Pacharán: recipe to make this popular Navarrese sweet wine
The Pacharán It is a tabletop drink that is usually taken after lunch. This drink is a sweet liquor, traditional Navarra, the Basque Country and other areas such as Aragon and La Rioja. It is made homemade with some fruits called sloes, and its collection begins in the month of October or even at the end of August depending on the area.
The times in which this drink was elaborated take us to The Middle Ages. Nowadays, it is not only made in homes, but also in industries for commercialization. The sloes they are also known by other names like, pacharanes or arañones.
The fruits are small and their color is between bluish, or dark purple almost black, belong to a wild and thorny tree called Blackthorn. These fruits are harvested when they are ripe and they are marinated in a aniseed liquor.
The maceration time is 3 months. During this time when the fruits are in maceration, it has to be removed frequently.
The drink that you get has a intense red color, its flavor reminds of red fruits and is attributed healing properties. In addition to the healing properties it also has digestive properties for what is known as a stomach tonic and is taken after lunch to facilitate good digestion.
Before starting to elaborate the homemade pacharán, we must take into account the type of anise we are going to use, taking into account that we can find different anises: dry, sweet, semisweet.
Depending on which you choose, you can give the touch of sweet what do you like more or, less sweet. Although in this recipe we give a touch of cinnamon, you can always choose another flavor that you prefer to add to the pacharán.
In case of not getting some type of anise of which we have mentioned before, we can resort to a brandy and a sweet anise, and mix in appropriate proportions and in this case we would elaborate a homemade anise
How to make pacharán: homemade recipe
Ingredients you need:
- 250 grams of ripe sloes.
- A dry aniseed liquor of good quality of about 30º C.
- 2 tablespoons of sugar.
- A cinnamon stick (optional) or any other spice, or flavor that you like for the pacharán.
Preparation of pacharán:
Wash the sloes well and drain them. In a glass container, previously sterilized and hermetically sealed so that it is well closed, we place sloes, cinnamon and anise. Add the sugar. If you need more sweetness add some more sugar to your liking.
We remove well and close the pot. We maintain the maceration process preferably in a dark place and in an environment where the temperature is cool but dry.
We will maintain this maceration process for a period of 3 months. After the time we open the container and filter the drink with the help of a cloth strainer or a fine cloth. We store the pacharán in a glass bottle and close well.
We have our homemade pacharán ready, to taste it after a good lunch, and it is in good company better. ThemesAlcohol Wine
