bay leaf liqueur

bay leaf liqueur, If you have a vegetable garden you will surely have numerous and fragrant self-produced aromatic herbs at your disposal. In addition to using them to flavor your recipes, many of these can be used to create excellent liqueurs, ideal to drink at the end of a meal as a digestive.

Among these is the laurel liqueur, a fragrant and very aromatic alcohol, characterized by an intense green color very similar to that of olive oil. Those who have a laurel plant, if not even a hedge, will not lack the raw material to produce this spirits.

Laurel liqueur, also known as "allorino", is very simple to make, it only requires a little patience and time for the initial infusion. Being very sensitive to light, it is essential to keep it in the dark: for this reason, once ready, it is advisable to line the bottles with foil. Otherwise, the laurel liqueur will tend to form unsightly residues, which however will not alter its taste.

Ingredients for 1 liter:

500 ml of 95% alcohol

600 ml of water

400 g of sugar

25 bay leaves

Seasonality: recipe available all year round

Dish: liqueur, vegetarian

Preparation time: 2 weeks + 1 month of rest

How to prepare the laurel liqueur.

To prepare this digestive liqueur, you start by washing and drying the bay leaves very well, then put them in a glass jar with alcohol, preferably protected from direct light. Let the leaves infuse in alcohol for 2 weeks, stirring occasionally.

After the resting time, prepare the sugar syrup that will be used to dilute the liqueur: put the water and sugar in a saucepan and bring to a boil to form the syrup. Then turn off and let cool completely.

Once the syrup is cold, add the alcohol, taking care to filter it very well to remove any residual leaves.

Bottle and cover with foil or in any case in order to avoid any exposure to light. At this point the liqueur is practically ready, let the laurel rest for 3-4 weeks before tasting.

Variations to the classic bay leaf recipe.

Laurel liqueur is a very simple recipe, but it can be easily customized for intensity of taste, sweetness and alcohol content.

More or less alcoholic. You can change the alcohol content of the liqueur to your liking by reviewing the proportions of water and sugar to make it more or less strong.

Intense taste. You can make a liqueur with a more or less intense taste by changing the number of bay leaves used or by reducing and increasing the initial infusion time (always consider that the bay leaves must be left at least a week).