Yuzushu

[FrogPrincesse]

Inspired by Louis Anderman (owner of Miracle Mile bitters)...

 

 

and because I had found yuzus to make marmalade, I decided to try my hand at yuzushu, the Japanese yuzu liqueur. So a few days ago I separated the segments from the skin, cleaned everything to remove as much pith as I could, and started macerating everything in vodka (gin sounded lovely but, surprisingly, I didn't have enough on hand).

I found this recipe that I am following loosely.

 

Yuzus resemble mandarins except for their color which is yellow, and they are quite easy to peel. Their flesh is not very juicy and is typically very full of seeds. Their skin is intensely aromatic.

 

 

 

Edited December 29, 2016 by FrogPrincesse
added links (log)

[quiet1]

That just looks tasty.

[FrogPrincesse]

I will let you know in a year or so if it is as good as it looks!

 

[FrogPrincesse]

The recipe says to taste it regularly to decide when to remove the peel, so I did this morning. The yuzu flavor is already well pronounced but I am going to leave it for another day or two (it's been 5 days). I didn't put any sugar in yet.

 

This is fun! Another project might be to try to source the plums for umeshu!

 

[FrogPrincesse]

I went to my favorite local Japanese restaurant for lunch and noticed they had "yuzu wine" on the menu, so I decided to have a glass in order to have a frame of reference for my experiments.

I was pleasantly surprised. The taste of fresh yuzu dominated, it was slightly sweet but not overly so, and was fairly low in alcohol. They served it on the rocks and it was really nice with my lunch.

 

 

 

 

 

[helenjp]

Yuzu vodka! Cool!

In Japan I make yuzu-shu with a mix of yuzu and lemons (about twice as many yuzu as lemons) and shochu (alcohol about 35%). Japanese recipes say to take the peel out after around 10 days....if you peel it really thinly as for limoncello, you could probably leave it longer. If you use sugar, rock (candy) sugar dissolves much better than granulated sugar, which tends to form a layer at the bottom of the jar).

Happy tasting!