Polish Liquor

[Larkien]

Good day to you all.

I am searching for a recipe once enjoyed by my family. We are originally from Wyoming, which has a large Polish population in the northern areas. Some of our friends make a drink called Vashinka ? (bad spelling)

It is made with caramelized sugar in a cast iron skillet with clove and cinnamon added for flavor. At some point Everclear and water are added. The product is usually bottled with a cinnamon stick inside.

Does anyone have the correct spelling and possibly a recipe ?

I would love to be able to continue the tradition in my own family.

Any help much appreciated.

Thank-you,

Edited June 26, 2007 by Larkien (log)

[Nathan]

this sounds like Krupnik to me.

[Larkien]

Thank you for the input, i was able to find a very similiar recipe doing a search under Krupnik. It calls for honey; which would certainly reduce the challenge posed by perfectly carmelizing sugar and adding liquids to the carmelized sugar. A contact at a Polish/American club said the spirit was called

Warzonka. However so far any searches have only pulled up recipes in Polish which i cannot translate.

[Tomek]

Hi Larkien,

Being Polish and living here below is a translation of one recipe I found. By the way you put me onto something I'd never heard of or drank previously so respect to you

Apparently Warzonka comes from the Silesia (Slask) region of Poland and should be drank hot. In the silesian dialect "warzyc" means "to cook". All the recipes I checked are pretty much identical so here goes:

Miod pszczeli 3 lyzki - 3 spoons of honey

Cytryna 1 szt. - 1 lemon

Spirytus 300 g. - 300g of i think what you call everclear - very high content alcohol with abv. of 90 or 180 proof in american terms.

Cukier 10-15 dag. - Sugar 100-150 grams

Woda 2 szklanki - 2 glasses of water

Cynamon,gozdziki - cinammon and cloves

And the recipe is more or less like this:

From the sugar make a light yellow coloured caramel, add the lemon juice, honey and blended herbs according to taste together with the water. Combine everything very well until the caramel has melted (or dissolved), boil and then remove from the heat. In an enamelled pan with the simmering mixture VERY carefully add the everclear and stir witha wooden spoon.

Serve hot

Przepis:

Z cukru sporzadzic karmel o jasnozlotej barwie,dodac do niego sok z cytryny,miod,zmielone korzenie wedlug smaku oraz wode.Wszystko dokladnie wymieszac do chwili rozpuszczenia sie karmelu,zagotowac i zdjac z ognia.Do wrzacego w emaliowanym garnku plynu bardzo ostroznie wlac spirytus,zamieszac czysta drewniana lyzka.Podawac na goraco.

I hope that hepls you if you have any other Polish recipes you need help with then just give me a shout

I must say that it seems very similar to Krupnik which my father always makes on Christmas eve.

Tomek

Edited July 6, 2007 by Tomek (log)

[Larkien]

Thank you very much for your information !

Your recipe sounds the best of any i have been given or found.

Since heating lemon juice in a cast iron skillet is supposed to boost the iron you absorb by 2,000 % (Preventin.com) i can only surmise that this mixture is also a health drink !!!

It is also nice to know a little bit about the origin of the liquor.

In Wyoming the formal means of imbibing this recipe was the passing around of a bottle at room temperature for each to take a swig.

Also this liquor was a well known anti-freeze for the sheepherder watching his flock in the Big Horn Mountains.

Served warm would also be very nice i am sure.

Thanks again for your help.

[koryf12]

Hello,

I hope that you still will get this, because it was posted in 2007. But, I am from Wyoming and also I am Polish and I have the recipe for Vashuntka. If you get this I will be happy to share it with you.