Sanbergiette - classic old Swedish schnapps

[PalCabral]

Hiya.

During the pandemic I tinkered a lot with macerations and infusions, making Bitters and other nice stuff. I have all my successful and less so successful recipes in a book in the kitchen. I thought I would share a few of them.

Both Sweden's formal national day and it's informal, and real, national day are coming up. The formal national day of Sweden is on Friday this week, it's a public holiday but there's nothing special about it. I will be distilling. However, in two weeks' time there's Midsummer's Eve, which is the most Swedish day of the year. People (who can) leave the big cities and head for the country where the day is spent eating and drinking in the open. Herring, salmon, fresh new potatoes, and grilled foods are served and large quantities "brännvin", burnt wine, is consumed.

"Brännvin" in Sweden can either be "clean", in other words a Vodka, or infused with spices, herbs, fruits and/or berries. In Norway and Denmark, Aquavit, spiced with caraway or dill seeds, is the norm during celebrations but Sweden has long history of making all types of infused spirits, not only Aquavit. There are several recipes from 1600 and 1700 still made today, at home, in Sweden, and often these come out on Midsummer's Eve.

One of these old classics is the Sanbergiette, made famous by 18th century author and housewife, Cajsa Warg. This is a perfect schnapps for Midsummer and I always serve it when we have our Midsummer's Eve dinner.

Ingredients:
- Peel from two large Seville (bitter) oranges, called Pomerance in Swedish - only the peel, not the white flesh
- Peel from 2 ecologic lemons - only the peel, not the white flesh
- 20cl 95% ABV neutral alcohol
- 12cl Cheap quality Brandy
- 20cl good pure spring water
- 1/2 tsp Anise seeds (not star anise)
- 1 tbsp fennel seeds
- 0,5gr of saffron

Process:
1. Rinse the oranges and lemons in boiling water. Dry them and make sure they are perfectly clean before peeling them. Just peel the outside of the fruit, do not inlude any of the inside white flesh. Dry the peels in the oven at 50C for 1-2 hours. Then cool.
2. Mix the 96% ABV alcohol with the Brandy and the water in a glass jar. This mix should be around 45% ABV.
3. Add the peel and the seeds of Anise and Fennel to the jar.
4. Put the strands (or powder) of saffron in a small cloth and tie it closed. Add the little sack of saffron to the jar.
5. Place the jar in a dark cool, not cold, place for 36 hours.
6. After 36 hours, remove the saffron, and let the jar continue to macerate for 8 more days.
7. After the 8 days, filter out the seeds and the peel, and transfer the schnapps to a new clean jar.
8. Add 2cl of freshly squeezed and filtered lemon juice (this is optional) - I sometimes skip it to have a better presentation of the schnapps
9. Add 7,5cl simple syrup and mix carefully. This should bring down the ABV to 38%.
10. Let the schnapps sit for at least a week to marry and settle. The longer the better. You may filter before bottling.

This schapps is beautifully yellow and goes fantastically well with seafood. It can also be used instead of Gin with tonic as a slow drink.

Skål and Happy midsummer.

Sabergiette.jpg