Homemade Cassis
Blackcurrants? Amazing. Read about how to grow them here. But then what? To make your own cassis, take a pound of black currants, wash well, and seal in a jar with one 750 ml bottle of grappa, grape eau-de-vie, marc, or good vodka. (I’d choose Ciroc, a vodka distilled from grapes.) Mash the fruit to release the juice, and let it sit for a month, shaking or stirring the jar once a week. Then strain into a new container and add simple syrup (equal parts sugar and water, heated and allowed to cool) to taste. One to two cups simple syrup should do it. Give it a couple more months,...
Read MoreBlack Currant
We Americans don’t drink much cassis, and that’s a shame. This thick, rich, French liqueur, made from the fruit of the black currant bush, turns an ordinary glass of dry white wine, sparkling wine, or hard cider into something wonderful. I’ve even heard tell of it being mixed with red wine, or with beer. A little dollop of it in sparkling water is not such a bad thing, either. (The fine people at Clear Creek Distillery make an excellent American version if you don’t want to bother growing your own.) So why don’t we Americans grow black currants? It was banned in the 1920s for...
Read MoreThe Wonders of Cassis
(Your intrepid reporter at the Cassissium. Notice the pen and notebook. This is work. Really.) After a week spent touring distilleries in France, Scott and I had come to suspect that anything called a museum must receive special benefits: tax cuts, subsidies, an extra-long vacation every August. It seemed like every distillery had created an official museum devoted to their product. The museum was often nothing more than a few glass cases in the gift shop, but a smiling woman in a blazer and a badge stood nearby, ready to hand us a brochure in our choice of language and give us a...
Read MoreBooks by Amy Stewart
The Drunken Botanist
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