I just love Black Cardamom – it has the same fabulous pungency mixed with a haunting smoky character that comes from the wood fires used to dry it.

I’ve been hanging on to it for a while and recently put it to good use macerating in blanco tequila. The smoke and camphor suit the agave.

Then the folks at eGullet host this month’s MxMo and the idea came to me: Milk punch using the black cardamom mixed with the flavors of horchata. Rice milk turned to be too thin; Milk likewise.  ½ & ½ was perfect.

So without further ado, I give you “Leche Libre.” Yes, a bit too precious a name but I like it.

Leche Libre
2oz Black Cardamom macerated Blanco Tequila
3oz ½&½
¾oz cinnamon syrup
nutmeg

shake all but nutmeg with ice and strain into glass coffee mug or brandy snifter filled with ice. Garnish generously with freshly ground nutmeg.

This month, Doug at The Pegu Blog is hosting and the theme is “Made from Scratch!”

While this must be the easiest MxMo to date for us Tiki cocktailians, it does offer the opportunity to make something new. I’m always making something in the kitchen: falernum, pimento dram, orgeat, forbidden fruits liqueur, orange curacao, bumbo, &c.

Hiram Walker was nice enough to provide some samples of their holiday line of liqueurs for sampling. I received them and I really can’t say much about them here and now. I was, however, moved to try my hand at making my own pumpkin liqueur. About two years ago I made a few batches of pumpkin syrup that were a hit. I wondered if my skills learned in the past year with infused liqueurs would yield something at least better than I could find on the shelf. The first version surpassed my expectations but needed a little tweaking to get the pumpkin flavor better represented. Here is the second version:

Pumpkin Liqueur ( this recipe makes over half a gallon, split accordingly)
2 Cups pumpkin, chunked and roasted
½ Cup ginger, sliced
½ Cup allspice berries, crushed
¼ Cup cloves, crushed
1 Nutmeg, ground
4 Sticks ceylon cinnamon, broken into pieces
1 Tbsp cassia cinnamon, ground
1 Tbsp mace, ground
2 pods vanilla, scraped
750ml LemonHart 151
8 cups sugar for syrup

Separate all spices and pumpkin into 2 equal parts. Infuse spices and pumpkin in 151 for at least one week. Combine the balance of the spices and pumpkin with the sugar and 4 cups of water. Bring to near boil and simmer for 30 minutes and pour into separate container for at least one week. After 1 week strain all solids from 151 infusion and syrup and combine. You can pour through a brita filter device, but I wait for the tiny solids to settle and I cart off the clear top liqueur.

I made this liqueur for a party benefiting the Portland Women’s Crisis Line. I featured it in a few cocktails. Here’s one of ‘em:

Harvest Old Fashioned
1 oz Pumpkin Liqueur
2 oz bourbon
Cherry and Orange wheel, muddled
Dash Fees bros bitters

Muddle fruit in mixing glass. Add ice, liquors, bitters and stir. Pour into rocks glass.

Yes, I not only include but also muddle the fruit in an old fashioned. It’s not an old fashioned old fashioned. Here is another just for MxMo:

Hot Rummin’ Pumpkin
¾ oz Pumpkin Liqueur
¾ oz Jamaican dark rum
1½ oz demerara rum
4 oz cream, steaming hot
nutmeg, ground

Combine all ingredients in heated glass and top with ground nutmeg. Garnish with cinnamon stick.

Another month and another MxMo. Next month, I’ll be hosting so I’ll see everyone on the flipside for December’s MxMo – “Spice.”

I along with the other winners will be on Forbidden Island‘s Fall specials menu. I’ll be enjoying having someone other than myself make it when the Mrs. and I attend Tiki Central‘s eighth annual Tiki Crawl, the crawl that started it all.

If however you are far from Alameda or Portland, I share the recipe with you below. I hope you enjoy it as much as I.

Gantt’s Caipirissima
¼ Grapefruit, cut into 3 or 4 pieces (White grapefruit if seasonally possible)
1 oz Cinnamon Syrup (or 2 Tbs Cinnamon Sugar)
2 oz rhum agricole (Clément VSOP preferred)

Muddle grapefruit and cinnamon syrup in a double old fashioned glass. Add 4oz of crushed ice and rhum. Stir to mix and garnish with cinnamon stick.

I name it thus because I’ve long noted the similarties in vegetal flavors (and methods) between cachaça and rhum agricole. Donn Beach had a warm spot for cinnamon and grapefruit — and with good reason: They love each other. Donn also liked the martinique paired with his Mix (Donn’s mix, 2:1 grapefruit juice to cinnamon syrup), so I thought all these separate points of information needed to come together in a cocktail. I name it a Caipirissima (a Caipirinha with rum instead of cachaça) because I’m pedantic. Rhum agricole may be simmilar to Cachaça, but not enough to pretend it warrants the position under the caipirinha umbrella.

