Breaking
FoodNerdy Recipes Management System
Tag

yourself:

Browsing
Food

Make Empanadas Yourself: Here’s How

Empanadas are a culinary specialty from Spain. Here you will find a simple recipe for the crispy dumplings – with various ideas for vegan and vegetarian fillings.

Empanadas are small dumplings that are a staple of national cuisine in most Spanish-speaking countries. Traditionally they are filled with meat, vegetables and cheese. Our recipe contains a basic vegan filling.

Make sure the ingredients for the empanadas are organic if possible. You support ecologically sustainable agriculture that treats the earth’s natural resources with care.

Make empanadas yourself: Here’s how

Ingredients:

600 g spelled flour
200 g vegan margarine
2 teaspoons cream of tartar baking powder
4 tsp salt
300 ml water
1 onion
1pepper
1 clove(s) garlic
2 tablespoons rapeseed oil
1 tablespoon tomato paste
150 gkidney beans
150 gcorn
200 g chopped tomatoes
1 teaspoon raw cane sugar
pepper

Directions:

First knead the spelled flour, the vegan margarine, the cream of tartar, two teaspoons of salt and the water in a bowl to form a smooth dough. Place the dough in the refrigerator covered with a damp tea towel.
Cut the onion and the pepper into small pieces. Chop the garlic.
Heat the canola oil in a large pan. Sauté the onions in it over medium heat for 3 minutes. Then add the peppers and tomato paste and cook for another five minutes, stirring occasionally.
Then add the kidney beans, corn and chopped tomatoes to the pan. Also add the raw cane sugar. Cover and let the mixture simmer for 10 minutes. Then season with pepper and the remaining salt.
Flour a work surface and knead the dough vigorously again. Then, using a rolling pin or a glass bottle, roll it out about half an inch thick. Then use a glass or bowl to cut out round pieces of dough. They should be ten to fifteen centimeters in diameter.
Place about 1/2 or 1 tablespoon of the filling in the center of each piece of dough. Then fold them into a crescent and gently press the edges together with a fork.
Place the empanadas on a baking sheet lined with baking paper or baking paper substitute. Brush them with some liquid margarine.
Bake the empanadas at 200 degrees top/bottom heat for 20 to 30 minutes until golden brown. Complete!

Empanadas: possible variations

You can prepare empanadas with a wide variety of fillings. There are numerous vegan and vegetarian options:

A very simple variant of the empanadas, for example, is only filled with (vegan) cheese.
You can also make vegetarian ground beef and add it to the filling instead of the kidney beans.
Instead of the peppers, you can also fill the empanadas with zucchini, eggplant, spinach or kale.
A dip is traditionally served with the empanadas. For example, red salsa and salsa verde or homemade guacamole go well with the crispy dumplings.

Keep Reading
By
Food

Make Mocha Beans Yourself: This is How the Chocolates Go Vegan

You can make mocha beans yourself from just six ingredients. We will show you how to make marzipan pralines vegan and gluten-free.

Mocha beans are chocolate pralines with a coffee note. You can use the beans to decorate cakes or for snacking. If you buy the beans in the supermarket, they are usually packed in plastic and cardboard. You can avoid the packaging by making the mocha beans yourself. You can also use high-quality chocolate and coffee to produce a particularly tasty and non-toxic product.

Since cocoa beans and coffee beans are grown in areas near the equator, you should look for the Fairtrade seal when buying. Among other things, the seal improves the working and trading conditions of smallholders. For example, they receive a cost-covering price guarantee. There is also a ban on the use of certain pesticides on the plantations.

Finding sustainable coconut oil, on the other hand, is not always easy. You can also pay attention to fair trade here, as well as the organic seal to avoid chemical-synthetic pesticides. In addition, there are now coconut oils that have received awards from the Rainforest Alliance.

