Infusions: The Other Cinnamon

So I recently put up a post talking about the difference between real cinnamon and cassia.  My first infusions post discussed what an infusion of cassia is like and as I got my hands on some of the real thing I figured it was about time I put up a post about Cinnamomum aromaticum.  It is not nearly as spicy an infusion flavor as cassia, though it has more of a tannin bite.  There is a much woodier flavor, and some very strong floral notes in the background.  The visual tone of the infusion is a much more of a dark brown color, as opposed to the strong burnt sienna red tone of a cassia infusion.

Aside from those differences it is still very much a cinnamon infusion, and so the same flavor parings will work.  Turbinado syrup, and coffee combinations are ideal.  If you want to do a fruit cinnamon infusion, such as apple or orange (orange and cinnamon with chocolate is one of my favorite confectionery combinations) then I highly recommend using Cinnamomum aromaticum as opposed to cassia because the floral notes will match much more closely and the cinnamon is less likely to overpower the fruit in your infusion.

If you can get your hands on some of this it is an exciting ingredient to work with.  I highly recommend it for any appropriate infusion.  Mostly because my standard is that if you're going to make it at home it should be something you can't get commercially.  Why waste all your time recreating something you can buy in a store.  Enjoy.

Cinnamon and Cinnamon

So I found out the African and Latino grocery a block from my house carries real cinnamon. I was fairly ecstatic. I have read a lot about real cinnamon, as opposed to cassia. I recognized the true cinnamon from my time working at Big Jones. The aroma is very different and I have to say a great deal more complicated. Though it is certainly not nearly as strong. I am hoping to post one of the rundowns of it as an infusion ingredient soon. I need to let a batch go through a long infusion and a short infusion to see how the bark sap and tannins develop compared to cassia. So it will be a little while before I have a writeup done. I wanted to let everyone know I had it working though.

Infusions: Basil

So this was something of an experiment on my part. What would happen if I made a Basil infusion? So I'm going to break with my previous format and more describe what happened, because it's not exactly what I expected. First I took a ball jar, lightly packed it with organic rinsed and dried basil. It wasn't packed tightly, but filled to the top with fresh leaves. Then I covered the leaves in rum. I watched the color and after a couple days I tried the infusion and it was nice, but entirely too weak. So after a week I tried it again and it was grotesque. Given the quality of the earlier flavor I decided that I just needed to change my approach.

So this time I started another jar of basil and checked it each day. As soon as I saw the leaves start to break down I took them out and replaced them with a batch of fresh leaves. After two infusions of the same alcohol I had a finished product that was both flavorful enough and tasted like basil and not the bottom of an alcoholic compost heap. When you opened the jar it smelled almost like marinara sauce. A few people at the first liqueur class thought the same.

What is so delightful about the basil infusion is that it mixes with so many different flavors. It blends very well with fruit, much like a light basil chiffonade in a melon salad. At the same time the herbal notes bring a delightful brightness to a gin martini.

It's a very different approach to the sort of flavor palette than most people think of when they think of possible infusions and the flavor honestly is too odd in the mouth to be the main element of a liqueur in my opinion, but a splash of it is an amazing accent to many other flavors. It does mix well with sweet notes and I would recommend white sugar syrup for using it in sweet liqueurs. That said an unsweetened infusion might be best for a dry martini or other similar applications.

Infusions: Tea

This is a mixture of all ingredients actually. There are more teas out there than any one person could ever possibly explore. A cold alcoholic infusion creates a very different profile from the sorts of flavors you get from tea with boiling water. It also provides a surprising punch of authentic flavor in drinks like "Long Island Iced Tea". Currently I am experimenting with a Black Apricot Tea, but for your first round unless you have something in the cupboard you really want to get rid of I suggest using a plain tea, just to get a feel for the flavor.

The tea infuses a very distinct tannin that is different from the woody tannins of cacao nibs and cinnamon. It is herbal and potentially more delicate. The Tea infuses into the alcohol very quickly, so you don't want to leave your infusion for more than a day, and quite honestly you may find a couple hours is all you need. The flavor takes to sweeteners, and all the traditional tea compliments. For inspiration I suggest wandering through the tea aisle at your local specialty shop. Tea blenders and marketers have been exploring the culinary possibilities of this ingredient since the beginning of time, and have a mass of possibilities that you can easily pick up and apply when blending infusions to make a custom liqueur.

Ratios: As with normal tea a little bit will do. A couple tablespoons will infuse a large mason jar quite nicely, though ratios will vary depending on the product you're using. Try to get large whole leave teas though, as you will draw out the bitter aspects of the finely ground teas used in bags very quickly and if you use a fine loose leaf tea you're likely to end up with sediment problems in your final product that you'll have to rack out. In terms of turbinado sugar or regular sugar that can easily go either way, or a pure green tea honey liqueur could be exceptionally nice. This one honestly could be an entire blog unto itself.

