Recipe: Lappish Hag's Love Potion
Lappish Hag's Love Potion is a traditional Finnish drink, brewed with blueberries instead of yeast (blueberries have a natural yeast enzyme in their skin and ferment easily). This process takes a month to make and has to be done outside, which is why it has ne
ver been produced in large batches or sold commercially. Sunlight will activate the enzymes in the blueberries and cause fermentation, so the exact taste of the drink varies on the weather. Let's give it a go!I used a large Sobe bottle that I had w
ashed out, a box of blueberries, white sugar, and water. Exact amounts vary on the size of bottle you use, but it should be a clear glass one.Start by putting all the blueberries into the bottle, they should not fill the bottle all the way, as long as there's about 1/6 of space left (this space needs to be left empty so that the bottle doesn't explode). Fill up all the cracks in the blueberries with sugar, then add water up to the "full line" 5/6 of the way up. Close the lid, give it a good shake, and then add more sugar and water until you're happy. Seal the bottle tightly, maybe wrap some duct tape or hockey tape around the lid to make sure it's sealed.
Now here's the fun part, but the bottle outside, someplace where it will get some sun, and leave it there for a month. I put mine out on June 22, let's check back on July 22.
Dum dee dum...
Okay, it's July 22. It's turned a deep grape-juice purple and the blueberries have sunk to the bottom of the bo
ttle. Make sure you open it up and reseal the bottle once a week, trust me.I cracked it open with a lot of fizzing (catch it in a bowl or glass) and poured a sample. The past month has been very hot and sunny, so this probably has as much kick as you're going to get. Mmm...smells like blueberry juice, tastes like store bought blueberry and pomegranite juice, but a little more earthy and syrupy. Fizzy, lots of natural carbonation, and there is a bit of alcohol in there, although not much, I'd guess it's about 3-5%. This is pretty tasty stuff, partially from the "me do self" perspective.
Bonus: the blueberries themselves are still edible! And fermented! Yum, throw a couple into your Love Potion or just eat them with a spoon.
posted by Kate @ 3:16 PM
10 Comments:
I wonder if maybe a heat lamp or a UV bulb would facilitate this indoors? you know, artificial perfect conditions, nosey neighbors, winter, etc...
To do this indoors, having it by a window to get maximum sun would work (I currently live in a place with very sunny winters, although if you have grey winters, it probably wouldn't be as sucessful).
Seeing how yeast is a fungi and doesn't need to photosynthesize, a heat or UV lamp would probably work. I have no clue about creating 'perfect' conditions, but it's feasable that it can work indoors.
If you're making it indoors, feel free to adjust the time. If you're using an all-day lamp or direct sun, keep it at a month, if you're using non-sunny natural light, drag it out to a month and a half. Don't forget to open and re-seal the bottle every week or so.
As well, if you make this stuff, send me an email or pictures! I'd love to know how other people's drinks turned out!
This sounds a lot like the Romanian cherry "visinata", except that visinata is finished by adding vodka to the fermented cherries. I will have to try it with blueberries sometimes, it sounds delicious!!
-Hilary
http://visinata.blog.com/
Oh, it does! Actually, making the Love Potion into a blueberry visinata sounds pretty yummy. Actually, when not-winter comes back, I think I'm going to try making visinata. Yum.
Hello!
I am making a very small bottle of this drink, my question is, do I need to shake the bottle on a regular basis? Or do I open it, seal it back up and put it back in the back yard?
Open and re-seal it once every two weeks to keep it from exploding, but you only need to make sure the sugar is all dissolved, you don't need to shake it beyond that.
maybe i'm shaking it too much or at 100 degree weather is too hot but i'm getting no gas production and it tastes more like syrup than alcohol. tasty syrup granted.
You might want to be careful using glass bottles and unpredictable pressure for obvious reasons. I see no reason why a thick transparent soda bottle couldn't be used.
so i decided to make myself a batch of this stuff, and living here in California it get's pretty darn hot in the summer.
and i was wondering if the heat would have any negative effect on the brew.
comments?
@Michael
You'll have to check out the yeast's tolerance to heat. If its too hot where you are, you'll kill it.
If in doubt, you could move it into a place that only gets direct sunlight in the morning (and maybe the evening) and is in the shade during the hottest part of the day.
That should give you a pretty good shot at keepiong the yeast from frying.
Good luck.
Post a Comment
<< Home