Make mocha beans yourself: This is how the chocolates are also vegan

Ingredients:

200g marzipan
150 grams of chocolate
80 coconut fat
3 tsp ground coffee
2 teaspoons coffee liqueur
2 tbsp powdered sugar

Directions:

First cut the raw marzipan mixture into small pieces so that you can knead all the ingredients more easily.
Now put all the ingredients except the chocolate and coconut oil in a bowl and knead everything together. You can also make the coffee liqueur yourself.
Now form small oval beans from the marzipan-coffee dough and place them on baking paper.

After shaping, you can use a skewer to press small, long grooves into the beans.
After that, cool the beans and start melting the chocolate and coconut oil together.

Now cover the beans with chocolate. It makes sense to only glaze the underside of the beans, let them dry and then glaze the entire bean. Place the beans, bottom side up, on the baking sheet. Now brush the undersides with the chocolate icing. The chocolate may take 15 minutes to set.

Once the chocolate has set, you can glaze the top of the beans. Place the beans on a fine grid. This way, the excess chocolate can run off later and the finished pralines look nicer. Note: The small chocolates will slip through the normal oven grates. To avoid this, you can simply place two grids on top of each other. You should place a piece of baking paper substitute under the grid or place a flat plate. This way you can catch and recycle the chocolate that runs down.
If the beans are completely covered with chocolate, you should quickly put them on a plate or on a piece of baking paper. If the chocolate sets while the beans are still on the grid, they could stick to it.

Now all you have to do is set the chocolate. Let the beans set in a cool place for about an hour.

Use up the leftover chocolate

If you make the mocha beans yourself, there will be chocolate left over at the end because it runs down when glazing, for example. You should not throw away these leftover chocolates, but reuse them. How to use up leftover chocolate:

in a chocolate fondue
as a chocolate glaze on a vegan chocolate cake
as broken chocolate
in a drinking chocolate
as a chocolate sauce for desserts or ice cream
in a vegan chocolate salami.

Keep Reading
By
Food

Breadcrumb Substitute: 5 Alternatives to Make Yourself

Homemade breadcrumb substitute is a convenient alternative to traditional breadcrumbs. We show you five ingredients that you can use to make a delicious breading without any breadcrumbs.

Breadcrumb substitute brings variety to the meal and is also suitable if you don’t have any crumbs at home. The options presented here are suitable for all dishes that are otherwise prepared with conventional breadcrumbs. For example, tofu or fresh vegetables such as kohlrabi and cauliflower taste particularly delicious if you turn them in breadcrumbs and then fry them.

Traditionally, breadcrumbs are made from breadcrumbs. A breading of breadcrumbs and egg then ensures that the food is crispy on the outside and stays juicy and soft on the inside.

But you can also prepare a crispy breading without breadcrumbs. We introduce you to five ingredients that are suitable as breadcrumb substitutes. You can make vegan or gluten-free breadcrumbs yourself from regional ingredients.

Tip: If you only have a few leftovers of an ingredient, you can also mix the breadcrumb substitutes.

Seeds and kernels as a substitute for breadcrumbs

Breadcrumb substitute made from seeds and kernels is gluten-free, vegan and can be made from regional products. The following seeds and kernels are suitable, for example, as a substitute for breadcrumbs:

sesame
linseed
sunflower seeds
pumpkin seeds
hemp seeds

To use the seeds as a substitute for breadcrumbs, you’ll need to crush or grind them in a mortar and pestle. This gives them a consistency similar to breadcrumbs. This increases the surface area of the seeds and turns into a crispy shell when cooked.

But be careful: seeds and kernels burn faster at high temperatures than breadcrumbs. Always keep a close eye on your food while it is roasting.

Also keep in mind that some kernels and seeds have a strong flavor of their own. You should therefore adjust them to the taste of your dish. Sesame seeds go particularly well with Asian dishes and tofu.

Breadcrumb Substitute: Nuts, chopped and ground

In addition to seeds, nuts are also suitable as a substitute for breadcrumbs. For example:

walnuts
hazelnuts
almonds

To make breadcrumbs from nuts, proceed in a similar way to seeds and kernels. Crush the nuts with a mortar or high-powered blender. The finer the nuts are, the better they work as a substitute for breadcrumbs.

Also keep in mind that the nuts burn faster than conventional breadcrumbs. In addition, their nutty taste should match the dish.

Breadcrumb substitute made from nuts is vegan and gluten-free. However, some nuts, such as almonds, usually come from other countries and have been transported a long way. This causes high CO2 emissions and makes imported nuts a less sustainable food. Therefore, preferably choose nuts from regional agriculture.

Pretzel Sticks: Substitute for breadcrumbs for extra flavor

Breadcrumb substitute made from pretzel sticks brings an extra spicy note to your recipe. The pretzel sticks are already salty and hearty – that goes well with a hearty breading.

To make breadcrumbs substitute from pretzel sticks, you need to crumble them. To do this, pack the pretzel sticks in a reusable freezer bag and mash them up in the bag. The pretzel stick breadcrumbs are ready when they have a fine, crumbly consistency.

Breadcrumb substitutes made from pretzel sticks are usually not gluten-free, as pretzel sticks are traditionally baked with wheat flour. If you avoid gluten in your diet, gluten-free pretzel sticks or other breadcrumb alternatives presented here are suitable.

Oatmeal: The classic

Oatmeal is a classic substitute for breadcrumbs because it’s naturally rough and absorbs a lot of moisture. They ensure a crispy outer layer on breaded dishes.

Use the oatmeal whole or ground. The fine oat flakes are usually already fine enough to use as a substitute for breadcrumbs. Coarse oat flakes can be crushed in a mortar if necessary.

You can get oat flakes in the shop from regional and organic farms. In addition, oatmeal is gluten-free and vegan. They are therefore a healthy and versatile alternative to conventional breadcrumbs.

Cornmeal and corn products as a substitute for breadcrumbs

Corn products are also suitable as a substitute for breadcrumbs. These products include:

cornflakes
Corn flour (polenta)
tortilla chips
Keep in mind that some of these foods come from other countries or have already been processed several times. Choose preferably products from regional and organic agriculture.

Like pretzel sticks, cornflakes and tortilla chips need to be crushed before use. You can either use the cornmeal directly as a substitute for breadcrumbs or grind it finely in a mortar beforehand.

The advantage of cornmeal and corn products is that they form a particularly crispy breading. In addition, the taste is quite neutral and goes well with many foods.

Tip: Mix cornmeal with seeds, kernels or nuts. This gives you a crispy breading that also has a nutty aroma.

Bread with the breadcrumb substitute

If you have decided on a breadcrumbs substitute, then you can make a delicious breading. The process is the same for each ingredient. Just make sure that nuts and seeds burn faster than the other ingredients when frying or baking.

How to prepare the breading with breadcrumb substitute:

Choose the ingredients you want to bread. Wash and cut them as needed.
Toss the food in some flour until coated on all sides. If you are gluten intolerant, use gluten free flour.
Traditionally you turn the ingredients in whisked egg – but you can also just use plant milk for it. Also read the article breading without eggs.
Finally, toss your ingredients in the breadcrumb substitute until evenly coated on all sides.
You can fry, grill or bake breaded foods. Follow the instructions in the respective recipe. For example, try breaded eggplant or breaded tofu.

Keep Reading
By
Food

Vegan Substitute Products: You Can Make Them Yourself with These Recipes

Vegan substitute products can expand the plant-based kitchen and facilitate the switch to a vegan diet. With these recipes you can make soy milk, tofu, vegan cheese and more yourself.

The range of vegan substitute products is getting bigger and bigger – from classics such as plant-based milk alternatives and vegan cream to schnitzels that do not contain any meat or other animal products. Some of these substitutes have become so popular that they’ve found their way into vegetarian and flexitarian kitchens.

The vegan substitute products are no longer only available in health food stores and health food stores, but also in all supermarkets. You can also make the plant-based alternatives yourself at home: in many cases you only need a few ingredients. We will introduce you to various recipes for vegan substitute products.

Vegan substitute products: it’s worth making your own

Many people find vegan cuisine to be more creative and varied than conventional cuisine with milk, cheese and meat. The reason for this is, among other things, the large variety of vegan substitute products, thanks to which you do not have to do without your usual dishes. For example, you can replace cow’s milk with one of the many plant-based alternatives, such as soy, oat or almond milk. There are also good alternatives for yoghurt, cheese and various meat products.

Above all, the plant-based substitutes make it much easier to switch to a vegan diet. So you don’t have to do without the usual dishes such as pizza, gratinated casserole or rice pudding.

Most people buy pre-packaged vegan substitutes at the store. You can often make the plant-based alternatives yourself with little effort. This has several advantages:

Costs: Doing it yourself is usually much cheaper than buying it. A liter of homemade organic oat milk only costs around 20 to 30 cents. You pay at least 90 cents for it in a shop, which is easily three to four times as much.
Ingredients: Purchased vegan substitute products sometimes contain additives such as emulsifiers, preservatives or flavorings. By making the vegan foods yourself, you have full control over the ingredients.
Health: The “Albert Schweitzer Foundation for our environment” examined 250 meat alternatives in a study. Compared to animal products, these fared significantly better in terms of health and the environment. Nevertheless, the researchers criticized the mostly excessive salt content and unfavorable fatty acid profiles of the products. You can make homemade substitute products healthier – for example with less salt and linseed oil or rapeseed oil instead of sunflower oil.
Less waste: By making vegan substitute products yourself, you create less waste. You can buy the basic ingredients such as soybeans, oatmeal or walnuts in larger quantities and don’t have to buy new packaging every time. This means that homemade substitute products are also more environmentally friendly.

Make vegan milk substitutes yourself

Milk is not only popular in coffee, but also as an ingredient for many dishes such as rice pudding, pudding or béchamel sauce. Vegan cuisine knows more than just one milk alternative and has something to offer for every taste.

Keep Reading
By
Food

Wild Garlic Oil: A Recipe to Make Yourself

You can make delicious wild garlic oil yourself from fresh wild garlic – you can find it in many shady places from March. In the following text you will find a recipe for wild garlic oil and ideas for its use.

From mid-March to early May you can find wild garlic in numerous parks and forests. The typical smell makes you want spring and invites you to extensive wild garlic harvest. You can conjure up many delicious dishes from the ingredient, such as wild garlic pesto or wild garlic soup. Wild garlic oil is another way of processing wild vegetables and preserving them at the same time.

Make wild garlic oil yourself: recipe

You need these ingredients:

100 g wild garlic (about a handful)
500 ml vegetable oil (olive oil, for example, works particularly well)
You also need a screw-top jar with a capacity of 500 milliliters or alternatively a sealable glass bottle with a wide opening. To filter the wild garlic oil you need a sieve and a large bowl.

The preparation takes about 20 minutes. The oil then has to steep for two to three weeks.

How to make wild garlic oil yourself:

Wash the wild garlic and gently pat dry. Make sure the wild garlic is dry before using it further. Otherwise it can easily rot and spoil the oil.
Roughly chop the wild garlic with a sharp knife and fill it into the glass jar.
Now fill the glass with the oil. The wild garlic should be completely covered with oil and not float on the surface. If necessary, you can swirl the jar a little to cover leaves on the surface. Do this carefully and do not shake the oil.
Seal the jar or bottle and store the wild garlic oil in a cool, dark place for two to three weeks.

After two to three weeks, the wild garlic oil has infused well and has taken on the taste of wild garlic. Get a bowl and a colander ready.

