Home › The Principles of Cookery › Liqueurs

Liqueurs

The name "liqueur" is applied to any alcoholic preparation flavoured, perfumed, or sweetened so as to be more agreeable to the taste. These preparations are very numerous; the following are amongst the principal:--Absinthe, which is spirit sweetened and flavoured with the young tops of a species of artemisia. Aniseed cordial, made by imparting to weak spirit the flavour of aniseed, coriander, and sweet fennel seed, and sweetening it with a highly-clarified syrup of refined sugar. Clove cordial, flavoured with bruised cloves, and coloured with burnt sugar. Curacoa, for which the reader will find a recipe under its proper heading. Kirschwasser is made in Germany and Switzerland from cherry-juice fermented. The name signifies cherry-water. Large quantities are manufactured in the Black Forest. This liqueur always contains some prussic acid from the cherry-stones, and sometimes so much as to be almost poisonous. In Kummel, or Doppel-Kummel, we have the chief liqueur of Russia. It is prepared in the usual way with sweetened spirit, flavoured with cumin and caraway-seeds, the latter being generally so largely employed as to conceal any other flavour. Maraschino is distilled from bruised cherries. The wild fruit is not used, but a delicately-flavoured variety grown only in Dalmatia. Noyau, or Creme de Noyau, is a sweet cordial flavoured with bitter almonds (bruised). Peppermint is a common liqueur, much in demand amongst the lower classes in the metropolis. Generally it consists of ordinary sweetened gin, flavoured with the essential oil of peppermint, which is previously rubbed up with refined sugar, to enable it to mix with the very weak spirit. In a more refined form it is known as Creme de Menthe.