[Sca-cooks] re: Cordials

[Lady Ro]

Stefan inquired:

> Congratulations on the cordial. But why were you aging
>it for 3  years? Did you just set it aside and forget
>about it? (That's the  only way a pair of my mead bottles
>ever got to be aged several  years). I have always heard
>that cordials didn't need a long aging  time. Did you
>taste it through the aging process? If so, did you
> notice the aging changing the taste?

This started out as an A&S class (Nov 2001), where I THOUGHT I would learn
stuff about cordial infusions that I didn't already I know.  I didn't.  (And
my knowledge THEN was slight - it's only a tad more in depth now - very back
burner for a long bit this has been.)  It's not to a period recipe that I
know, and I made about a half gallon of this liquer.

Well, my husband HATES sweet drinks, and my friends and I are not big
drinkers, either.  So it sat for quite a bit.  I tasted it periodically,
starting at 4 months (recommended by the class teacher).

Man, it would bite your head off at 4 months!!!  At 6 months it was still
mean as a rattlesnake.  (During the first aging, I was diagnosed with
cancer, and have spent a lot of time since in chemo, so the cordial sat a
lot more than it might have otherwise.)

At Christmas 2002(it would have been 13 months old then) it was a tad
mellower - but clearly a "made at home by loving hands" kinda thing.

Christmas 2004, it was mellow, and tasty, but still had a bit of a bite.
About August of this year, in a birthday salute to my friend Nichola (her
brand new out for Laurel okaying SCA name - I finally drug her in, and I'm
getting her into period cooking.  I am a Bad Influence....) we toasted her
with some of it.

SHE says it's better than bought Chambord.   I don't know that I would go
THAT far.... I tried it again the other night, and it's right where I wanted
it to be - smooth, the alcohol is noticeable, but not in a bad way, more in
a you wouldn't mistake this for raspberry juice way.  But, like Maire's -
You can taste the raspberry!  I may have failed...(forearm to forehead,
reclining on fainting couch at the Rock....)

Did I answer your questions sufficiently, Stefan?

Ro

I know God will not give me more than I handle.  I just wish He didn't trust
me so much!  - Mother Teresa