Liqueur Review: Chambord Liqueur Royale de France
Chambord Liqueur Royale de France
When I think of unique liquor or liqueur bottles; the first one coming to mind is almost always Chambord. For many years Chambord's easily identifiable bottle has stood out on the shelf. The gold belt over the deep purple liqueur and interesting globe shape make it very easy to recognize.
Before this liqueur review I had never tried it outside of a cocktail, so let's take a deeper look.
Background:
Chambord liqueur is said to be inspired by a raspberry liqueur once produced in the Loire Valley of France in the late 17th Century. To this day many delicious liquors are produced in that valley, such as Cointreau, Triple Sec and Royal Combier.
The original liqueur inspiring Chambord was supposedly introduced to King Louis XIV during one of his visits to the Chateau de Chambord. Royalty in those times always had the best of the best and it was common for many fine spirits to be had with lavish meals.
Liqueur, for more than just drinking?
I have yet to begin delving into the world of cooking, baking or crafting edibles with the addition of Liqueurs. However I found a post over at the Star Telegram that offers some neat tips on using Liqueurs for various dishes.
On the subject; I think the Raspberry Liqueur I made would be great for desserts if it wasn't already so sickly sweet. Perhaps in the next iteration I'll try to create something more smooth and deep flavored. If someone makes it without the additional sugar before I get a chance to, please let me know how it turns out.
In the mean time I will try to find something delicious to pour the Lime Liqueur into. Maybe a key lime pie? Maybe ice cream?
Homemade: Raspberry Liqueur #1
Home-made Raspberry Liqueur
This would be the first attempt in my journey of Liqueur making. I obtained a recipe from Gunther Anderson's site that sounded easy. For which I pretty much followed the recipe except for one deviation which I'll explain in a minute. First the original recipe.
Homemade Raspberry Liqueur (Hughes) Recipe
From: Eric Hughes
- 2 cups whole fresh raspberries
- 3 cups vodka
- 1 1/2 cup sugar syrup
- 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
"Steep for 2 weeks. Strain and Filter. Add sugar syrup and vanilla extract. Age as long as possible (at least one week).
I found that the vanilla extract smoothed out the vodka's taste without overpowering the raspberries."
First, the recipe calls for vodka but does not mention the proof. The majority of recipes I have seen call for 100 proof or 80 proof, but unfortunately I did not have 80 proof, only 100 at the time. I figured I could dilute it a bit with some filtered water, so I used 2 and 1/2 cups of 100 proof vodka with 1/2 cup water. I really was not being scientific about this, being my first Liqueur. No idea what proof the final product will end up as.
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