Hawthorn Flower Liqueur?

[Ali B]

I have a recipe for Hawthorn Flower Liqueur (from an National Trust cookbook I think) that I fancy trying - anyone every had a go? It's basically hawthorn flowers (no!) steeped in brandy & then bottled with added sugar. The thing that I am unsure about is the brandy & the kind to use. The skinflint side of me wants to use the cheap stuff but then cheap brandy is really (to me) disgusting & I am wondering if the flavour of the flowers will cancel out the nastiness of the brandy, lol. Or should I get some better quality stuff? I also had a thought that maybe vodka would be better because then you really would get the flavour of the hawthorn (whatever that might be)... Can you tell I am undecided about this???

[ocailleagh]

Whenever using alcohol in anything like this, its always best to go for the good quality stuff, and in the case of hawthorn flower, I'd think brandy would be better than vodka. I'm not sure that you'd want the pure hawthorn flavour to come through, based on the scent!

[MKG]

I don't think I'd necessarily agree with Ocailleagh here - if the base spirit is high-quality, drink it as it is. Cheaper doesn't necessarily mean lesser quality. The important thing in liqueur making is the alcoholic content bacause it's the alcohol which is going to leach out the flavours. Some, not all, cheaper spirits are appreciably lower in alcohol than the "better" stuff - they're the ones to avoid. My primary reason for not using expensive spirit (at least for the first time) is that hawthorn blossom's flavour is described as "astringent" and I'd want to run a few trials to get the balance in accordance with my taste before committing any money to it. Having said that, sloes are incredibly astringent, but they work well in liqueurs.

Vodka would certainly give you a liqueur, but possibly this one needs the added flavour of the brandy to succeed.

Keep us informed - it sounds like an interesting one.

[Ali B]

Well I am going to give it a go - I like to dabble in these things. . Thanks for the advice - I shall report back in a month or 2. Since posting I've had a bit of a goole and lots of people have the recipe but no one seems to have anything to say about what it tastes like... Traditionally it seems hawthorn flowers are believe to carry the smell of the great plague of London, so that might give me a clue, lol.

[ocailleagh]

Cheaper doesn't necessarily mean lesser quality.

I didn't mean to imply that it did, some cheaper spirits can be quite pleasant, but it can be a bit of a gamble! The point I was trying to make was that if you use something with a flavour akin to paintstripper the end result is going to suffer, so its best to pay out that few quid extra to begin with if you can't find a good quality cheaper version.

[mrsflibble]

I'd use brown sugar, I reckon the tofee-ness of it would probably compliment the wierd flavour of te hawthorn.

i could be wrong.

[Green Aura]

I've got a recipe for plum brandy (which uses whisky but that's a whole other story).
The author said she used good quality spirits because she wasn't patient enough to wait for the mixture to mature and mellow. Implying - I suppose - that if you're prepared to leave it for a while you can get good results with cheaper stuff.
Certainly worked with the plum brandy - my OH is a whisky fan (single malts) and wouldn't let me put anything approaching decent in with our plums. The result however is yummy.
Maggie

[Ali B]

Hmm. Thanks everyone. Now I have to get chance to get out & pick some flowers.

[red]

be interested to know how you get on - the hawthorn is out here and smells so scented!