Vin d'Orange

[bleudauvergne]

I gave my husband the equipment to cork and seal bottles this year for his birthday. My mother in law does a vin d'orange every year that she distributes for gifts. Are there others who wouldn't mind sharing their recipes and tips for other home prepared gift wines? We can't really make this and give it since there's already bottles of it coming from her house. We thought we'd do something like use nuts or some other fruit. Any ideas?

Here's the recipe that is attributed to my husband's grandmother, Mireille Durandeau, of Toulon, France please give her credit if you share it.

Edit: to clarify that you let this macerate for one month in a glass or ceramic container and then filter before bottling.

Happy Wednesday!

- Lucy

Edited February 11, 2004 by bleudauvergne (log)

[trillium]

Hi Lucy,

How funny that you posted this recipe right as I was thinking about making some vin d'orange (well vin d'citrus really) with all the cool citrus I can get to right now. The recipes I have are a little different, but the idea of blendering up the oranges sounds kinda neat.

Are you looking for ideas for infusing alcohol with different flavors? Or something that is more a wine based thing? When green walnut time rolls around you could make nocino or there's always rosolio or limoncello and it's variants. There's also a long threadon infusing vodka with different flavors, I got in trouble for thinking jolly ranchers in vodka was gross, but there are other ideas as well.

regards,

trillium

[beans]

Lucy,

Thank you for sharing that lovely hand written recipe!

[ludja]

Lucy,

Thank you for sharing that lovely hand written recipe! 

I second Beans "thank you"!

Also a question, have you tried the grapefruit recipe also? Is that just adding the grapefruit and alcohol to the base vin d'orange recipe?

I just got a cookbook at Christmas called Aperitif by Georgeanne Brennan. Haven't tried anything yet, but there is an interesting recipe for "Vin de Peche" using fresh peach leaves! One recipe uses only wine (white) and cinnamon and vanilla bean. The second is fortified and has vodka and sugar in addition to the leaves and white wine.

I'd like to try this if I could get a hold of unsprayed leaves...

Some other wine-based aperitifs in the book are:

Vin de Gentiane (dried root of yellow-flowered gentians)

Guignolet (cherry; made with either cherry leaves or cherries and fortified or not)

Vin de Noix (green walnuts)

They all sound intriguing if one can get the ingredients.

[bleudauvergne]

When green walnut time rolls around you could make nocino or the

Walnuts are local here. I'm going to try that. What time of the year does green walnut time roll around? (spring, summer...)?

Thanks so much we may find a niche in the family bottle exchange after all!

-Lucy

Edited February 12, 2004 by bleudauvergne (log)

[trillium]

Here in the Pacific Northwest, I go for late June or early July. I think Jim does his later, but I like the nuts to be younger. It's not at all unusual for these sorts of differences amongst people who make nocino, it's really a personal preference for how much green herbal vs. dark nutty flavors you want in your tipple, I honestly think the saints days have nothing to do with it.

Walnuts grow like crazy everywhere in this town, I can't imagine having to buy any. If I didn't know someone who had a tree I'd probably just knock on the door of a house with a tree by the sidewalk and ask for some. You don't need that many and I rarely see that people around here can keep up with all of the nuts from a mature tree. I've never seen them for sale in Arabic shops in larger cities, but it could just be that I haven't looked (I have seen green almonds though).

happy sipping,

trillium

[cinnamonshops]

I've never seen them for sale in Arabic shops in larger cities, but it could just be that I haven't looked (I have seen green almonds though).

iiinteresting. i too have seen green almonds for sale - do you think one could use them to make a nocino-esque liqueur? i've never seen green walnuts around, myself.

and regarding the original vin d'orange recipe, is one really supposed to "grind" the orange and eau de vie, like in a food processor, or...?

[bleudauvergne]

Yes, you could do it in a food processor.

edited: to say that you don't want to puree it - but sort of pulse it into a kind of ground consistency. Understand?

Edited February 15, 2004 by bleudauvergne (log)

[bleudauvergne]

I've checked with the walnut grower and he says that the green walnuts come at the end of June. (He specified the Fete de St. Jean, which I think falls in the third week of June.) I'm so excited. Thank you for your kind advice. I will post a vin de noix diary when it's time.

-Lucy

[Margaret Pilgrim]

Yesterday I started a 4 litre jar of vin d'orange, thanks to this thread. I had no access to bitter oranges, so substituted tangerines. Will report on the outcome in April.

Many thanks for the recipe. I can hardly wait til May for cherries and June for green walnuts!