Pour the oil and wild garlic leaves into a sieve and catch the oil in the bowl.
Squeeze the wild garlic leaves well so that as little of the wild garlic oil as possible is lost.
Now you can fill the finished wild garlic oil back into a sealable glass bottle.
Wild garlic oil will keep for about a year in a dark, cool place.

How to use wild garlic oil

Wild garlic oil is particularly diverse:

Wild garlic oil is a good alternative to homemade garlic oil because it tastes similar but smells less intense.
The homemade oil is a tasty ingredient for (vegan) dips or salad dressing recipes.
You can also use wild garlic oil when grilling. For example, you can marinate tofu or vegetables or drizzle it over grilled bread.
Spaghetti, wild garlic oil, salt and pepper result in a delicious and quickly prepared meal. If you like spicy food, refine it with some dried chili.
Otherwise, you can use the wild garlic oil to season hearty stir-fries, vegetables or sauces.
Gift tip: fill the wild garlic oil in a pretty bottle, design a suitable label – you already have a souvenir for barbecue evenings or a small gift for your loved ones.

Important: Harvest only a few leaves per plant to allow it to regenerate. (More tips: wild garlic season: when wild garlic grows – tips for harvesting) You should also recognize wild garlic and not confuse it with the poisonous lily of the valley!

Keep Reading
By
Food

Make ACE Juice Yourself – and Never Buy It Again

Making ACE juice yourself has many advantages. The juice is freshly squeezed, rich in vitamins and without artificial additives. We’ll tell you how you can press the juice yourself – with and without a juicer.

If you make your own ACE juice, you can do without the juice from the supermarket in the future. This has many advantages. Oko-Test has shown that many packaged vegetable juices are often full of sugar. With homemade ACE juice, you can avoid adding sugar and avoid the sugar traps.

The juices from the supermarket also usually run through a mechanized process. Secondary plant substances are often lost during the pressing. If you make your own ACE juice, however, these are retained. You can also pay attention to organic quality when buying the ingredients and thus avoid chemical-synthetic pesticides in your juice.

We recommend buying the necessary fruit and vegetables seasonally. You can find out when you can buy certain types of fruit and vegetables from German cultivation in our seasonal calendar. So you can replace summer fruit in winter, for example, with fruit or vegetables that have a similar amount of vitamins or taste similar. Depending on what you feel like, you can vary the taste and color of the juice, and at the same time it remains a regional-seasonal juice with the A, C, and E vitamins.

Things to know about ACE juice

ACE Juice is a healthy soft drink made from juiced vegetables and fruits. The classic ingredients are oranges, carrots and water. In addition, vitamins and sugar are usually added to ready-made juice.

ACE juice owes its name to the vitamins it contains. So the juice should be rich in:

Beta carotene (provitamin A)
vitamin C
vitamin E
Carrots mainly contain beta-carotene, which the body converts into vitamin A. Oranges are rich in vitamin C. Vitamin E is found in vegetable oils, among other things. That’s why you should always mix some vegetable oil into your own juice. This also ensures that your body can absorb the fat-soluble beta-carotene. Other ingredients that are suitable for the juice are, for example, apples, ginger or beetroot.

Tip: Mix some lemon juice into your ACE juice. This will prevent the juice from discoloring due to oxidation.

Make ACE juice yourself: In the juicer

Ingredients:

2carrots
2apples
2oranges
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp vegetable oil (e.g. rapeseed, sunflower or linseed oil)
some mineral water

Directions:

Wash apples and carrots. Remove the core from the carrots and the core from the apple. Cut both into small pieces.
Peel the orange and cut into wedges.
Put apples, carrots and orange in the juicer.
Mix the fresh ACE juice with lemon juice and oil.
Dilute the ACE juice with a dash of water if you like.

