Briottet Crème de Châtaigne (Chestnut) Liqueurs 70 cl

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Place the nuts in a wide saucepan and cook very gently in 200ml of water for another 10 minutes with the lid on and without stirring. Carefully remove the nuts and stir in the sugar until dissolved. Return the nuts to the pan and cook gently with the lid off for another five. Place the nuts in a Kilner jar, add the liquor via a fine sieve then add the brandy.

We believe great bartending is about hospitality and caring about your craft. We’re here to help our industry learn and grow through sharing what we learn and creating great craft bar tools. Our story.Peeling chestnuts is one of those things that are good for your karma if you can get through the process without throwing things at the wall. The minimum requirement is a long radio play to keep you sane while you are doing it.

From Saint-Tropez, I drove the first of the winding roads past the town of Grimaud to La Garde-Freinet, a village perched high over the coast where the bric-a-brac shops and galleries sandwiched between family-run restaurants reveal a gentler pace of life than the Riviera. I climbed up to the ruined medieval fort on the hill behind and looked down upon the jumble of terracotta roofs and amber and peach-hued streets. The promise of this had Danny sitting, knife and chestnut in hand, for a good hour and a half last night. Shelling chestnuts is a bore. It’s fiddly. It’s very frustrating if you have bought a batch with a few bad ones as you can’t tell the state of the kernel within from the external appearance of the nut. But if you can tempt someone to help you, and have something distracting to listen to on the radio, it is well worth the effort. There are two recipes: a more indulgent, creamy variety and a lighter version. Today we’re sharing both, but we can already imagine which one you’ll go for. The creamy, indulgent chestnut liqueur Ingredients Sweet chestnuts, either native or imported, are scandalously under-appreciated by the British. As the 17th century writer and gardener Evelyn laments: "But we give that fruit to our swine in England, which is amongst the delicacies of princes in other countries". Take chestnut flour; it's useful for making chestnut macaroons, florentines and, since it adds flavour instead of taking it away as flour tends to do, I use it in a roux when making sauces and soups.Add the Briottet Crème de Chataigne, bourbon, fresh lemon juice, simple syrup, and egg white to the shaker. The first step involves roasting the chestnuts, preferably on a bed of coal or over a fire to give the chestnut a slightly smoky flavour. The second step begins with making demerara syrup and leaving it to cool before everything comes together. It is then left to macerate for a minimum period of time. Once the desired flavour is reached, the chestnuts are removed and the liquid is fine strained to remove any solids. The liqueur will most likely have a cloudy appearance. Running it through a coffee filter will remove some of the opacity but will also strip some of the flavour. How to Make Chestnut Liqueur Besides being onerous, the shelling can be bloody. You must be careful not to let the knife slip. Eventually I put a plaster on my right forefinger and this helped enormously. Once it has cooled down, add the roast chestnuts to a glass jar, top with brandy, demerara syrup and the scraped vanilla bean. Close the lid tight and give the jar a gentle shake.

THE RESULTS: SUCCESS! EVEN THE TINY BIT OF GELATIN ADDED TO THE MIXTURE DID SIGNIFICANTLY DELAY SEPARATION – BUT IT DID NOT PREVENT IT ALTOGETHER. Boil the chestnuts in plenty of water in two equal batches for 20 minutes. Take the first batch off the heat and leave them in the water to keep them hot. Don a rubber glove and remove one chestnut. Make a cut two thirds of the way around the flat face of the skin and peel it away then ease the rest of the nut out of the skin. If the chestnuts are fresh both the outer and the more troublesome inner skin will come away at the same time. Boil and peel the second batch. While roasting chestnuts in a hot oven or griller works well, cooking them over fire or charcoal yields a more pronounced smoky note which adds flavour to the liqueur.Place in a cool and dark spot, and give the jar a gentle roll every 2 days until it’s ready. It takes a minimum of 4 to 6 weeks. Taste as you go to ensure it’s to your liking. Steve Kendall on Working hard on the cottage My heart sank when I read the words "put the cottage on the market", felt very sad for you. Our cottage too will become my wife's pension after I've g… As with many autumn festivals across France – such as Normandy’s apple, cider and cheese festival, the Basque country’s Espelette pepper celebration, and many a grape harvest fete – it’s a chance for locals to don traditional costumes, for bands to ring out ancient tunes and everyone to get merry on the local liqueur. Boil the chestnuts until they become soft, then let them cool and peel them. Immerse them in the liquor and let them macerate while covered tightly for about 20 days. After this period, prepare a syrup by dissolving the sugar in boiling water. Let it cool, then add it to the filtered liquor. Either all or part of the chestnuts can be pureed and added to the liqueur to make it very creamy. The classic, lightweight chestnut liqueur

Lila Wiese on Perennial vegetables: Tree cabbage Maybe I missed someone stating this but is it possible to obtain seeds for this in the US? In a small saucepan, bring the demerara sugar and water to the boil. Simmer for two minutes then leave to cool. Don’t discard the macerated chestnuts. They can be used in desserts or dehydrated and used as garnish. Veronica on Working hard on the cottage We are still happily settled in our little house in France, but have taken to spending a few months in Spain in the winter. At first we tried differen… As described in the last chestnut post, use a small bladed knife. Start at the tip and work down towards the base, choosing the flatter side of the nut. The rest of the shell peels away easily if you can remove the base of the nut first.Fiona Nevile on Fiona’s traditional elderflower cordial recipe Hello Angela, The link is to Andy's elderflower chamapgne - https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/gardening-blog/2011/may/12/gardeningadvice-garden…