[bleudauvergne]

I'll be so happy to hear the results, Margaret.

[paw]

Lucy,

I too want to thank you for sharing that recipe.

I've been playing around with homemade infused aperitifs lately and have a couple cookbook recommendations. Alice B. Toklas's Aromas and Flavors of Past and Present (pretty sure i've got the title right) has a wonderful chapter on what she calls "ratafias." I've made the apricot and it was unbelievably delicious. Some others seem cool too. Another Alice, Mme. Waters of Chez Panisse, has a couple ideas in her Fruits cookbook. I've made the vin de pamplemousse (very nice although I modified it a bit--she has you use whole grapefruits and I removed all the white pith first, which took forever, but was worth it, because the drink is now just bitter enough to make it a great aperitif whereas I fear that with full-on pith it would have been really tough to take) and the vin de peche (made with peach leaves, as ludja mentioned below; find yourself a friend with a peach tree, or just wait til peaches are in season and pick the leaves off the fruit at the farmers' market--nobody else will want them and even if the farmer charges you for them, they weight next to nothing) which was cool but I'd cut back on sugar next time.

There's definitely more out there if you keep looking. James Beard's American Cookery has an old recipe for Raspberry Cordiall; many of these infused wines and spirits went by the name Cordial or Cordiall in the Olden Days. They were also generally made with brandy but as Beard notes, the Raspberry Cordiall is better made with vodka, which wasn't available to 19th century Americans. At some point I'll dig up some of these ancient cookbooks and look for more recipes.

[phaelon56]

I see these as the key elements of a wonderful recipe

[ludja]

Reading this again reminded my of a discussion and recipes in Bill Neal's, "Southern Cooking" (egullet-Amazon link).

He discusses ratafias and cordials with a great discussion of their history in 18th and 19th America in the South. Some of the flavorings he lists: oranges, nutmeg, juniper berries, cinnamon, aniseed, angelica, coriander, orange and jessamine (?jasmine?) blossoms, strawberries, raspberries, plums, sour cherries, pomegranates, currants, green walnuts and vanilla.

Interestingly, he mentions that oranges and lemons were cultived from Louisiana to South Carolina before the citrus industry was developed in Florida.

He has recips for a blackberry cordial and a peach kernal ratafia (noyaux) based on brandy. Also an orange cordial based on bourbon. He says that the noyaux (of French origin) was one of the most popular throughout the south, popular for its almond-like flavor. (An optional addition to this recipe is peach leaves...)

I've always been intrigued by the peach kernal recipe but wondered if using a 1/2 lb of peach pits was safe... Any one made somthing like this?

[JennotJenn]

How long will homemade cordials keep? I made a pomegranate liquor (vodka, poms, sugar) in November...it came to maturity in December, and the leftovers from Christmas are still in my fridge in the now-unsealed jar. Should I toss it?

[bleudauvergne]

We've never had our vin d'orange go bad on us, we don't refrigerate it. Since we don't get much of it we try and make it last. Your leftovers should still be fine. We've had this vin d'orange served over a year after it was made. Still tasted great.

[JAZ]

How long will homemade cordials keep? I made a pomegranate liquor (vodka, poms, sugar) in November...it came to maturity in December, and the leftovers from Christmas are still in my fridge in the now-unsealed jar. Should I toss it?

The amount of alcohol in most home liqueurs is sufficient to preserve them indefinitely, refrigerated or not. The exception would be anything made with cream (like Irish Cream), or anything diluted with water to less than about 40% alcohol.

[JennotJenn]

How long will homemade cordials keep? I made a pomegranate liquor (vodka, poms, sugar) in November...it came to maturity in December, and the leftovers from Christmas are still in my fridge in the now-unsealed jar. Should I toss it?

The amount of alcohol in most home liqueurs is sufficient to preserve them indefinitely, refrigerated or not. The exception would be anything made with cream (like Irish Cream), or anything diluted with water to less than about 40% alcohol.

I'm actually not sure how alcoholic it is. It could well be under 40%. It's about the same concentration of fruit/sugar/liquor as schnapps.

[beans]

JennotJenn,

Your base for the pomegranate liqueur was vodka, right? You're safe and if anything the flavour has mellowed with the continued age.

Per Cordials From Your Kitchen by Patti Vargas and Rich Gulling, most liqueurs will keep indefinitely. However, any homemade types that requires eggs or cream/milk are the ones that are advised to remain refrigerated and be consumed within approximately one month.

I hope this helps. Cheers!

