Category: projects

  • Solid Liquids: Dehydrating Other Liqueurs Part Two

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    Camper English
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    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

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    Camper English
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    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…

  • Sugar Production in Modern Times

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    Camper English
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    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 Some of this information may be out of date due to the date of my reference books/websites, so please take it all with a grain of salt.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,…

  • Solid Liquids: Campari Fruit Roll-Ups

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    Camper English
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    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

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    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

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    Camper English
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    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

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    Camper English
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    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…

  • The Sugar Spirit Project: Enter the Sugar Beet

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    Camper English
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    In studying sugar and sugarcane (go here for the project index) we need to study the sugar beet; sugarcane's competitor.  Here we'll look at the sugar beet's early history.  Sugar beets were not economically important as a source of sucrose until the mid-1800s.  In 1774 a German scientist discovered the sugar from beets was the…

  • Solid Liquids: Campari Syrup

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    Camper English
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    In the last post in the Solid Liquids project, I used dehydrated Campari to make a non-alcoholic Campari & Soda.  Then it occurred to me that for that purpose there was no need to dehydrate the liqueur completely. I could just burn off the alcohol and have a non-alcoholic syrup.  So that's what I did.…

  • Sugar in Early American History

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    Camper English
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    In studying sugarcane and sugar, we've looked at its biology, origins, spread to the West, association with forced labor, how it was processed in the olden days, and how the English developed a taste for it. (Go here for the project index.) Now we'll look at sugar in America. Again I have used these resources…