Feature Article: Blueberry Cordial

     Hi, this is Jas.  The guys here at BoozeBasher invited me over to their recent tasting so that I could show them the basics of making fruit-based liqueurs, a.k.a. fruit cordials.  I’ve been making them for about three years now, but despite the patience it takes, it never gets old.  There are just too many recipes to try.  You’re essentially making alcoholic fruit tea, since all you’re doing is steeping crushed fruit in alcohol with a bit of sugar.

     You can imbue alcohol with the flavors from any number of fruits or herbs.  I stick to berries, but that’s just me (you can check out photos of some of my own concoctions on my Flickr cordials set).  It’s been my experience that very ripe blueberries can produce one of the strongest flavors you can get with a cordial.  And that’s what we’ll be prepping today – Blueberry Cordial.

Ingredients:

         2 cups of blueberries                        1 cup of sugar                     1 cup of
                                                                                                “100-Proof Mix”
                                                                                              (Diluted Everclear)
            
         1/2 cup of                   3/4 cups of                     1 lemon
brandy (“Very Smooth”)       Light Corn Syrup

Directions:
Take 2 cups of very ripe blueberries, pick out any debris, and wash thoroughly. Using a spoon or potato masher, crush the blueberries until there are none left whole.

Add 1 cup of sugar and mix completely into the mash.  Put this to the side and let it sit for an hour to allow the sugar to draw the juice out.  But while that’s happening, grab a lemon and a zester and take the zest off half of the lemon. This should come to just over a packed teaspoon of zest. Put this to the side.

Cut that lemon in half and squeeze out about a tablespoon of juice.  Use a fine mesh strainer to remove any pulp.

Take your Everclear and dilute it to 1 cup of 100-proof alcohol.  Depending on where you live, the Everclear sold may be 151 or 190 proof, so the dilution will be different.  For 151 proof, mix 2/3 cups Everclear with 1/3 cup water. For 190 proof, mix just slightly more than 1/2 cup of Everclear with enough water to make 1 whole cup.  Don’t forget to use filtered or distilled water.

Getting back to the blueberries…after the hour has passed, divide the berry mash evenly into two 1-quart mason jars.

To EACH mason jar, add 1/2 cup of the 100-proof mix and 1/4 cup of the brandy.  Screw on the caps to both jars and shake vigorously.

Uncap the jars, and evenly split the lemon juice, lemon zest, and 3/4 of a cup of Light Corn Syrup between each jar.  Recap them both and shake well.

Here’s the the hard part – waiting.  Store these jars in a cool, dark place for 2 weeks.  No more, no less.  If you let them sit for too short, you’ll lose flavor.  If they sit too long, they will be bitter.  After 2 weeks, strain out all of the solids from both jars with a fine mesh strainer into a single clean mason jar.

Let this sit for 1 more week to allow the remaining particles to settle out; then pour/strain it into it’s final containter.

Cork or seal the final container. Store it in that dark place for a minimum of 4 weeks before drinking.

Here is the final product.  The one on the right is the color you want to achieve.  The one on the left actually contains too much sugar.  It’s still drinkable, but the one on the right is perfect. 

It does take a few weeks of patience to make this recipe, which is why we’re posting this article today.  It should give you enough time to have some ready for the holidays.  Just a last note: to make this recipe go further as a gift, use 187ml or 375ml bottles instead of the 750ml one. 

Hunter’s Comments:

     Jason (Jas, the guy who helped with this article) let us try some of the completed product after we went through the steps to make the cordial.  I was really surprised at how good the drink tasted.  I’m usually not a big fan of extremely sweet or fruity drinks, but I am a big fan of this stuff.  It tastes good to shoot or sip straight at room temperature.  I found the stuff makes an excellent mixer for shooters.  When you mix it with a little vodka and sprite, you get a shooter that tastes like absolute heaven.  I know this recipie takes a good bit of time and a little more hard work than you may be used to exerting, but it really is a good drink.  I plan on giving some of our finished product away for the holidays, but the rest is mine! Thanks to Jason for his collaboration; we’ll probably have him make something else for us in the future.  If you enjoyed his writing, check out his weblog or send him an email.

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