Infusions, Extractions & Tinctures at Home: The Topic (Part 1)

[Kerry Beal]

Good guess; wrong flower. Poppy.

From your own garden?

[Kent Wang]

The mandarin liqueur is fabulous stuff and I'm now on batch 2 of that. Contrary to the illustration in the book I took it from, it doesn't pick up any colour from the fruit, but the amount of taste it pulls out is amazing. Both times I've made it it's gone cloudy when the syrup hit the alcohol (there is no doubt a good reason for this, which haven't bothered to research yet), but it clears over the next few weeks. Delicious. On the off chance of achieving something wonderful I tried the same 'suspend the fruit over the alcohol' trick with peaches, but all I got was wrinkly peaches. Seems it's dependent on the oils in the skin of citrus.

That's incredible that you can just suspend them. Do you suspend them for 2 weeks? Surely the oranges will spoil over time—or do the alcohol fumes preserve it? What spirit do you use? For my infusions, I usually use Havana Club white which is only 37.5%.

Why add sugar at all? Does that help with preservation?

Does waxed/unwaxed matter?

If you're able to get your hands on some bergamot oranges, I'm sure that would be incredible.

I've been taking unwaxed citrus, mostly lemon and bergamot, using a microplane to remove as much of the peel without removing the pith, soak in Havana Club white for 2 hours and strain.

I've tried it a few times with waxed oranges and even tried to remove the wax by boiling for 10 seconds and rubbing with a paper towel, but it seemed to give the infusion a slight waxy mouthfeel—or maybe it's all in my head.

[lesliec]

Hi Kent. I just checked the recipe again, and the mandarins stay suspended over the alcohol for a whole month. They come out looking a bit jaded, but last time we saved the juice and it was fine in another cocktail.

The alcohol I use is the pure (90%-odd) stuff I distil myself. Which almost answers your question about the sugar - it's at least partly to water the spirit down. I end up somewhere around 52%, which is still quite 'hot', but at least not fatally so. It's fine as a digestif or in a cocktail (search Kindred for the Tolkien; the mandarin works well as a sub for tangelo).

I'm not even sure if we get waxed citrus here. In any case, I just put the fruit straight into the cheesecloth. Bergamots would be interesting. I'll have to see if I can find some - I don't recall ever seeing them.

Maybe the 'suspense' method would avoid waxiness. Tell yourself it will, then rely on the placebo effect.

[EvergreenDan]

I would think that pouring hot water over waxed citrus would remove most (or all) of the wax. This method is great for cleaning crystal candlesticks (if the solidified wax in the sink and drain isn't an issue).

[Blether]

I'm not making a lot infusions with it, but generally wash citrus with soapy water and the rough side of the dish sponge, the same way I do dishes. Did you already discount that approach, Kent ?

[Kent Wang]

No, I haven't tried that yet. It's not a major issue for me as I can buy unwaxed lemons and oranges (can't get unwaxed limes though).

Btw, there's a whole thread on Cleaning & De-Waxing Citrus.

I wonder if suspension would not work nearly as well with only 35-50% alcohol.

Microplane and infuse works pretty well though. When I invite a bunch of people over I get the first person to arrive to microplane all the citrus we'll use that night, and two hours later the infusion is ready to go.

[haresfur]

No, I haven't tried that yet. It's not a major issue for me as I can buy unwaxed lemons and oranges (can't get unwaxed limes though).

Btw, there's a whole thread on Cleaning & De-Waxing Citrus.

I wonder if suspension would not work nearly as well with only 35-50% alcohol.

Microplane and infuse works pretty well though. When I invite a bunch of people over I get the first person to arrive to microplane all the citrus we'll use that night, and two hours later the infusion is ready to go.

I'll be fashionably late.

[lesliec]

I wonder if suspension would not work nearly as well with only 35-50% alcohol.

I suspect it may not, but you won't waste any booze by trying it.

[Hassouni]

How does the booze pick up flavor and possibly color when fruit is suspended?

[FrogPrincesse]

I imagine that the alcohol vapors solubilize some of the aromatic compounds in the fruit and then condense back into the liquid.

[FrogPrincesse]

Apparently the same technique can be used to make limoncello. See this article in the NYT with a recipe. They use Everclear and suspend the whole lemons for ~ nine weeks.

[Hassouni]

Why not just immerse the whole fruit?

Also, might this work for herbs and spices?

Edited January 15, 2014 by Hassouni (log)

[Tri2Cook]

The suspending technique works with chocolate too. I've been curious as to whether it would work with coffee beans but I haven't tried it.

[FrogPrincesse]

Why not just immerse the whole fruit?

With the suspended fruit technique, you mostly get the essential oils from the skin rather than the bitter compounds from the pith that you extract when you immerse the whole citrus.