Make ACE juice yourself: without a juicer

If you don’t have a juicer, use a blender and cheesecloth to make the ACE juice. This is how you can do it in just a few steps:

Wash the ingredients, peel them if necessary and cut them into the smallest possible pieces.
Put everything in a powerful blender. Puree fruits and vegetables to a fine pulp.
If your blender isn’t powerful enough, mix some lukewarm water into the ingredients.
Pour the puree through a fine sieve or cheesecloth and collect the juice in a container. Squeeze out the mass thoroughly.
Then add oil and water to your ACE juice as needed.
Tip: Store the fresh juice in sterile jars or bottles. The juice will keep in the fridge for a few days.

Keep Reading
By
Food

Make Mustard Yourself: Simple Recipe with 4 Variants

Making mustard yourself is not as complicated as you think. We’ll show you how to make a basic recipe, which you can then expand on as you wish.

Mustard is a delicious and versatile condiment. It should not be missing from any barbecue party and rounds off the taste of sauces and salad dressings. You can make the popular spice paste yourself with just a few ingredients and refine it according to your taste. In addition to the basic recipe, we will tell you four other variants for the homemade mustard: extra hot, fruity, sweet and with a herbal note.

Choose mustard seeds for the homemade mustard

There are white, brown and black mustard seeds – here the rule is: the darker the colour, the sharper the seeds. If you want to make medium-hot mustard, mix white and brown mustard seeds in a 50:50 ratio. You can get high-quality mustard seeds in health food stores or at the weekly market.

The mustard oils contained in the grains are not only responsible for the spiciness – they are also very healthy, have an antibacterial and appetizing effect and promote digestion. According to a study by the University of Freiburg, spicy mustard can even have a preventive effect against cancer.

Make mustard yourself: The basic recipe

For about three glasses of mustard you will need:

200 g mustard seeds
275 ml white balsamic vinegar
100ml of water
80 grams of sugar
3 tsp salt
some turmeric for the color
How to prepare the homemade mustard:

Grind the mustard seeds as finely as possible. The best way to do this is with a coffee grinder, alternatively with a mortar. The finer you grind the grains, the finer the mustard will be. Tip: If you don’t want to grind the grains yourself, you can use 200 grams of mustard flour.
Heat the water with the balsamic vinegar in a saucepan.
Remove the pot from the heat and let the liquid cool to a lukewarm temperature. This step is especially important to keep the mustard from turning bitter.
Mix all dry ingredients together.
Pour the liquid over the mustard flour and mix with a mixer for at least 5 minutes.
Pour the mustard into sterilized, sealable jars.
Leave the mustard for three days and it will lose its initial spiciness.
The mustard can be stored in a cool place for up to three months. So don’t do too much at once.

Make mustard variations yourself

Extra hot mustard: If you like your mustard to be extra hot, add some wasabi paste or crushed chillies to the basic recipe.
Fruity mustard: To give the basic recipe a fruity note, you can add the zest of an organic orange, some fig puree or other pureed dried fruit to the recipe before bottling.
Apple mustard: Replace the white balsamic vinegar in the basic recipe with apple cider vinegar. Instead of sugar, use ten organic dates that you soak in water beforehand and a grated apple. Use just a small pinch of salt. Mix all the ingredients together with a blender. This mustard can be stored in the refrigerator for up to four weeks.
Herb mustard: Supplement the basic recipe with fresh herbs. The following are particularly suitable: wild garlic, rosemary, thyme and dill.

Keep Reading
By
Food

Carrot Salmon: This is How You Make the Vegan Salmon Substitute Yourself

Carrot salmon is quick to make and a surprisingly good substitute for smoked salmon. We will explain how to make the spicy carrot strips yourself.

Salmon is one of the most popular edible fish, but there are many reasons not to eat it: Overstocked aquaculture, ethoxyquin, endangered wild stocks – the fish comes with many problems on the plate.

The carrot salmon does not have these problems. In addition, it looks quite similar to smoked salmon and even tastes like the original. Carrot salmon is also a great way to rediscover the vegetable.