Trader Tiki stopped by a few weeks ago and we plowed our way through 2 Christmas bowl drinks, so the Christmas Cocktail Project continues:

English Bishop

2 oranges
Whole Cloves
2 Ceylon Cinnamon Sticks
Brown Sugar
375ml Coruba or other Dark rum
32 oz Unfiltered Apple Juice Nutmeg

Pierce Oranges with toothpick and insert cloves. Wet oranges and roll in brown sugar to coat. Place oranges in baking dish and roast in a 350° oven until they brown slightly. In a saucepan, add cinnamon sticks (broken) to dark rum and warm. Remove oranges, cut into wedges and add to heat-safe ceramic bowl (large enough for 1 gallon of liquid). Add ½ cup Brown sugar and muddle together with oranges. When Rum begins to vaporize, add rum and cinnamon to orange-sugar mixture. Take the bowl to a fire-safe location and set on fire. At your discretion, put out the fire by pouring in the apple cider. Serve warm in footed glass mugs, dust top with fresh grated nutmeg.

Blair spurred me to make this recipe. I cobbled it together from Jerry Thomas’s book and other online sources. The Smell of this one was amazing: The quick-made Pomanders roasting in the oven produced a gorgeous scent that filled the whole house with Christmas. Setting it on fire was a blast as well.

Feuerzangenbowle

1 Orange
1 Lemon
1 Bottle Red Table Wine
10 Whole Cloves
10 Allspice Berries
5 Cardamom Pods
2 Ceylon Cinnamon Sticks
375ml Coruba or other Dark Rum
1 Sugar Hat (Zukerhut)

Using a Channel knife, zest/carve orange and lime into Crockpot on low. Cut Orange and Lemon in wedges and add to pot. Add wine and spices. Let this mixture mull for at least 30 minutes. Before serving, warm rum in saucepan. place tongs on bowl and set sugar hat on tongs. Soak sugar hat with warmed rum and set alight. With a long-handled metal ladle (in a fire-safe location), pour remaining rum over burning sugar to melt into bowl. When the rum and sugar have been added to the bowl, put out the fire and stir. Serve warm in glass footed mugs.

Feuerzangebowle will feature prominently around our annual Christmas Party, which is themed on the peculiar Germanic Christmas icon “Der Krampus.” It’s called “Gruss vom Krampus” and this is the fourth annual celebration. If you’re in the Portland area the weekend of December 7-9th, drop me a line and I’ll shoot you an evite.

-=C

Cassia (Cinnamomum Cassia) is thick and red-brown in color and is what you’ll most likely get when you purchase cinnamon in a regular grocery store. The flavor is strong, sharp and hot. It is a perfect choice for baking or where you only want to taste only Cinnamon. However, it will quickly overpower any balanced drink when you use it in syrup (or purchase Cinnamon syrup made with Cassia).

Ceylon or ‘true’ Cinnamon (Cinnamomum zeylanicum) is light brown and has the consistency of paper. It will easily give and break apart in your hand. The flavor has essences of citrus and is mellow, warm. It shines in chocolate, mulling, and especially in your mixed drinks. This is the Cinnamon you’ll want for making or purchasing syrup. You can find it cheaper in the Mexican food section of your market labeled as “Canela.” I get mine from Penzey’s.

When making the Donga Punch from Sippin’ Safari, I decided to perform an experiment. I mixed one drink using the Cassia syrup, and the other with Ceylon Cinnamon. The Cassia version tasted exceedingly of the sharp, spicy notes I love in a Cinnamon roll. The drink, however, was unbalanced. I did manage to finish it. The Donga containing Ceylon Cinnamon was properly balanced and delicious. The Ceylon supported the flavor profile, enhanced the rum, and contrasted nicely with the Grapefruit. In the other version, the grapefruit flavor was lost to the overbearing zing of Cassia.

Further experiments at Blair’s Galley with the Nui Nui bore the same results. Donn drinks seem to call for Ceylon Cinnamon, not Cassia. It makes me wonder: Did Cassia replace Cinnamon in common domestic use after the creation of these classic Tiki drinks? Did Ray Buhen and Donn’s other boys use only true Cinnamon, coming from a cuisine and culture that did not conflate the two? Bears research I say.

Not to say that Cassia has no role in drink making. I still add it (very carefully) to hot rum batter (with as much care as I would cloves, the other flavor killer in high doses), Coffee Grog (not the batter, pinch-wise while making the drink), and for light toppings of other hot drinks when I think the recipe calls for a light smack of the ‘heavy stuff.’

I’m just happy I’ve made a discovery that has improved my mixology, and I hope I pass it on to you and yours.

Cheers!

-=C