[JennotJenn]

JennotJenn,

Your base for the pomegranate liqueur was vodka, right? You're safe and if anything the flavour has mellowed with the continued age.

Per Cordials From Your Kitchen by Patti Vargas and Rich Gulling, most liqueurs will keep indefinitely. However, any homemade types that requires eggs or cream/milk are the ones that are advised to remain refrigerated and be consumed within approximately one month.

I hope this helps. Cheers!

Very helpful. Thanks! I did a little taste test last night (dipped my finger in) and it seemed much nicer than it did 3 months ago.

I'm limiting refined sugar for a little while (and there's a ton in this stuff), but as soon as I get a chance, I'm going to imbibe!!!!

[Margaret Pilgrim]

Today we bottled the Vin d'Orange we started on March 2 using Lucy's recipe. We are a couple of days short of the suggested maceration time, but we are leaving on a trip tomorrow. We used honey tangerines for ours, and the flavor today is lovely. There is a subtle complexity from the vanilla bean and cinnamon stick. I may in the future also try a batch without the spices for a purer citrus taste. We used snap-top/rubber ringed French lemonade bottles, and will keep the wine in the refrigerator since it is not properly corked. I will be interested in tasting it over the course of its tenure.

Many thanks, Lucy. Mireille Durandeau's recipe is a keeper! We will salute her and you whenever we serve this vin d'orange.

In addition, since we have several pomegranite trees, I can't wait for fall to try JennotJenn's concept, as well as cherry and green walnut wines this summer. I am very interested in the many possibilities this thread suggests, and in hearing others' results. Thanks, all.

Edited March 30, 2004 by Margaret Pilgrim (log)

[balmagowry]

Lucy - a couple of other thoughts on this. It so happens that just the other day someone mentioned a rather nice-sounding aperitif on this thread... someone named bleudauvergne I do believe.... Don't know how well such an infusion would keep, long term, but it might be an interesting experiment on a small scale. Also, Ludja posted up-thread about cordials and ratafias. I've done a fair bit of that sort of thing; for our book we wrote and tested recipes for Lemon Shrub, Raspberry Shrub, a couple of different types of Bitters, and an ersatz Arrack-Punch. The one we kept "re-testing" was the Raspberry Shrub - it was so good that we could never have too much of it on hand. It's rather a lot of work, and a relatively low yield... but it's worth it.

And let me join the chorus of thanks for the vin d'orange recipe. I may just have to join the crowd making it, too....

EDIT to fix link

Edited March 31, 2004 by balmagowry (log)

[bleudauvergne]

Well, I've been asking and pestering, but the green walnuts have not shown up at the market. Why not? I ask and people look at me like I have some kind of problem. Twice they're laughing and saying not the season. Arg!

I wanted to make vin de noix this year!

I think it might be worth a trip down to Grenoble to a farm.

The summers ticking away!

[Rien]

I've checked with the walnut grower and he says that the green walnuts come at the end of June.  (He specified the Fete de St. Jean, which I think falls in the third week of June.) 

Yes, you just missed the green walnuts for this year. I live in Illinois and I had to mail order them. I got about 10 pounds to make Nocino, Vin de Noix, and green walnut preserves (from Claudia Roden's excellent Middle Eastern cookbook). Unfortunately, I radically underestimated the amount of walnuts necessary to make the preserves - the shell is about 7/8 of the weight. Fortunately, I ordered enough to make a sizable batch of Vin de Noix (about 7/8 750 wine bottles) and Nocino (another 3 750 bottles). I got the recipe for Vin de Noix from this article:

Newpaper Article on "Walnut Wines"

The recipe for Nocino came from elsewhere. There are myriad versions out there. They won't be ready for some time. I'll report back if they're a success.

Best,

Rien

[Rien]

Well, I've been asking and pestering, but the green walnuts have not shown up at the market. Why not? I ask and people look at me like I have some kind of problem. Twice they're laughing and saying not the season.

There isn't really a "season" for them - there's a moment. Or, rather, about a week or two and the end of June. It's now too late. Because of this, and the fact that there aren't a lot of culinary applications they don't really show up in many markets - unlike, say, ramps, which also have a rather short season. Your best bet is to find a farm that you know harvests them and either make sure you go there to pick them/pick them up, have them mailed to you, or make your way to a farmers market where you've verified that they'll be.

I had the same problem with local stores. Well, confusion. I was spared the laughter. Of course, I'm not in a walnut growing region, so they weren't even aware of what a green walnut is. Granted, it's a rather exotic request.

Good luck next year.

Rien