Carrot Salmon: The Recipe

Ingredients:

3carrots
2 tablespoons rapeseed oil
2 tsp soy sauce
0.5 tsp smoked salt
1 teaspoon horn syrup
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar

Directions:

Peel the carrots and slice them lengthways into thin strips with a vegetable peeler.
Boil the carrots in unsalted water for 3 to 4 minutes. Rinse them with cold water and let them drain.
Mix together the remaining ingredients for the marinade.
Mix the carrots thoroughly with the marinade. Tip: The carrot salmon tastes particularly good after it has been allowed to sit in the fridge for a day or two. Keep it airtight and shake the storage jar every now and then to distribute the marinade well. The carrot salmon tastes particularly good on bread with (vegan) sour cream. Sprinkle with freshly ground pepper and finely chopped dill for added flavor.

Ingredient tips for carrot salmon

The carrot salmon comes even closer to the original if you also stir finely chopped seaweed into the marinade. For example, you can use dried nori seaweed or wakame. You should note a few things:

Many seaweed farms are far away in Southeast Asia, so the seaweed has to travel a long way to reach us. However, there are also algae farms in Europe. If possible, buy seaweed that has been proven to come from Europe.
An organic seal certifies that the algae come from a body of water with good water quality.
Algae sometimes contain a lot of iodine. If possible, buy products that list the iodine content – ​​because while iodine is very important for the body, an overdose can cause problems. Important: If you have thyroid problems, an iodine overdose can be particularly critical. It is therefore better to avoid algae or seek medical advice.

Tip: You can also use Liquid Smoke instead of smoked salt. You can also give the carrot salmon even more flavor with a pinch of smoked paprika.

 

Keep Reading
By
Food

Make Herbal Liqueur Yourself: Basic Recipe for Different Herbs

Making herbal liqueur yourself is not difficult. If you prepare your own liqueur, you are free to choose which herbs you use. Here you will find tips for choosing herbs and a simple basic recipe.

Herbal liqueurs are part of the culinary tradition in many cultures. In Europe, they are often served after a rich meal to stimulate digestion. Many also appreciate them simply for their aromatic taste.

Herbal liqueurs can vary greatly in composition. Normally, a mixture of different herbs forms the basis of the taste. Which varieties are used and the proportions in which they are to each other depends on the recipe in question.

If you make your herbal liqueur yourself, you can decide for yourself which herbs you use. This makes it easy to adapt the liqueur to your personal taste. In this article, we give you an overview of different flavors and present a basic recipe that you can modify as you like.

Make herbal liqueur yourself: fresh or dried herbs?

You can prepare herbal liqueur with either fresh or dried herbs.

If you want to use fresh herbs, pay attention to the respective harvest times. Basically, you should buy organic kitchen herbs to avoid chemical-synthetic pesticides. This applies not only to fresh goods, but also to dried ones. Conventional dried spices in particular are often contaminated.

Make herbal liqueur yourself – these herbs are suitable

Which varieties you use is entirely up to you if you make herbal liqueur yourself. For example, the following varieties are good:

Mediterranean herbs such as rosemary, thyme, oregano or basil. Thyme and rosemary are evergreen varieties that you can harvest fresh all year round. This is also often possible with basil if the plant is perennial. The best time to harvest oregano is between July and August when it is in bloom. In principle, however, you can harvest it in the entire period between spring and autumn.
Lovage has a spicy, very characteristic taste of its own, to which it also owes the nickname “Maggikraut”. You can harvest fresh lovage from spring to autumn.
Sage is a strong spice with a slight bitter note. Its aroma is also sometimes compared to camphor or pine. Its harvest time is between May and August.
Mint contains menthol and therefore tastes cool and refreshing, but also slightly spicy. You can harvest fresh mint from spring until the first frost.
Chamomile has a mild, floral and slightly earthy flavor. Their harvest time coincides with the flowering period between June and September.
Aniseed has a strong, liquorice-like taste of its own. You can harvest them a few weeks after flowering, i.e. in September or October.
Fennel seeds are very similar in taste to anise seeds. They are ready for harvest in late summer or early autumn as soon as they turn grey-brown.
Laurel tastes very bitter when fresh. If you are making herbal liqueur at home, it is better to use dried leaves for a more pleasant taste.
Cloves are very flavorful and taste flowery and a bit spicy at the same time. You should only use them when they are dry.
If you want the individual herbs to harmonize with each other, you should use them in equal amounts. As a rule of thumb, we recommend adding two grams of each variety to the liqueur. However, you can also use certain herbs in larger quantities if you want them to have a stronger flavor. It is best to use a clear spirit such as Korn or vodka as the alcoholic basis.

