Month: September 2011
-
Solid Liquids: Dehydrating Other Liqueurs Part Two
In yesterday's post in the Solid Liquids Project (project index here) I had expanded beyond dehydrating Campari into dehydrating other liqueurs, namely X-Rated Fusion Liqueur, Wild Turkey American Honey, Irish Mist, and Midori. These are all part of the Skyy Spirits portfolio. Of these four, only Midori crystallized like Campari had. I tried several methods…
-
Solid Liquids: Dehydrating Other Liqueurs: Problems
So far in the Solid Liquids Project (project index here) I've been experimenting with the best way to get liqueurs into a solid/powder/sugar form. I have performed all of these experiments with Campari so far, but now it's time to try some other liqueurs. Since Skyy Spirits is sponsoring this project, I began with other…
-
Making Sugar from Cane and Beets
In the continuing study of sugar, today we'll look at how sugar is made today. According to Sugar.org, this is how sugar is made from either beets or cane. For sugar cane: ❧ Grinding the cane to extract the juice;❧ Boiling the juice until the syrup thickens and crystallizes;❧ Spinning the crystals in a centrifuge…
-
Sugar Production in Modern Times
In the Sugar Spirit Project we've looked at the history of sugarcane and sugar production (project index here). In this post we'll look at sugar production today. Some of this information may be out of date due to the date of my reference books/websites, so please take it all with a grain of salt. Nowadays,…
-
An Amusingly Disgusting Way to Drink Vodka in Sweden
While I was in Sweden with Karlsson's Gold vodka, we learned a traditional way to drink vodka. It is called Kaffegök, and it is gross. You take a cup and put a coin in the bottom. Then you fill it with coffee until you can't see the coin anymore. Then you add vodka until you…
-
Karlsson’s Vodka: It’s In The Blend
Months ago I started to talk about my trip to Sweden with Karlsson's vodka. I only covered how to pick potatoes so far. The potatoes for this vodka all come from Cape Bjare in Sweden.To get there, we drove from Copenhagen, over the relatively new bridge that connects Denmark to Sweden with Malmo on the…
-
Solid Liquids: Campari Fruit Roll-Ups
In the Solid Liquids Project (project index here) we are experimenting with the best methods to dehydrate liqueurs, and then putting the dehydrated liqueur to good use. This is one of those uses. I've been using a food dehydrator as one method of dehydrating liqueurs. It works well enough, though other methods are faster. In…
-
Sugarcane and the Environment
For the most part rum is made from molasses, the byproduct of sugar production. So when we study the issue of the environmental impact of sugarcane production we need to keep in mind that molasses is the waste product of sugar production. Rum is recycling! That said, we're studying not just sugar but sugarcane production…
-
Dehydrating Liqueurs: Stovetop Crystallization Method
So far in the Solid Liquids project, I experimented with using the food dehydrator, oven, and microwave to dehydrate liqueurs into flavored sugars. The project index is here. Well, thanks to a Facebook friend, I now have a much more efficient way than all the others I've tried. Lauren Mote, co-owner of Kale &…
-
Solid Liquids: Bulk Liqueur Dehydration in the Oven
This is just a quick post in the Solid Liquids Project (project index here) to note that you can dehydrate liqueurs in the oven in containers other than the silicone cupcake holders that I've been using. Many people have SilPat non-stick baking mats. These are great but have the problem of being flat so liquids…