Liqueur "Barenfang" (Bear Hunt)

Liqueur "Barenfang" (Bear Hunt)

Category: The drinks

Kitchen: german

Ingredients
vodka, schnapps or other strong alcohol	250 ml
honey	250 ml
whole carnation	8 pcs
vanilla, cut lengthwise	1 string
cinnamon	2 sticks
lemon (sometimes there is an orange, you can mix both)	zest 1pc

Cooking method

• Bärenfang or Bärenjäger is a traditional German honey liqueur that used to be made in East Prussian families.
• It consists mainly of honey, which is mixed with vodka or some other beverage with a high alcohol content and infused for several days with a cinnamon stick and lemon zest. Liquor should not be kept cold, otherwise the honey will become sugar-coated. Alcohol content from 20 to 45% by volume.
• In ancient times, there were many bears in the forests of Prussia. To get a valuable trophy, local hunters used a trick: they left plates of honey, which was mixed with alcohol.
• A bear, drunk with such a delicacy, became an easy prey. However, the intoxicating taste of honey was to the liking of the hunters themselves, so over time, Berenfang liqueur took root in German cuisine.
• Connoisseurs preferred draft berenfang, which the owners of the drinking establishments prepared with their own hands. But you could also buy honey schnapps made at the factory. The most famous was the Toike-König company in Königsberg, which produced a drink under the brand name Bärenjäger. Wonderfully shaped flasks with decorative weaving of bast or straw were constantly on sale. Each manufacturer had their own labels. They usually featured a brown bear ravaging hives. On the labels, one could read enticing sayings or short rhymes.
• 
• There are recipes where honey needs to be slightly melted, I did not do this, because everything dissolves so well. So we measure out alcohol and honey in the right proportion, I decided to make 1 to 1, that is, 250 ml of vodka and 250 ml of honey, 50% alcohol content is obtained by volume, and I added a little more to the bottle (it was almost full), therefore, it was within the allotted 45%. So we mix honey and alcohol with a spoon. Add spices to the bottle and pour in the alcoholic mixture, shake it a couple of times and put it in a dark place for 7-10 days, sometimes turning the bottle over, but not cool, so that the honey does not thicken. Then we filter the liquor and it is advisable to let it stand at room temperature for 4 months. To use in good company even just like that, even in tea, even in baked goods! My fasting liquor is worth 3 days and smells delicious!

The dish is designed for

500ml

Time for preparing:

10 min

[Natulechka]

Natulechka, thank you for the recipe, I will definitely cook it !!!

Please tell me, is the liqueur very sweet?

I'm afraid to get too cloying taste ...

[Inna]

Inna, Thank you! I can't say about the sweetness, but after 10 days, when I will filter, I will definitely take off the sample (I’ll lick the spoon! I’ve already become a drunkard by my standards) and then, as my mother comes to visit, I will treat her to her !!! (strained, but not stable, I will treat her every month so that she tells me if there is a difference in taste immediately and after 4 months of aging) I will earn money as a rabbit

[Natasha]

Natasha, thanks a lot, I will wait !!!

Natasha, and you didn’t guess to weigh honey?

If my sclerosis does not change me, in a glass of 250 ml. includes something about 350 gr. honey ...

I don't want to measure it out with a glass, and my honey has not been liquid for a long time ...

And by the way, it's not important which honey to use?

I only have two types of flower and fireweed ...

Inna, my honey is no longer liquid either, but not yet wooden, 1 kg of honey has a volume of about 0.73 liters.Acacia honey is widespread in Germany, but the recipes do not indicate the exact type of honey, only the ratio of honey to alcohol differs, I also have floral (herbs), the only thing you need to be sure of is the quality of honey, because there are so many fakes! I was lucky, again we get from friends from the apiary, and insist on the bodyagu, as if something does not deteriorate in it in chemistry. composition .... or maybe, on the contrary, it will work better on the body

By the way, I made up my mind with my calculations at 2 o'clock in the morning, on the contrary, I get 20%)))), you can take less honey in my recipe and it will be stronger and less sweet, but we will wait for the response of my "rabbit"

those who want to get 45% then use alcohol 96%, and since we have not sold it for a long time, I did not write it in the recipe, I will add in a note later, what if someone works as a doctor)))) then there is alcohol + water + honey and turns out to be similar to "krambambula" in strength, only the composition of spices is slightly different

Strained the liqueur after 10 days, first through a sieve to remove the zest and cloves, and then through 16 layers of gauze, because otherwise the vanilla seeds got into the liqueur, maybe even after 20!


In the photo on the left there is a jar with unstrained liqueur and a 0.25l bottle with vanilla liqueur (vodka + vanilla pods)

the vanilla that I took out of the liquor put it in the tincture, because the seeds remained all (most) in the pod, cut to length. The cinnamon sticks have almost untwisted in the bottle, but they still crawled out of it, if yours do not get it, then let it dry there for a couple of days, they will curl up again.

I didn't let my mom try it, I licked the spoon: strong, not cloying, fragrant! And she did not give a try, because of all the recipes I studied, only one of them said about the sediment, that the finished liquor that had stood for 4 months should be carefully drained through a straw / hose ... since it was said only in one thing, then I did not write it in recipe. And when the strained liquor stood for a couple of hours, then a suspension appeared in it, so let it stand - it stands! Where there is no suspension, a crystal clear and transparent liquid.

[Crochet]

Crochet, Innusik,
5 months passed, I forgot about the liqueur and it stood for more than 1 month, it strained, my mother and aunt tasted. They said it was delicious, it was drunk well (in the sense that it was not disgusting), viscous, it could have been thinner (as I understand it, reduce the honey, in principle it is possible to dilute the ready-made vodka), no unpleasant aftertastes.