Herbal liqueur: The basic recipe

Ingredients:

1 l clear alcohol (e.g. vodka or schnapps)
800 gsugar
2 g herbs (per variety)
Zest of an organic lemon (optional)
honey or agave syrup (optional)

Directions:

Pour the alcohol into an airtight container, such as a bottle. Note that the bottle must be big enough to hold the rest of the ingredients afterwards.
Add the sugar. The easiest way to do this is with a funnel.
Wash, clean and chop the herbs of your choice. Then pour it into the bottle as well.
Finally, you can add some grated lemon zest if you like. Be sure to use an organic lemon that is not contaminated with synthetic pesticides.
Seal the bottle or jar airtight and leave the homemade herbal liqueur in a warm place for four to six weeks. Shake or stir the liqueur well every day.
When the brewing time is up, strain the herbal liqueur through a fine-mesh sieve. Then fill it into a dark glass bottle and refine it with a little honey or agave syrup if you wish.
Keep the herbal liqueur cool and dark. Due to the high sugar content, it can be kept for several years without any problems.

Keep Reading
By
Food

Make Dandelion Honey Yourself: This is What Makes the Syrup so Special

The special thing about dandelion honey is that it is actually not real honey. Instead, it’s a mixture of sugar and dandelion flavor in syrup form. We reveal how you make the vegan “honey” yourself.

General information about dandelion honey

In contrast to bee honey, dandelion honey does not contain any animal components and is therefore vegan. However, it tastes similar to real honey and has a similar consistency – hence the name.

Collecting dandelion flowers requires some effort. But it’s worth it. When collecting, make sure that:

  • you collect the dandelions in places with little or preferably no traffic.
  • you take the young, juicy blossoms.
  • you don’t remove the whole plant. Unless you want to remove the dandelions from your vegetable beds.

The flowering period of the dandelion is in April and May.

Dandelion honey recipe

First, you need enough dandelion flowers – depending on how much “honey” you want to make. For starters, 200 grams should be a good guideline.

You also need:

  • 1 liter of water
  • 1 kg of sugar
  • 1 half organic lemon

Proceed as follows:

Put the flowers in a pot and pour the water over them.
Cover the pot with a lid and let the mixture steep for about two hours.
Bring the mixture to a boil and then let it cool down again.
Let the water and dandelion blossoms sit overnight and drain the blossoms with a colander.
Add the sugar and some grated zest of the lemon.
Bring the mixture to a simmer.
To test whether the mixture has the right consistency, you can put a small amount on a plate and let it cool. If the consistency is similar to that of “normal” honey, then the dandelion honey has simmered long enough.
If it is not firm enough, let the mixture simmer a little more and test the consistency at regular intervals.

Store dandelion honey properly

There are a few things to note:

  • Use sterilized jars to bottle the “honey.”
  • Be careful not to pour the dandelion honey into jars that are wet or too cold. Otherwise, the spread will crystallize. Therefore, use well-dried glasses.
  • Protect the “honey” from too much light and heat as well as cold. Store it in the closet or pantry. It can be kept there for about a year.
Keep Reading
By