There is something in France called "confiture de vieux garçon " (old bachelor's macerated fruits) which is basically a maceration of whole fruit in eau de vie. Delicious and pretty too, as you can build various fruit layers in your jar. That's typically done with done with stone fruit and berries though, not citrus.

[EvergreenDan]

There is something in France called "confiture de vieux garçon " (old bachelor's macerated fruits) which is ....

How. Wonderful. Dibs on Vieux Garçon as a cocktail name. Rafa, I mean you.

[lesliec]

I find myself in possession of 6.6 litres of gin at 82% alcohol. No, I don't propose drinking it like that!

This batch has been a bit of a trial but seems to have worked out. I distilled a batch of gin a few weeks ago, using the same method as last time, but it wasn't right. Rather harsh, regardless of the percentage I watered it down to. So I resolved to run it through the Still again when I had a second batch to make it worthwhile.

It all happened this weekend. I ran another gin batch yesterday, then combined it with the earlier one, watered the lot down to 40% and ended up with around 16 litres, to which I added some more juniper berries for extra flavour, then ran through the still this morning.

It looks like a good result. It's clear and smells good. I've diluted small quantities to 40, 50 and 55% for comparison. The 55 is pretty good and may be best in a cocktail. The 40 is most approachable on its own, but who drinks gin like that? The 50 just doesn't work - it's hot without any other redeeming features.

I plan to take all three to my favourite bar for a second opinion, but my current thinking is to bottle both a 40% and a 'navy strength' version. But it's also slightly tempting to do a triple-distilled version when I have another batch or two ...

[Kerry Beal]

To what do you attribute the lack of harshness this time around? Did you run cooler with more reflux or do you think it was just the second distillation that made the difference?

[lesliec]

Hi Kerry. As far as I could tell, I replicated my earlier recipe and technique but didn't get the same result. I'm beginning to wonder about the wisdom of putting all my botanicals in a muslin pouch in the still column - I think there's potential for variation there due to the 'sock' getting more or less squashed by the ceramic saddles accompanying it. Homedistiller.org had a post about making genever and the suggestion there was to have the heavier ingredients (juniper, coriander) in the boiler itself and only the light stuff (peels, fried leaves) in the column. I think I'll look into that for future experiments.

But for this time, I'm inclined to credit the second distillation for smoothing things out. This was in pure pot still mode, by the way - no reflux at all (not recommended with a stainless column).

[Chris Hennes]

As I read this I'm enjoying a glass of tonic doctored with a fresh batch of Pomelo Coriander tincture. It turned out very well: just slices of pomelo skin and pith along with toasted coriander seed infused in Everclear for a month or two. The inclusion of the pith gives a nice amount of bitterness, I think.

[Joe Elliott]

Just started a Habanero and Honey Bourbon,

a Lemon and Basil White rum,

a Clementine and Lemon Grass Gin,

and a Fig and Thyme Vodka.

Don't know how they will turn out. Any idea how long I should infuse each for?

[lesliec]

Hi Joe.  Welcome to eGullet.

 

Rule of thumb is, time to infuse drops as your % alcohol increases.  If you're using 'standard' 40% ABV or so for all of these, I'd taste at three weeks and see how they're doing.  If they're not as intense as you like, leave them another week or two.  Or three.

 

The fig and thyme vodka sounds particularly intriguing.  Are you using fresh or dried figs?

[Joe Elliott]

Some forums I read on other websites said to be careful with herbs and a couple even suggested just leaving them in for 2 days as they have such a strong flavour ( and then one would assume leaving anything else in). Also do I have to worry about floating fruit going off? If fruit has turned white (lost its colour and one would presume a lot of its flavour) should I take it out?

Fresh figs, I used all fresh ingredients. Didn't know if that was the best idea for everything but ????

Thank you for the warm welcome, by far the best forum for this sort of thing that I saw.

[Plantes Vertes]

Just started a Habanero and Honey Bourbon,

a Lemon and Basil White rum,

a Clementine and Lemon Grass Gin,

and a Fig and Thyme Vodka.

Don't know how they will turn out. Any idea how long I should infuse each for?

 

Hey Joe.

 

Citrus fruit (and I would guess figs too although I've never tried that) - 2-3 weeks

Herbs and peppers - couple of days.

 

Don't worry about the fruit going off; it's long past that.

Edited April 4, 2014 by Plantes Vertes (log)

[lesliec]

Herbs can go longer than three days& I have a very successful amaro recipe that soaks its ingredients (including fresh rosemary, mint and sage) in 150 proof for three weeks before sweetening and leaving another two or three weeks.

Yes, don't worry about the appearance.

[Smokalicious]

I've used the technique in this article with great success. Vacuum works well with fruit & veg, while the nitrous whipper is best for dry ingredients like herbs & teas. I've combined the two techniques as well.

 

Tito's vodka infused with serrano peppers, sweet peppers, and cucumber makes a fantastic base for Bloody Marys.

Edited June 23, 2014 by Smokalicious (log)