Infusions: Strawberry

I've been focusing on the spice and nut side of things, and I thought it would be nice to take a jump over to fruit, just for a change of pace. Strawberry is a classic flavor in all senses, and there are certainly quality strawberry flavored drinks out in the market already. All of that said there are several benefits to making your own. The most significant one is that commercial strawberry infusions tend to be exceptionally sweet because of the American palette. If you infuse your own liqueur you have the leeway to control the sugar content, and to use heirloom strawberries from your local farmer's market which can be much more flavorful, and much more tart.

Ratios: With berries ratios are a little harder to establish because one strawberry might be very small, but be almost entirely flavorful red flesh, while another strawberry might be huge, but most of the mass might be white pith which provides nothing to the flavor. So as a general rule, I start by removing the green top of my freshly rinsed strawberries. Then I fill a jar with them and pack them down lightly, but not enough to bruise the fruit. Then I barely cover the fruit with my alcohol. This insures maximum flavor, and with fruit you can't really over brew the flavor. You can leave strawberries in the liquor almost indefinitely with no adverse effects to the finished product.

Flavor Profile: This infusion tastes like strawberry. Pretty much all of the base flavor is imbued into the alcohol. It is slightly tart, very bright and exceptionally light. It goes very well with fizzy things, and all other fruits. It does not pair well with turbinado syrup, or other sweeteners that have their own distinct taste. I generally pair strawberry with simple white syrup.

Infusions: Black Pepper

Black Pepper is a classic home infusion in vodka. It was one of the first infusions I did, inspired by everyone's favorite quirky ridiculous cooking show, Good Eats. Unlike most of the other infusions I will be posting here it is not an ideal match for sugar syrup, though it can be an excellent accent to several liqueurs. Traditionally it was used as a flavor profile in Bloody Mary mix. It is also an amazing accent in a dirty martini, though I have to say I am a gin martini man I can easily put a few drops of this in one of mine and it's quite delightful.

Ratios: Alton Brown recommends 2 Tbsp of slightly cracked black peppercorns for a 750 ml bottle of vodka. I generally do double that because I really like my mix to kind of kick you in the fact so you only need a couple drops of it. That is mostly because I don't use it as a main flavor, so I want to be able to maximize the volume of my other flavors in whatever mix I'm making.

Flavor profile: PEPPER!!! With a lot of infusions the alcohol pulls out a specific set of flavor molecules from your source ingredient that are volatile and prone to dissolving in alcohol. Black Pepper's flavor is made up almost entirely of these volatile chemicals. It's why grinding pepper in advance is such a terrible idea and almost everyone has a pepper grinder at this point. In alcohol everything about the pepper that is sharp and spicy and intense is emphasized and made stronger. In terms of flavors that are good for pairing the sky is the limit. I had never paired it with fruit until my first liqueur workshop and a couple of the participants mixed it with peach and strawberry. Their finished liqueur was absolutely amazing. A splash is good for cooking, and it's amazing with any "harsh" style cocktails especially ones with herbal notes. A few drops are also pretty amazing with cocoa flavored items, much like black pepper brownies. Really the sky is the limit.

A Little Discussion of Simple Syrup

So I jumped right into discussing infusion flavors and the dynamics they add to a liqueur without talking about the almost forgettable ingredient of simple syrup. There are many flavored liquors in the world, but a liqueur or cordial is partially sugar. In most cases that means simple syrup. The ratio in most liqueurs between alcohol infusion and simple syrup is 50/50. A skilled home liqueur maker might tweak those ratios to get a more specific effect, but it's a good starting point.

There are two types of simple syrup that I tend to use in my house. The first and easiest to make is plain simple syrup made with white sugar. The recipe for said syrup is:

1 part white sugar
1 part water
boil until completely dissolved

There really isn't much to say about plain simple syrup other than I primarily use it to pair with light fruity liqueurs. Strawberry, lemon, peach and similarly delicate flavors.

The second type of syrup I make is Turbinado syrup. The recipe for that is follows:

1 part organic evaporated cane juice
1 part water

Bring ingredients to a boil, then reduce to a steady simmer. A film will develop on the top of the syrup that is very similar to the scum that develops on the top of chicken stock. Skim the froth off with a spoon or similar implement and discard. Continue to simmer until the syrup is completely clear and froth is no longer developing. Depending on how much syrup you are making, and how long this process takes (different turbinado sugars have different concentrations of impurities) you might need to add some extra water to compensate for the moisture that boils off.

This syrup is nice because it is easy to find organic turbinado sugar. Turbinado also brings a nice earthy roundness to the flavor party. This syrup pairs well with cacao, coffee, vanilla, nut infusions other earthy flavors.

The other thing you can do with these syrups is do a heat steeped flavor infusion instead of infusing your flavor in the alcohol. Ginger works very well for this, as does lemon zest. I try to keep ginger turbinado syrup around whenever I can. The water and sugar infusion draws very different flavors out of your ingredients because of different solubility profiles in the flavor molecules. A ginger syrup can add a very different flavor profile to a liqueur than a ginger alcohol infusion. So it's something to consider experimenting with. I recommend infusions that do not involve fruit as they will add pulp to the syrup and that will effect the liqueur texture.