Spices and seasonings to go with fruit or cinnamon?

[jrshaul]

I've been making liqueurs for a while, and I'm starting to get pretty good at it. I'm now able to produce some fairly decent fruit flavors, but I'm a little stuck as to how I might be able to enhance them through additional flavorings. Specific concerns include:

1. Cinnamon. Cinnamon infusions generally taste exactly like licking bark, which I suppose is reasonable considering as that's what they're made out of. I've tried adding nutmeg, but it doesn't seem to do much. What can I add to cinnamon to produce a more convincing crème de cinnamo?

2. Pomegranate. I actually have some of this stuff infusing, and I'm debating adding something to it - maybe a little anise?

3. Orange. I think I've finally cracked orange liqueurs - maybe it's just better oranges, but I've had good luck toasting the orange peels first. I might add just a little bit of cardamom.

2. Cranberries. I really like using cranberries - they're incredibly consistent, widely available, and pretty cheap. Of course, they taste..well, quite pungent. I don't want to dilute the flavor, and I don't want to go for the standard "holiday mix" with cinnamon and the like. Any suggestions?

Edited December 31, 2010 by jrshaul (log)

[Genkinaonna]

You might want to go with lime with the cranberry, it plays nicely with citrus but the resulting flavor won't be like cranberry sauce which usually has orange peel. With the orange, you could even try some cocoa nibs, that would be a great flavor combo. Not sure about the cinnamon, and I'll have to think about the pomegranate. If you're looking for ideas for flavor combos, I'd recommend getting the book "In the sweet kitchen" by Reagan Daley. It's got a great chart for flavor pairings for lots of sweets and spices. Hope that helps!

[andiesenji]

I read an article not long ago about infusing liquors with black pepper - I think there was also at one time a cherry liquor that was infused with black pepper - it may have been German.

One guy wrote about infusing bourbon with black pepper and orange peel and I'm pretty sure Alton Brown mentioned black pepper infused vodka on one of his shows.

[jrshaul]

You might want to go with lime with the cranberry, it plays nicely with citrus but the resulting flavor won't be like cranberry sauce which usually has orange peel.

I probably should have mentioned that the cranberry has lime zest in it already. The original recipe called for orange zest - I removed it for exactly this reason.

I'm curious about the use of cacao nibs. I've got a mixture of cocoa powder and everclear I've had in the basement for aeons, and I'm not entirely sure what to do with it. I'd like to try diluting it and using a centrifuge to separate the oils and solids.

[jrshaul]

One guy wrote about infusing bourbon with black pepper and orange peel and I'm pretty sure Alton Brown mentioned black pepper infused vodka on one of his shows.

Infusing alcohol with black pepper is simple. The tricky part I suspect is figuring out what to do with it.

[rooftop1000]

One guy wrote about infusing bourbon with black pepper and orange peel and I'm pretty sure Alton Brown mentioned black pepper infused vodka on one of his shows.

Infusing alcohol with black pepper is simple. The tricky part I suspect is figuring out what to do with it.

Bloody Mary