Tweet

Thanks to advanced logistic network, we are living in a very convenient society; you don’t have to make things from a scratch, but you can buy pre-made/cooked stuff. But then, human nature always wants us to go against the flow, and make us want to make things from a scratch.  Making home-made liqueur is one of the thing, and it became pretty popular among young people.

Today, I would like to write about type of home-made liqueur we traditionally make in Japan.

“merec0” some rights reserved. flickr

Typical home-made liqueurs are, as some of you may know, fruits liqueur.  For example, my mum always makes liqueurs from plums, apricots and quinces, and they are good when you have a cold, sore throat and when you are tired etc.  We drink it straight or mix with cold/hot water or soda.  I personally like to drink with hot water in colder seasons 😛   Anyway, fruits are probably the most common ones, and what will be other options?

“Hideyuki KAMON” some rights reserved. flickr

According to an article, in additional to major fruits liqueur, you can also make ones from coffee, bitter cucumber and other seeds/ vegetables as well as leaves and roots which we don’t usually eat.  For example, liqueur with loquat leaves is believed to be good for diarrhea and help intestinal movement.

Okay, now some of you may say, ‘hey, that just sounds so normal’, and yes, we do have other unique ones including new horn of buck and sea horse (?!).  People have been consuming such liqueur as natural / herbal remedies for a long time, and it can be preserved as it typically uses minimal of 35% alcohol.  I personally have never tried non fruits home-made liqueur, so I can’t tell how non-fruits ingredients influence on flavour…  Maybe it doesn’t matter as its over 35% alcohol anyway lol?  It seems good nutrition of ingredients dissolve into alcohol, so we can take it from those ingredients we cannot eat as it is i.e. leaves and horn of animal.

But if good nutrition dissolves into alcohol, how about venom of snakes (・・;)??

According to an expert comment in the article, it is still unknown why viper liqueur and habu snake liqueur are not poisonous to human, but it is believed that venom is either weakened by alcohol so it is no kill us anymore or hardened by alcohol so it does not dissolve into alcohol.  But either way, it seems it is proved that it’s safe to drink!

FYI, traditional unique ones involves not only snakes but also hornet…!  I wonder how our ancestor first tempted to try it and prove it’s good for health????  Hmn, mystery remains…

What do you think about today’s article?

Please let me know about traditional home-made liqueur of your country, too!  I will be looking forward to hearing from you^^

Source: web R25

This is JAPAN Style!