Yuletide Herbal Cordials: A Winter Holiday Tradition

This blog post and accompanying video was prompted by a Patreon request and question. If you haven’t explored my Patreon tiers yet, I would be grateful if you wandered on over there. My Patreon family is wonderful and have been so supportive of my new YouTube journey! I couldn’t do this without them.

As I mentioned, this post/video was born thanks to a wonderful question – what are our winter holiday traditions and how do we incorporate herbs into our celebrations? I was so excited by this question, that is has sparked a series of videos I will share over the coming weeks.

Because I want you all to be able to follow along with this journey, it was timely do launch this one first, as these delicious cordials will take time to prepare if you want to enjoy them over the holidays. While we are not large consumers of alcohol, these recipes are simply delightful. They make a tasty treat and a great for homemade gifts for family and friends. The addition of medicinal herbs to your alcoholic spirits, brings in some added health benefits.

Now please know, I am not saying that this will magically make alcohol healthy! There is nothing on this Earth that can do that. However, the addition of herbs like hibiscus will dramatically boost the vitamin C content. Warming carminatives like cinnamon, allspice and anise will help support digestion and holy basil is a wonderful nervine.

Tulsi Hibiscus Brandy

For this first recipe you will need tulsi (also known as holy basi), hibiscus and either vanilla extract or a vanilla bean if you can source them without it costing you a mortgage payment! This recipe is thanks to Emily over at Sweetgrass Herbals. We make it every year and love it!

Ingredients

  • a bottle of your brandy of choice
  • 1/3 cup of dried tulsi/holy basil
  • 1/4-1/3 cup of dried hibiscus
  • Emily’s recipe calls for 1/4 but this year I used 1/3
  • 1 vanilla bean or 1 tbsp of extract
  • raw local honey to taste

Instructions

  • Using a one litre mason jar, add in your tulsi, hibiscus and vanilla bean/extract.
  • Fill your jar about 2/3 of the way full with brandy and shake well. If you are using a metal lid, ensure you use a piece of parchment paper as a barrier to prevent the corrosion of the lid.
  • Label your jar and store it in a cool location for at least 3-4 weeks. The longer you can let it sit, the better, but I have strained after 3 weeks and its perfectly delicious.
  • After 3-4 weeks, strain out your herbs and pour your brandy back into your one litre mason jar.
  • Top off the jar with honey. Now this is very much to taste! Try adding a smaller amount first and adding more until you have reached your desired taste.
  • Enjoy with tonic/soda water or on the rocks!

Apple Spiced Gin

I have grown quite fond of gin in herbal infused beverages and after watching a video on making pear spiced gin, I thought to try it with apples. Who doesn’t love apples and delicious spices like cinnamon and allspice together?

Ingredients

  • one bottle of gin of your choice
  • two apples (I used gala)
  • 1 cinnamon stick
  • 1/2 tbsp of whole allspice
  • 1/2 tbsp of whole star anise
  • raw local honey or maple syrup

Instructions

  • Chop your apples into fairly thin slices. Uniformity doesn’t matter here! Neither do seeds or the core.
  • If your apples are conventionally grown, consider peeling them first.
  • Using a one litre mason jar add your apple slices and spices. Fill your jar all the way to the top with gin as the apples take up quite a bit of space.
  • Label your jar and store it in a cool location for at least 3-4 weeks. The longer you can let it sit, the better, but I have strained after 3 weeks and its perfectly delicious.
  • After 3-4 weeks, strain out your herbs and fruit and pour your gin back into your one litre mason jar.
  • Top off the jar with honey. Now this is very much to taste! Try adding a smaller amount first and adding more until you have reached your desired taste.
  • I would also recommend giving this a taste prior to adding sweetener as I think it would also be very tasty with maple syrup. Give it a taste and make the choice for yourself!
  • Enjoy with tonic/soda water or on the rocks!

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Until next time,

Regular Readers/Watchers

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