Go to the Recipe: Cran-pari (Cranberry Aperitif)
Very interesting, never seen anyone use the pith for anything before!
Fun idea! Only challenging part of this entire thing seems to be sourcing the various botanicals, which is nice for a holiday recipe as time is pretty limited during the winter months. Where do you normally pick things like wormwood up? Amazon obviously has it but like you stated, a smaller quantity would be ideal given that this will likely be a one-off vs done to scale.
As a side question, and this definitely wouldn't be as fun, but did you test doing a cranberry infusion into Campari? Given that you seem to be aiming for similar botanical profiles, I am wondering if that could be a nice little cheat.
Peter, I make a lot of infusions and bitters and Mountain Rose Herbs and Dandelion Botanical are two places to source smaller amounts from.
Why don't you simply have it made by a co-packing company and sell it on your website? Shark Tank can help you too!
Joel
How necessary is the Pectinex? I can't imagine that 1 hour at 131F would extract enough pectin to make the infusion problematic without it.
Amari - some much like this one - abound at better local liquor stores, but the opportunity to make one oneself is what's on offer here.
I ordered everything in 1.5-2oz portions from Kalustyan’s.
Would it be okay to run the cranberries though a masticating juicer and then combine the juice and pulp instead of muddling?
Yes, that will work although muddling presents less to clean up. Also, you could use an immersion blender in the jar and pulse it up.
This was fun! Really appreciated the flexible nature of the bittering agent options. Tried it out with blood orange, gentian, angelica and dried orange peel. Worked out well in a negroni and a mezcal negroni. Thanks for the great holiday content!
Thanks for the fun recipe and challenge, it came out very well!
My jar shattered when I put it in the immersion circulator. What a mess!
Can this be prepared in a chamber sealed bag in place of the mason jar?
Absolutely!
I'm not sure where I went wrong with this one—I used fresh cranberries, carefully weighed everything out, and double-checked the video—but I didn't get any discernible cranberry flavor (though the color is cherry-red). It just tastes very strongly of all the botanicals, nothing else.
I'm looking into batch cocktails I can make for thanksgiving and I was hoping this would be it...
12 out of 10. Just SUPERB. I processed my batch in a ziplock bag, no problem at all. I can see where a pour-over filter would help. I filtered twice with a triple-stack of fine-mesh strainers and after the bottles settled there was a clear division between what settled in the lower half, and the more clear liquid that rose to the top half. I'm definitely making another double batch tomorrow to give as gifts. This will be equally awesome with just some club soda. Although I do love a cocktail that feels medicinal -- I'm taking care of my health while also having a hell of a blast! Thanks, Chef Steps!!
I used my immersion blender. I was worried it might alter the flavor, but I think in this case the aromatics do the heavy lifting, so I feel i got the most bang for my buck with the immersion blender (and it was quick)
Thanks for the tip -- I ordered from Kalustyan's based on this comment and I'm thirlled with my order process and the managebale portions. AND the prices are right.
Just my opinion but muddling in the glass jar is risky, do it in a metal vessel and then transfer to a jar and be cautious of only tightening finger tight the screw on lid.
First run through, only got 580ml of liquid, tasted a bit alcoholic and a little bit to herby. Though I totally omitted the pectinx (no jellying yet, so maybe it didnt cook high enough heat, cranberries and alcohol coming out of fridge and all. Took like 5 chemex filters (lost a bit of liquid to each one ), perhaps the pectinx stuff would help significantly with this or i just jumped from a fine mesh tea bag to chemex filters to fast and it was clogging. Lovely color and a mild cranberry flavour, fairly similar to campari, looking forwards to trying again closer to the posted recipe, though I might reduce listed herbs by 1/4 or 1/2? idk
Made this as directed and absolutely loved the result--especially in an Americano. I have been looking to experiment with NA "spirits", and wanted to ask about the feasibility of recreating this in a glycerin mixture rather than alcohol (or if another method works better). Planning to experiment but appreciate any advice/experience
