Monday, September 17, 2012

Grandpa's Favorites: Walnut Schnapps

It was this time of the year again - well, every other year, actually - where I think back at my crafty grandpa. I remember the days when I was a young lad with real and fake upset stomachs. This was the type of situation when grandpa would break out his very own medicine, the "Nuss Schnaps". A remedy, which he brewed based on a secret family recipe year after year around mid June.
Luckily, one day he felt that I was mature enough to keep the tradition going while preserving the secret. And so he did share secret recipe with me.
Ever since then I have been crafting 2-year supplies - well ahead of the end of stock in order to let the young guns reach their perfection for another year after bottling.

So at the beginning of July it was time for me to roam the village in search for the precious green fruits of the walnut trees. My previous spot had been harvested by someone else already so it took a while to get the 50 nuts together but in the end, just before dark I got my bag filled and could stroll home for the processing.
So here I sat with the very last rubber glove backwards on the wrong hand, slicing the green nuts for their bath in double-distilled rye liquor. For two weeks they would then darken the liquor and enhance it with their healing powers.


After that, the "medicine" required a little attention - it was time to remove the nuts, add the spices and the sugar an put the jar back in its sunny place.

At the end of a wonderful summer the time had come finalize the creation. So I went ahead and started straining the spices, took time for a quick quality check before I could finally fill the beloved elixir into bottles.

Next step: apply the labels ...