest of one medium orange;
- zest of half a small lemon;
- A glass of brown sugar – demerara or equivalent;
- Water (for syrup)
Preparing a drink – nowhere easier. Anise and zest are thrown into a jar and filled with vodka, sent to a dark place. Before this, the anise can be slightly – no more than a minute – warmed up in a frying pan in order to better reveal its aroma. The term of infusion is 2-3 weeks. Rock candy is made from sugar. The tincture is filtered and diluted with cooled syrup. After thorough mixing, the drink needs to rest for at least 2 weeks, after which it can be safely declared ready.
Coffee sambuca without distillation
My own recipe. Recently, we have been selling “Sambuca Coffee” from some dubious manufacturer. It tastes disgusting, but the color is excellent, and when set on fire, it generally looks incomparable, much better than the standard transparent one. So I decided to combine the pleasant with the beautiful and insist the liquor immediately on anise and coffee, and at the same time mask the unpleasant color.
- 0.5 liters of 50% alcohol (I think it can be replaced with vodka without any problems);
- Anise – 2 teaspoons;
- Ground coffee (coarse grinding) – 3 teaspoons with a slide;
- Cocoa powder – 1.5 teaspoons with a slide;
- Sugar, water (for syrup) – optional.
- Glycerin (for thickening) – optional.
Everything is prepared very simply. We put coffee, cocoa and anise in a jar and fill it with alcohol. Mix thoroughly. We insist 2-3 weeks in a warm place, shaking daily. After that, we filter well through gauze, then through a cotton or paper filter. Cook standard sugar syrup (1:1 with water) and sweeten the drink to taste – it should be sweet, but not cloying. If you want the liquor to be thick, add a couple of drops of food glycerin. A couple more weeks of rest – and that’s it!
This liqueur goes well warm, with coffee and desserts. If you do not make syrup, but simply stir sugar in the tincture, it can be set on fire, like a real sambuca.
Quick anise liqueur recipe
Recipe from an old cookbook. We will need:
- 1 liter of vodka;
- 3 teaspoons of anise;
- 1 teaspoon fennel;
- 1 teaspoon coriander seeds;
- Zest of half a lemon (only the yellow part)
- 150 grams of sugar;
- Half a glass of water.
The drink is easy to prepare. Water should be placed in a saucepan, add spices and zest there, bring to a boil and add sugar. Cook, stirring, until the sugar dissolves, then hold on the lowest heat for another 15 minutes. Now vodka is poured directly into the hot mixture. Everything is closed with a lid and infused for about an hour, the saucepan can be additionally wrapped with a towel.
Strain the completely cooled liquid through gauze (not very carefully), pour into an airtight container. You can try now, but it is better to let it brew for a week or two. After rest, if necessary, filter the drink again with cotton wool and that’s it – homemade anise liqueur is ready!
The Rum Diary wishes readers the opportunity to conduct the most complex home experiments, but do not forget that sometimes the most delicious and aromatic drink can be prepared using simple methods!