at Christmas last year i tried a non-alcohol containing Anise Pastis (claimed 0% alcohol) and liked it. Now i started to wonder how they produce these alcohol free Pastis versions since for the Ouzo effect you need at least ethanol.
My idea is to create alcohol free cocktails and shorts with these swedish Prestige Essences or other Essences but most of these flavours only dissolve in hot but not cold water. One cheap solution i currently can think of would be to use UHT milk which contains less fat and has less milk flavour and just add some drops of these essences, stir to get a nice emulsion. From my understanding and knowledge most of these alcohol flavours are partly soluble in hot water because of their aromatic structure with hydroxyl and carbonyl functional groups, right?
The issue with flavoured syrups is that they are often over sugared and these liqueur essences offer a possibility to produce nice and authentic tasting equivalents to the original alcohol containing liqueurs. That's what gets me interested
For example a hot coffee with some drops of grappa essence to produce a alcohol free Caffè Corretto.
My puzzling question is, how can i make water based drinks with these essences without emulsification (milk has a short shelf life)?
One of my favourite flavours is anise. A while ago I tried the Prestige Absinthe essence. It was really, really good. Haven't come across Prestige again, so I tried the various StillSpirits anise essenses, and they all seemed weak. But just before Christmas, I found some anise essential oil at Bulk Barn, a Canadian bulk food retailer. That made the best Anisette I've ever tasted. Just pure anise and sweetener and alcohol. The oil is strange stuff. Below 50 degrees Fahrenheit it crystallizes. It had a strong louche when I added water, but more cloudy than green.
thanks for the info and sharing your experience with me Have you tried Blancart Pastis? You should be able to get hold of a bottle in Canada. Also the Ricard Pacific Pastis is supposed to be good. Try 'em out + these are without alcohol. Mixed with 1:8 with water very yummy and refreshing.
I do wonder if this louche effect is limited to anise oil only. Do you know?
So the louche is a property of the anise oil, which emulsifies in high alcohol concentrations and then separates when water is added.
There are other botanicals that can cause a louche, but I lost the link.
I haven't ever had a pastis, if that is a non-alcoholic anise drink. For me, alcohol improves flavour the way salt improves flavour. It doesn't actually have much flavour itself, but turns up the flavour of anything it is combined with. Maybe that has something to do with volatilizing scents so that the olfactory nerves are doing the tasting.
thanks for the links and infos. Yes, alcohol, salt and also fat (for example butter) amplifies the taste of food but also heating up food works. That's the idea why i like to put these essences into a hot coffee
From my research the water solubility of anethole is approx. 111 mg/L at 25 °C/77°F and increases much more at higher temperatures. That's roughly a solubility of 11%. The 20ml Prestige Essences are to be mixed with 750ml Vodka which equals a essence content of 2,6% per volume. So 20ml of Essence added to 1l of water should give a clear solution at 25°C.
