No holiday in our part of the world is complete without bitter, sweet, dry, and semi-dry alcoholic beverages. In this regard, our team came across a very interesting and unique 1858 publication titled “Fifty Little Russian Varieties of Homemade Purified Vodka.”
Just as our ancestors did—including in Kharkiv—we invite anyone interested to check out these recipes.
No. 11. Apricot Ratafia
Peel the ripe apricots, remove the pits, and squeeze out the juice. For every 3 shot glasses of this juice, add 3 shot glasses of vodka and two and a half pounds of sugar, then flavor with vanilla extract.
No. 12. Blackthorn Ratafia
To prepare this ratafia, take fully ripe blackthorn berries, crush them along with the pits, place the crushed mixture in a barrel or bottle, pour in an equal amount of French or plain fruit brandy to cover the berry pulp, and let it sit for two or three weeks. After this time, strain the liqueur; add half a pound of sugar to each bottle, and flavor it with extracts of cinnamon, clove, and nutmeg.
No. 16. Parsley Seed Liqueur
Take 4 and a half zolotniks of parsley seeds, crush them, and pour in three shot glasses of French vodka or good-quality vodka; let it stand, with the bottle sealed, for two or three weeks in a moderately warm place; After that, strain the tincture and sweeten it with a syrup made from one and a half pounds of sugar boiled down in three shot glasses of water, and when it has settled, strain it through filter paper.
No. 17. Gastric Liqueur
Take:
- 9 zolotniks of raw ira root.
- 3 g of juniper berries
- 6 zol of fennel.
- 3 zols of cinnamon.
- Cloves 1 oz.
- 1 cardamom pod
- 6 zol of orange peel
- A handful each of curly mint, lemon balm, and chamomile.
These ingredients should be crushed as much as possible; the rest should be finely ground, placed in a bottle, covered with three shot glasses of French vodka or triple vodka, and kept for 2 or 3 weeks at a moderate temperature, then strained. Boil a syrup from one and a half pounds of sugar in two shot glasses of water, sweeten it, and strain it as described above.
No. 26. How to Make Gdańsk Caraway Vodka
Take:
- ¼ pound of cumin.
- 12 zolotniks of anise.
- 12 zol of fennel.
- 3 zol of violet root
- 18 zol of lemon peel
Scrape the white pith off the lemon peel, grate it, crush the other ingredients, place them in a large bottle, and pour in a bucket of plain vodka; once it has steeped, pour it into a still and distill it. — Sweeten the distilled vodka with syrup made from three bottles of water and two pounds of sugar; strain it through filter paper, and store it in bottles that are tightly sealed and wrapped with a bubble wrap.
You can read the full text of the original 1858 edition of this book here: