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By Lauren O'Hara
A distant memory of a warm day at the end of September: my grandmother and I have been out collecting blackthorn berries from the hedgerows of southern England. I am five years old and she has put me in the garden to prick each sloe berry with a silver fork to release its dark, rich juice. Like a magical concoction, she then places the berries with sugar and a clear white liquid in a large glass jar, and adds her own ‘special’ ingredients – a little cinnamon, a few cloves and some almond essence. The container is then put into the cool dark of the pantry and turned every few weeks until the three months have passed; until it is Christmas.
“What are we doing?” I would ask. She would wink and laugh. “We are making a very special treat: sloe gin,” and then she would add. “It’s medicinal.”
To Your Health
Liqueurs have always been a homemade brew: a sweet alcoholic drink flavoured with fruits, spices, flowers, nuts and herbs. The name is derived from the Latin ‘liquifacere’, to dissolve, and my grandmother was right: many of the original liqueurs were brewed by monks and healers – mostly women – to produce drinks that had medicinal properties, extracting and preserving essential elements from the fruit and herbs that were infused in the usual base white spirit. It was a time when to stay healthy meant relying on the knowledge of plants and their properties.
“A pre-sunset visit
to Vretto’s bar
in Plaka loosens
Lauren O’Hara’s tongue”
Perhaps, no other country in Europe has maintained this tradition as well as Greece. As we sit in the famous ‘Vrettos’ in Plaka, in central Athens, the walls are laden with row upon row of brightly coloured bottles, like an old fashioned apothecary. The owner tells us that at his factory he follows traditional methods of production, using the real fruit to flavour and colour the clear white base of pomace spirit made from the stems and skins of grapes – the bi-products of wine-making. It seems no flavouring is too unusual, from carnations to cherries, mint to mastica.
Go anywhere in Greece, and in the cupboard of best room, the lady of the house will often bring out a bottle of her own making, unique to region and family.
Whilst the anise flavoured ouzo and tsipouro spirits remain the tipple of men down at the kafenion, the sweet, rich liqueurs made from the surplus fruits of the countryside are often the realm of women. These are to
be savoured, like a sweet sherry, with tasty small cakes or spoon sweets – the preserved fruits found in jars in every home.
Many of the liqueurs are specific to a region and its particular plants, and it is traditional to offer it to the ‘xeno’, the guest or stranger, as a form of welcome. So never be surprised if at the end of a meal in Greece, in even the most humble tavern, small glasses of clear liquid will arrive with your meal as a welcome and a thank you.
“Many of the liqueurs are specific to a region and its particular plants, and it is traditional to offer it to the ‘xeno’,
the guest or stranger,
as a form of welcome”
Preparation
Put the cream in a bowl. Add the yolks and the sugar in another medium bowl. Whisk until the sugar dissolves and the colour turns pale yellow (ribbon stage). Pour about a quarter of the cream into this mixture, then pour the sugar-egg mixture back into the cream and blend tho-roughly. Pass the mixture through a fine metal sieve to remove small clumps that may remain
in it. Blend in Mastica Liqueur after the mixture has been strained. Cover and refrigerate the bowl at least 2 hours and up to overnight.
When ready, adjust oven rack to center position and heat the oven to 275 F/135 C. Then warm about 3 quarts/litres of water for a Bain Marie.
Pour the mixture into four to six shallow ramekins, place them in a baking dish, and pour the warm water so that it comes halfway to the top of the ramekins. Cover with foil and bake for about 45 minutes, or until the center is barely set.
Remove the baking dish from the oven, leaving the ramekins in the water to cool to room temperature. Cover each ramekin with plastic wrap and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled, at least
2-3 hours. Dry the cassonade.
Just before serving sprinkle an even layer of cassonade on top of the custard and caramelise it with a torch, till the sugar forms a smooth brown sheet . It can be also done under a very hot broiler. Serve immediately. The sugar topping will
start to deteriorate in about 1 hour and you’ll be missing the temperature contrast: cold custard with warm caramel.
Homer’s Tipple
I first tasted Mastica Liqueur, which is flavoured with the natural resin of a small Mediterranean tree only found on the island of Chios in the Aegean, in a traditional taverna in Exarchia in Athens. “Good for the digestion,” said the owner as we drank the small shot glasses of white, sticky liquid. Chios Mastic is protected by the EU as an exclusively Greek product, produced only in the 24 villages of south Chios known as the ‘Mastihochoria’.
The cultivation of mastic has been known since ancient times, and even tales of Homer, whose birthplace was Chios, suggest he might have chewed the gum resin of the tree. This resin is proven to help protect against gastric ulcers and maintain a healthy digestive tract.
Like most Greek liqueurs it can be drank at any time of the day, warm or cold, with ice or neat. But its use as a ‘digestif’ is the most popular.
In every part of Greece, the liqueur you will be offered will be linked to the agricultural riches of the area.
The fertile island of Naxos in the Cylcades produces
Kitron, an aperitif liqueur, made from the leaves of the
Kitron tree. This tree is similar to a lemon tree, but with a stronger, sharper taste. Kitron is one of the three
officially recognised State liqueurs. It comes in three colours, green, transparent and yellow, depending on the sweetness and alcohol content, the yellow being the
driest and most potent. The fruits of the tree are made into a preserve, which is referred to as a spoon sweet and served to guests, but Kitron itself is delicious with ice and mixes well with juices to make imaginative cocktails.
Back on the mainland and travelling west, the city port of Patras also hosts its own liqueur. Tentoura originates probably from the Italian influence and from the word
tintura, which reflects its dark brown colour. Made from cinnamon and cloves, and other blends of secret herbs and spices, it is highly original in flavour. It is served cold in summer, chilled and on ice, but in winter it can be drunk with milk and a sprinkling of cinnamon as a warming pick-you-up, often served alongside local walnuts and honey doughnuts.
Far south to the island of Cyprus, you will be offered
Zivania; similar to Cretan Tsikoudia and Greek Tsipouro, it is nevertheless unique and since 2004 has been protected under EU regulations. At our house warming
I was surprised to find a Cypriot friend bringing, not bottles of wine, but plastic containers full of Zivania made on their family’s farm in the Trodos Mountains and each one tasted different. Some were flavoured with raisins and cinnamon, others were less easily identifiable but
equally delicious. I was told some recipes were closely guarded secrets.
Like in Greece, the serving of the liqueur is linked to hospitality and will be opened for the guest and served with small meze appetizers, like loukaniko, (traditional sausage) or one of my favourites, lountza (smoked
pork loin). And also, as in Greece, the drink is used
for medicinal purposes, to heal wounds or to guard
against colds.e