[Natusik]

NatusikThank you so much for not forgetting about me !!!

Now that the honey in my pantry has increased significantly, I can put a liqueur too !!!

Only now, whether to reduce the honey, or add vodka, I have not yet decided, I am inclined to reduce the amount of honey, I will get more ...

Natusechka, thanks again !!!

I wonder how it will be in tea .... I left the dacha, but my mother and liquor stayed there))) I'll call and suggest adding it to tea / coffee .... then maybe it's better to add vodka, that is, there will be more of it. .... it also seemed to me personally that the cloves could be cut in half ... but the tasters seemed to have norms ...

Everything), I'm for "Klinsky" vodka ...

Oh, how lovely!
I also want to do it, so girls from experience how many grams to hang ???
So how much honey

Natusik, what does a four-month exposure after straining give?

It's time to strain my liquor for me), but can we better let it continue with all the affairs?

Or no ?

Go to filter)?

Go tsedi, Innochka! as I understand it, if you leave them, it will be unnecessary to give spices in taste
but 4 months exposure ..... here I could not understand from German sites, maybe this suspension, which then appears, removes all unnecessary ... I don’t know ... well, try it right after and during 4 month exposure, ahhh! ductility probably gives! liqueur viscosity, and so at first it is liquid like water ...

Natasha, thanks for the recipe, I will definitely cook it !!!

I'm glad, it will be very interesting to know the opinion about the taste, sometimes even the most interesting ... so much unknown in the low-alcohol world ... but that does not pull me ... the taste may change later

[Natusik]

well, try it

I don't use anything stronger than kefir ...

Thank you, Natusik !!!

I'll do it today ...

By the way, I immediately poured more vodka, my viscous liqueurs are not very good, in general, I was reinsured ahead of time against that viscosity ...

I took exactly 250 ml of honey. glass, 360 gr. happened)...

I don't use anything stronger than kefir

how we are alike

[Crochet]

Crochet, Well, what did Innochka strain?

I'm glad, it will be very interesting to know the opinion about the taste, sometimes even the most interesting ... so much unknown in the low-alcohol world ... but that does not pull me ... the taste may change later

Natasha, I will definitely share my impressions!

But I don't have vanilla ... Can I replace it with a similar flavoring or vanilla? If so, how much?

if there is a vanilla flavoring agent (I didn’t work with it, I don’t know how much to drip it), then you can ... ..

Prepared, already worth it!

[glad]

glad, now we are waiting

brother's wife tried, she liked it too

[Natasha,]

Natasha, I have it for about 3 weeks already ... And yesterday I could not resist ... I was collecting a cake for tea and decided to saturate the nut biscuit with liqueur. We really liked this experiment. I have not tried it in its pure form, sometimes I just open the bottle and smell it, its aroma is amazing. I suspect that this tiny bottle for pastry needs will quickly go to waste. What do I think ... you have to go put a double portion!

I’m glad, I made the impregnation so wonderful that you came up with it! but with the nutty one, alas, my little jar ran out quickly ... and I can't put the second batch of honey, they haven't brought fresh honey yet, and the old one has long been eaten
do you have a suspension? I wonder what it depends on .... I had, and the German author of one of the recipes had

[Natasha,]

Natasha, yes, I had everything as you wrote! And in general it's good that you asked about it. I thought it was just me ... The fact is that I put ground cinnamon (there is only one in our hole) So I decided that everything was due to an unsuccessful replacement. I filtered it several times through a dense fabric, in 3-4 layers, but nothing changed. The husband suggested such a solution: pour the liquor into another bowl and when this "case" gathers from above, gently remove with a spoon.

For some reason I didn't think about honey or vodka, I'm confident in my products, and that's not even the point, but perhaps that ... The zest of lemon and orange (and citrus fruits in general) contains a large amount of essential oils, so they gather from above, forming a suspension (she looks so oily, even through glass)

I will not bother with this bottle. But when I put a double portion, I think the suspensions will appear again, I will try to pour it into another dish and collect it with a spoon.

a spoon will not work, I first poured what is "crystal", and when the suspension was about to begin to approach the edge of the can, I put it aside for sludge, then again poured as much as I could, and so on, and this suspension was filtered through a funnel with with a dense cotton swab, the day just dripped drop by drop

maybe the zest has that effect

I liked more that of all the recipes for this liqueur (10-15pcs) I studied, only in one did the author talk about suspension, by the way, I indicated this fact in the recipe itself ... but I hoped that it would not be there))))

[Natasha,]

maybe the zest has that effect

Natasha, Well, this is my guess, I certainly don’t say 100% ...

And if the zest is replaced, it will no longer be "Barenfang"

Now I went and looked at my bottle ... This kind of "dregs" of course spoils.

filtered through a funnel with a dense cotton wool, the day just dripped drop by drop

I wouldn't have the patience! I certainly don't have a day, but it also took a long time.

a spoon won't work

Thank you for saving me from a useless lesson!

and if you change the zest for juice, the taste is not the same, but at least a similar replacement, and the fortress, the truth will be slightly less

after filtering there will be no turbidity, the species will not suffer

[Natasha]

I liked more that out of all the recipes for this liqueur (10-15pcs) I studied, only in one did the author talk about suspension

Natasha, and how do they differ from each other?

Maybe other authors just didn't mention it?

and if you change the zest to juice the taste is not the same, but at least a similar replacement,

This can only be verified empirically.

different alcohol, somewhere in general they take alcohol, somewhere the amount of honey differs, spices are almost everywhere the same, but in general it's like we have in Russian. culinary sites .... one dish and there are many options, so do they)