Juniper ratafia
Juniper berries come from the common juniper tree, which goes by the Latin name Juniperus communis.
Juniper grows mainly in the northern hemisphere. It produces berries that are green at first, then blue-black when ripe. However, you need to be patient, as the berries take 3 years to ripen.
This spice has been used for a very long time in many countries, particularly in meat and game stews, cold meats and especially sauerkraut. It was very popular in the Middle Ages and in the 16th century
Of course Juniper berries are the main ingredient of gin and you find them in our Mistello gin.
The berries have a very pleasant, sweet, aromatic flavour, but also a rather pungent, resinous taste. That’s why you shouldn’t crush the berries in the recipe for ratafia.
Making juniper ratafia is quite simple; it’s probably the simplest recipe of all the ratafias we tried so far. We have faithfully followed the recipe of the 1827 Manuel du distillateur liquoriste.
You macerate the fresh, whole juniper berries in alcohol for 48 hours. After this time, filter and store the liqueur in a jar and the berries in a different jar.
Pour hot but not boiling water (around 60-70ºC) over the berries and leave to macerate for 12 hours at room temperature. Then add the sugar to the mixture. Here we use caster sugar as in the original recipe. The sugar will dissolve quickly in hot water. You must be careful not to crush the juniper berries to avoid adding gums and bitterness to the ratafia.
Now mix the two macerates and add all the spices (mace, cloves, cinnamon). Leave to stand for ten days or so.
The secret of juniper ratafia is patience!
At last it’s ready; you can strain the mixture through a Chinese-type strainer and bottle your juniper ratafia.
Ingredients
180g fresh juniper berries
1l 37.5% vodka
1l water
300g Sugar
Dash of mace
3 Cloves
1 dash of Cinnamon
